Introing baby to two adult males in about 2 months..need advice!

[D]

Hello all!

As some of you know, I have two very sweet boys named Squishy and Squeaker. In about two months from now I will hopefully be bringing home a male baby from a breeder. I wanted to reach out and see if I could get any advice on intros before the little one comes home with me so that I can be better prepared. By the time the little guy is born and weaned from mom, my boys will be exactly 1 year old. Those of you who have read some of my posts in the past will remember an aggression issue I had with my boy Squeaker, which was remedied with a little "snip-snip". He is a much happier rattie (although still hyper and gets a little crazy during playtime) and lives contently with his buddy Squishy. Squishy is still intact and will occasionally puff up when Squeaker gets too fiesty, but over the past 4 months they have never fought or even nipped at each other. Occasionally there is some pushing, but usually ends in a grooming session between the both of them. I believe that intros to the baby should run smoothly, but I just came across "Charlie's Terrible Summer" and am now terrified.. I am worried of the worst happening. What would be your advice on introing a little guy to two 600 gram+ boys? My plan is to take it very, very slow over the course of 1 1/2 months to 2 months, first starting out with just setting the cages next to each other every day and night, switching bedding, etc and perhaps moving on to neutral territory intro after 3 weeks of that. I also read from ratbehavior.org that there is less concern of introducing babies to adults (males) since they are not a threat to territory being that they are so young. I have been doing a lot of research, but wanted to ask the experts here! Any advice, tips or steps that would help me prepare for this would be very helpful!

Thank you so much!

[scout]

I'd start by introducing your baby to the neutered male first. He's less likely to be aggressive. With babies, because they're so small, you need to hold the big rat firmly to make sure he can't get loose to harm the baby. Some adult males will be aggressive and some will actually be protective. It's hard to say which way your rats will go. You'll just need to be vigilant when you first start your introductions. Here's my favorite introduction technique:

http://www.ratfanclub.org/newrat.html

[Chevalrose]

I've been introducing my two babies to my 2 year old adult (both intact) males. They were introduced on neutral ground for a while (the babies were 6 weeks). The adults kind of ignored them...so I moved them to where the adults free range and they still pretty much ignored them. Obvious sniffing, and then brushed them off. After a few days of that, I put them in the cage  with them and thats where the problem started. Gus could care less, but Clooney is kind of territorial. I was always there
watching them in case something happened...Clooney would just lunge at them. I've backed off since then not putting them in the cage, and they still get along fine when free ranging, and this weekend I'm going to try to put them in the cage permanately since the babies are about 9 weeks now.

[Claymore]

This next week I will be moving my 4 4month old rats in with the 1 1/2 year olds.  I will let you know how it goes.

[D]

I am picking up baby on Saturday...I am VERY excited  ! I promise to post pictures of the little guy!
I was wondering if anyone had any more advice to give on intros to my two squishy boys. I read something posted by Scout that mentioned removing the resident rats from the main cage and allowing baby to hang out in there for an hour while the boys played somewhere else. Afterwards, remove the baby and place the resident rats back into their cage and watch their reactions to the baby's scent. I thought this was an excellent idea! Any other ideas or suggestions would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!!

[cheerio]

Make sure to do quarantine with your new little one, unless you've had him in a rat free enviro for at least 2-3 weeks. This can prevent any type of bug or illness to spread to your rats at home, which may not show in your new baby(all rats react differently to different germs, etc). I introed my 2 little ones to my 3 adult males, and they were great with them immediately, no issues. I did notice that as of late, the big boys must have been getting kind of rough with one of the little ones, as he had pretty good bite marks on him. I have since moved them in with my largest male who was neutered about a month ago to see if they would get a long. I not only let Wayne and Garth run around in Cosmo's cage when he wasn't in it, but I also introduced them numerous times in a neutral area to see how they acted together. The first few times the babies went in with him from the neutral area to the cage, he pounced a little to hard for my taste, but he slowly realized they were just little and meant him no harm and moved fast, very fast. He's since calmed down with them and they've been nicely introed to the cage with no issues. Knock on wood. He doesn't seem to have too much interest in them, but they have each other to play with and are still getting used to the bottom of the FN, vs the top where they were at first. I did wipe them all down with unscented baby wipes to see if that would help (especially around their boy parts and their tails, as that's where they tend to smell the most "rattie"), seemed to help with the incessant sniffing and pawing at each other, I guess they all kind of smelled the same. Good luck with your new little one! We want pics! 

[D]

Wow, little baby is SO sweet! All he does is play, play, play! I am so lucky to have brought him home. He is so unbelievably friendly, and plays with my hands and chases stuff, popcorns and licks and grooms! My other two boys have never licked or nibbled/groomed...and I have to say it really melts my heart!  This little guy is really a silly little sweetheart.

But, I am worried now...because I never realised how small baby rats were until now. I looked at my two year-old boys and it's a huge size difference..I am REALLY intimidated about introing them after qt.     I keep thinking that they may think he's a toy or worse. After three weeks of qt he will be 8 weeks old..and I read that sometimes waiting past 8 weeks will make intros more difficult. So much information out there that I am beginning to confuse myself. 

Any more ideas or suggestions would really be appreciated. I want to do everything that is best and safest for baby and my super huge stinker boys. Please help!