PROPER QUARANTINE IS OBTAINED BY KEEPING NEW ADDITIONS IN A SEPARATE AIRSPACE FROM YOUR RESIDENT MISCHIEF as not all diseases present themselves immediately after arriving home and some may not affect the new additions at all instead infect and cause symptoms in your resident mischief. It is best to work from “clean to dirty” (meaning your exisitng mischief and then your new additions.) Even if the breeder you obtained rats from properly quaratines, it is still necessarry for you to do as the environment has pathogens you can pick up and introduce to your home. quaratine should restart if treatment is needed.
AFter quarantine is complete, now it is time to intro the new rat(s) to the established mischief!
You’ve done your quarantine and now it is time to introduce your new additions to your exisitng mischief; so how do you make these interactions as stress free as possible?
item swaping : a good way to assimilate the scents of two separate groups of rats is by swapping some dirty bedding/cage swapping/toy swapping between the two groups. this will help them get used to each other’s scents.
neutral territory : a more direct approach to introducing two groups of rats is by placing all of them together in a neutral location that is rat proof and is easily accessible to you in case there is a problem.
How to introduce rats:
start by placing the more mellow rats of each group together. if your rats are not possessive of enrichment (such as toys or treats) you can add some to their meeting area.
leave the two groups together for a short visit (5-10 minutes). You want the first few interactions to be short and sweet
repeat the above stops every day and increase the time that the rats are together.
deep clean the cage intended for all the rats and introduce the integrated group to their new home.
if there are no issues within 48 hours, it signifies that the intro was a success.
in some cases, these intros do not go well and need to restart and get drawn out.
Vanilla extract method : placing a drop of real vanilla extract between each rats’ shoulder baldes before introducing them in a neutral area
bath method : giving the rats a bath togehter (in shallow water)
coconut oil method : slathering a thin layer fo coconut on each rat. this should make them obsessively groom themselves and all surrounding rats (please make sure to clean them up prior to returning them to their prespective cages.)
