Monday evening we went to Petco to pick up some Aspen bedding for the hamster, Nougat, and I spotted this cute little rat who totally reminded me of a baby version of my old rat, Templeton. Since Winston is extremely clingy, and I can’t spend hours with him every day, I decided to get the little rat in hopes they will eventually become buddies. I named the little guy Hershey because he’s dark brown and seems sweet, although right now he’s very scared but will approach me carefully, then quickly run away. He’s not keen on being picked up but doesn’t go completely crazy either.
I ended up moving Winston into the large cage we had in the garage and put Hershey into the cage Winston came in because Hershey is so small I was worried he’d be able to escape through the bars of the larger cage since they are spaced further apart. I have the cages side by side (with some space) in the spare bedroom so they can get used to each other without possibly killing one another. Winston is a sweetheart, but that’s with people and Bella (video below of Bella “playing” with Winston); I’m not sure how he will react toward another rat since he’s always been by himself. I’ve been letting both rats out of their cages today at the same time but divided the room with a fence so they can’t get too close to one another.
Once Hershey is more accustomed to his surroundings I will do an official meet and greet in the bathtub (neutral territory) so they are forced to interact, but in a small enough space that I can quickly intervene if things get heated. I read how male rats tend to be very territorial and can disembowel (yikes!) another rat over it so that’s why I didn’t just throw them in a single cage together and hope for the best.
I do hope they end up liking one another, however, so that once I’m working again they can live together in this kickass cage I’d like to buy.