Introducing new rats to older girls

[jane89]

is introducing new rattys to an established group of older ladies a good idea? i have 3 girls: sasha (who will be 3 in the middle of october), eddie and patsy (unsure of there exact age but there around 3/4 months younger than sasha). sasha and patsy are fairly chilled out but eddie can be somewhat highly strung

im a bit worried about what to do when the inevitable happens, ie my girls are getting closer to the rainbow bridge i dont want one of them to be alone, but i dont want to stress them by introducing new rats, especially when they've been living together for 2 years with no attempted intros since eddie and patsy where introduced to sasha at first.

all advice greatly appreciated

[hlcasey]

I have never encountered a problem introducing young rats to older rats, I find that there are the usual scuffles and sorting out of the hierarchy but then they seem quite pleased to have the young uns around to interact with and watch their mad pingyness. It definatly gives them a new lease of life

[cookielucylou]

I find does usually intro easily, so you shouldn't have any problems.

[Alijane]

My old girls absolutely adored the two baby girls I got from secretpennell. It gave them a new lease of life and it was lovely to see Lola, my mummy rat, curling up with "her" babies again.

[lamb]

Agree with all of the above I was worried that new young rats would upset the balance, but how wrong I was. My very, very old lady Storm got the chance to be a mummy and what a great one she is. Within hours they were found squished under her in a hammock. It couldn't have worked out better because she was always a little left out from the rest of the group. I would say go for it sooner rather than later.