>> |
Voleta
File :-(, x)
>>53843 I was once in almost your exact situation. I adopted a hairless male from a friend, who had him for a month. That friend had got it from a friend of his, who had him for two years, and where he was from before that, i dont know. He was a fully grown adult when the friend's friend got him, so before he passed away, he was at least four, and likely older. Anyway, before I got him, he was kept in a small cage, the plastic hamster kind, which is much too small for a rat of his size. He was extremely sweet and outgoing, loved people.. but not other rats.
I got him a companion, a PEW (see picture attatched), and within a month the boy was dead. The hairless male had, well, severed his penis, and because of the way rats are made, it was stuck inside him and got infected. The ifection got in his blood, I guess, and he wasted away. it was a horrible death, and I still feel guilty. I never saw them fight, but they stayed away from eachother, and I assumed they were okay sharing a cage, like they were indifferent to eachother. If maybe I'd looked at his bits sooner.. but ah well, I learned my lesson, to check all over when a rat gets ill.
Er, what i'm trying to say is: if you feel you must get him a friend, get a pair of young males. Two rats are not much more trouble than one, and he will be less likely to seriously injure them if there are two. And, if you need to seperate them, well then you dont have to worry about getting the new rat a companion, because you already have one.
As for a female: Dont. Unless you are prepared to find homes or take care of 22 rats, you should never breed. Even if there was a small litter, say only 6 babies, you would need two cages, because the boys WILL mate with their mother and sisters, and the father will mate with his daughters. It would be even worse if you found a hairless female to be with him, they are notorious for being horrible mothers.
|