Hello r/RATS

Unfortunately I don't have pictures of my new trio yet - they are still pretty shy so it's hard to get a good pic without bothering them, and my priority has been socialization and setting up their cage with nests and other goodies.

But I've been wanting to introduce myself and my rats because I have a lot of questions. (By the way I got these rats with my partner, so that's who 'we' refers to below.)

So, they are:

• Templeton - White/cream rat who is pretty food-motivated, likes to hoard, least friendly of the bunch. He hides a lot and I am a bit concerned about how to socialize him. I'm trying to figure out what the balance is of not invading his space but also not letting him self-isolate all the time.
• Reepicheep - Youngest/smallest, hooded, likes to jump a lot, very fast. Really likes the hammock we installed in the cage. Seems to want to explore, hence the name, despite the species discrepancy.
• Francis - Took the longest to name but we chose him first at the pet store, friendly and loving, grey Berkshire with a white diamond on his forehead. Nickname is Snuggle Buddy. Crawled up my pant legs during play time yesterday while I laid on the floor.

All three are fans of cabbage in particular, though are also enjoying the freeze dried meal worms we got from the reptile section, and had a blast with a porkchop bone from our dinner the other night.

I've been reading tons of rat articles and am rapidly upping my knowledge of these guys.

One question I have is about the socialization I mentioned earlier of Templeton (which I now realize is probably a super common/cliche 'first rat' name, but we're keeping it). He is hiding out a lot in his nesting boxes and also a cloth bed they've made out of a cut up pant leg I gave them.

Should I just keep trying to warm him up to me with offers of food, and let him take them into his hoard without really coming out? Or should I haul him out for playtime?

I think the next thing we are going to do is set up a pile of food a little ways away from the cage, leave the doors open, and allow them to run back and forth to pull treats off the pile and drag them back to the cage to stock up. This was suggested by my partner's co-worker. I'll try to update on how it goes, and also try to post pics soon.

I'd also like to introduce water at some point. I've read a bunch about how to do it right, just a little bit at a time, lukewarm or room temp, and slowly increase the depth if they like it to ease them into swimming for fun. Does anyone have any suggestions about whether to do this now while they are young, or wait until they are more socialized?

Thank you and thanks for all your cute rat pics.