my rat sugar just died =(?

Take them into a place that Shadow has never been (such as a bathtub) and put the new rat in the tub first so he has the "upper hand" on where he is. Then introduce Shadow.

Also washing them both in warm (not hot) water so their scents are gone momentarily will be good, but make sure you dry them thoroughly, rats don't like to be cold and wet either.

Note: Be prepared to intervene in case they fight. To get them apart from each other, just spray the attacker with water. Do this until you feel they are comfortable with each other, then COMPLETELY clean the cage you want them to both share, add in new bedding, make sure all old toys and whatever else have been thoroughly cleaned as well, and move the new rat in with Shadow. Put them in the cage together.

Until they are friendly with each other, do not put them in a cage together. Depending on Shadow's temperament, however, they may never like each other. This happened to me once when one of my rats died and I bought another to keep him company. They had to stay in different cages permanently and I had to play with them at different times.

You'll need to introduce them gradually. After a quarantine period of 3-4 weeks, put the new rat's cage near Shadow's cage but not close enough that they can reach each other. If either one "huffs" this is normal behavior but wait til you haven't heard huffing for a few days til going to the next step. Huffing is a quick series of loud exhalations, kind of like hissing.

Your next step will be putting both rats in neutral territory to play & inspect each other. Lots of ppl use as dry bathtub but I usually serve as "neutral territory" myself. Don't try to hurry things. If there's any problem, return the rats to their cages & try again later.

If everything goes well, let them have several short play sessions over the next few days. Also, switch cages so they'll become really used to each other's scent. Finally, clean Shadow's cage thouroughly & rearrange his cage accessories. Now, let both rats into the cage & watch closely to make sure everything's ok. Some wrestling is normal & they're usually either playing or deciding who's Alpha. If there's any bleeding or *loud* squealing, separate them & try again. Good luck.

With our rats, it usually takes less than a week to successfully introduce a new rat. The longest it's taken was 3 weeks, bc our hairless girl didn't stop huffing for more than 2 weeks. Our quickest was only a few days-- two young males got away from me after a play session w/ our older buck & happilly jumped right into his cage. Everything was fine, so they stayed. Our older guy (who had recently lost his brother) was 2 yrs old, so apparently rats are never too old to appreciate a new friend or 2. In fact, we recently introduced a new girl to our hairless doe, who's 2.5 yrs old.

not a good idea you want to introduce rats at a young age... just give him lots of attention

Why do you have a rat? Let it go at the zoo or something.

Good luck with you problem... and your rat.

I have a hamster

she was always alone has never had any other hamster with her and he does not first and I have already had several hamsters alone and they never died of it by

I think even more so because they do not reproduce