The weekend before Memorial Day, I had been wanting to bring a few boy ratties home for T.J.
With Jasper sick, and with his hind leg degeneration he had to be kept in a smaller one floor cage (which we call our hospital cage). That left poor T.J. all alone. I wanted to get him some brothers so he would have companions again. So on May 22nd, we brought home Waffles & Ben! My husband named Ben. And I named Waffles.
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Waffles looked approx 4 months old, and Ben looked approx 2 months old the weekend we brought them home. Waffles is Beige with Berkshire markings, and Ben is a Variegated Agouti.
Ben was really tiny and shy. He's starting to grow longer, and he's much more curious now.... and hyper! I always call him Ben Ben.
Waffles was super curious from the get-go. And playful. He's also really affectionate. He has this thing now, where when I have them on the bed, if I'm laying down reading my Kindle Fire, Waffles comes up and lays down along my arm near my shoulder, and then he wants pets and scratches on his head. It's super cute. :)
I was a little afraid at first how T.J. would do with the little boys, because he's the alpha rat of the cage. Even though Jasper was always bigger, T.J. was the one that would pin Jasper down or chase him around the cage.
The first time we did intros I gave everyone a bath and let them meet on the bed. T.J. went around sniffing the boys, and grooming them forcefully, but he didn't try to bite or hurt them. The next time I let them all see each other in the little boys cage while I sat in front of it, in case I needed to break anything up. But T.J. was just fine. He cleaned them, slept next to them. So I let T.J. spend the night in their little cage. They did so well the next day I let them all play together in the big cage, and the little boys spent the night in the big cage with T.J. and that was it. They were introduced! :)
Honestly, you can never really tell how an adult rat will act towards newer smaller rats. Sometimes you need patience, and other times things work out perfectly. I'm so happy T.J. has companions again, especially since we lost Jasper on June 1st. T.J. is also getting up there in age, he now has cataracts in both of his eyes. :(
