Opinions - Intros ended in emergency surgery

Hiiiii, I'm new to this forum but had rats for the Last 2 years, all rescues but as a preference I take older males. I have a mischief of 10 boys (4 neutered) ages between 18 months and 36 months.

Newest addition came a week ago, found as a stray in someone's garden, age unknown but assuming 9-12 months

Started intros 2 days after he arrived (already been quarentined) with finder. Intros went amazingly for the first 11 hours, did yhe carrier methid like i usually do, literally he threw his weight around for 5 minutes them no a single issue until I left the room for 2 minutes and the newbie attack my eldest resident rat (they'd been sleeping next to eachother!) And his umbilicous and testicle were hanging out of an icision by his penis! (Luckily he's healed amazing and is fine)

First plan for the newbie Is to have him neutered and wait the full 6 weeks but what I'm trying to figure out Is after inflicting such life threatening damage is it safe to try intros again?


Admittedly in hind sight I rushed intros and should of given him a few weeks settle on and heget used to smelling the others first I'd just had previous intros before even with adult males ggo so well I became too relaxed that lesson is deffinatly learnt!

What do you think? Try again after neuter very yayyy slowly or get him a new friend?

FYI the rat he attacked is very laid back and non conformational so newbie deffinatly started it

In my opinion, it will be safe to do a proper intro after he is neutered and you wait 6 weeks or longer for his hormone levels to drop.

For most rats it would be ok to intro him to your existing boys
but if he was trying to kill your other boy because he is terrified of other rats, then you might need to very very carefully intro him only to rats he does not feel threatened by
.... I had a rescue boy, Christmas (posts are on this site), who was terrified of other rats and tried to kill another rat at the SPCA (the rat survived because he was able to escape the cage but it was a blood bath), and he tried to kill a senior girl (he tried to sever her spine) during intros. Eventually Christmas was introed to 4 young rats whom he loved, cared for and lived with the rest of his life. I did the first 10 to 20 intro sessions on my lap, which risked myself being bitten so is not a recommended step

Here are the established gradual into steps http://www.ratshackforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=32368

Joinrats.com has quite a lot of info on intros etc., please see http://www.joinrats.com/Intros

I agree that veeeery slow intros after the neuter are worth the try. Literally never take your eyes off them though for a while.

I have to add that only intro him slowly to a rat that is non-threatening but also able to take a bite unlike an older male. I have had new boys come in, were fine with other adult males but would attack older, elderly rats...

if he was trying to kill your other boy because he is terrified of other rats, then you might need to very very carefully intro him only to rats he does not feel threatened by

Click to expand...

I dont think hes affraid if them, I dont know his history so i have no idea if hes been around other rats before but when i started intros using the carrier method (seems to be the recommended way on most UK sites) for the first 5 minutes he was throwing his weight around but literally for the entire night after that initial 5 minutes there wasnt a single even indicator of a fight or anything. Infact he was happily sitting eating and was very tolerant of Splinter giving him a good sniff. The others pretty much kept out of his way but he was sleeping right next to the ratty pile in the morning and Peanut was right next to him.

There was a small scuffle with Custard but nothing that concerned me, i literally nipped to the bathroom which was still in ear shot and there wasnt a single sound yet i walk back in and Peanuts insides were hanging out yet Eric (newbie) was still lying next too him.If it wasnt for the fact that the rest of the mischeif has lived in harmony for over a year now is actually have doubts that it was him!

Since then ive been watching how they interact through the cage at play time, Eric is very interested in the others for the first few days he was abit aggressive but overall hes just sniffing them. Pudding has spent 3 days deliberately antagonising him on the top if the cage and yesterday he did snap and managed to bite his tail. But TBF i cant really blame Eric for that he was full on provoking him which is ironic because hes a complete scardycat when the cage isnt between them!

The slow intro method is new too me, how do i do it with a large group do i start off with a few at first and add more as the weeks progress?

Thanks

Amy

Ok so after spending tonight trying to figure out Erics personality ive noticed he has a very short temper he lashes over very quickly when someone does something he doesnt like.

After pushing him away with my arm he lashed out and bit hard enough that if i wasnt wearing a thick fleece hoody i would of ended up with a nasty bite (its hurting as it is and it didnt quite break the skin!), a minute or so later then then returned and bit the offending arm again without provocation. Just before the initial bite he arched his back and side stepped like he would if i was a rat.

Beginning to understand how things went down hill in such a short space of time at the weekend, he seems to go from Zero to bite with minimal provocation in a split second!

I dont really know what to think now tbh, does this sound hormonal or more behavioural?

That is hard to say. You never can know what's going in in their heads.

Just some thoughts I'm having...have you tried rescue remedy? It can help calm animals holistically. You can also try a little diffuser with lavender. (Please note that most essential oils are not safe for rats.)

think a neuter will help ..... but Jorats and lilspaz68 have more experience then I do so they would be good to check with

I would definitely get him neutered asap.