I am trying to introduce 2 female adult rats to 2 other female adult rats, any

[joe]

advice? the first thing i did was plop all of them down on the couch, and quickly realized the error of my ways and put the original rats back in their cage and the new ones in a temporary aquarium. since they are adults and most of the websites i am reading are about introducing babies to adults i am a little confused. my new rats showed no signs of aggression but only one of my old rats were aggressive. my plan is to quarantine for 2-3 weeks, there are no visible signs of illness in the new rats, regular breathing and no eye or nose discharge. after the quarantine, should i follow the steps for introducing a baby to an adult? which would be masking their unique scent with vanilla extract and putting them in a neutral environment for meetings? if so, how long should i do this for? their two separate cages are a few feet apart. all of these girls are more than a year old, the originals being a little older. if you have any advice, please submit it, and if you can link me to a website specifically for introducing senior females please share.
i am not to concerned too much about the fighting, because the one picking the fights is the smallest of the 4, probably the smallest i've owned, because she gave birth at such a young age.

 

[Natalie]

Introducing adults to adults, you follow the same steps as introducing babies to adults. Females can be introduced to each other at any age.
Since you already exposed the rats to each other, quarantine is pointless.

Keep the cages next to each other so they get used to the smells. Introduce on neutral territory. If they fight too aggressively, spray them with a squirt bottle.
When you are ready to put them all in a cage together, clean out the cage really well beforehand and move around their toys and hideaways.

Fighting is normal, they do that to establish dominance. As long as the rats aren't trying to kill each other, they should be fine. Signs of "serious" fighting would be things like puffing up fur, trying to look bigger, huffing/hissing, etc.

When I introduced my rats, after a couple sucessful neutral territory introductions, I put them all in the same cage and supervised it. Then when I couldn't watch them, I put them back in their respective cages. Once I felt comfortable, I just left them all in together.

 

[Wolfluva14]

only place them into the cage when they are supervised. if they show good signs, just keep watching them. this might take a while. place some of the new rat's bedding and poop into the old rat's cage, so they can get used to the rats' scent. 2-3 weeks is good. just every day let the new rats (AFTER GOOD SIGNS) visit the old rats in their cage. eventually, the old rats will get used to it and the new rats can move in. also make sure they all have play time a lot together.
also it is possible they can get aggressive over you so make sure all of the rats get quality time from you without the other rats in an equal amount of time.

 

[Seeking God]

I agree with Nat, I have succesfully introduced adult females into my mischcheif as well as neutered males using the same method as we use with babies. here is the link to the method I use and probably the same one you use:http://www.ratanooga.co.za/care_intros.asp

 

[Elizabeth Bibb]

just be careful!!