A cage divided?

[Ligeia]

I'm getting ready to bring two new rats out of quarantine and it just occurred to me that there could be trouble with introductions.  This will be the fifth time I've intro'd new babies and have never had trouble in the past with the new kids moving right in.  But Quisas just became a teenager and is rebelling against authority.  For the most part, he only fights with Jet (the current "king rat") but every once in a while there is a scuffle between Quisas and Bear.  I'm worried that putting new rats in the mix will further upset the order.

So, my question is, if the older boys don't get along with the little ones right away, can I divide the cage in half and have the babies live in the bottom and the adults in the top?  It is a SuperPet ferret kingdom that measures 30in x 30in x 60in.  So divided, it would be two 30in cubes stacked on top of each other, more than enough room for four and two rats. 

But, will putting the older boys in a smaller space make fighting worse?  Will it do any good toward helping intros if the two groups can smell each other but not see each other?

[menagerie]

Be sure to check the bar spacing on that cage. My guess is the babies will be able to walk right between the bars.

[Ligeia]

Oh, I know babies can get between the bars.  I had one move himself in.  But the new rats I'm getting are a little older (maybe three months) so spacing isn't a problem.

[Grace Jr]

Personally, I'd worry about the rats fighting more with a smaller cage space.  Why not keep the new rats in their quarantine cage while going about introductions?  Start them all on neutral territory (bathtub, etc), and slowly work things up to where you do "test runs" in the cages.  I wouldn't leave them all together in the cage until they're definetly not going to fight.

[Ligeia]

I'm adopting the new rats from someone else, so the "quarentine cage" actually belongs to their old "mom."  Anyway, its a ten gallon aquarium and I want to give them more space than that.  My only other alternative is a hamster cage I use for travel but it isn't big enough for living in.