suddenly aggressive to brothers at free range time

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Rachel Nicholl

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Hi, my three rats are around 8 months old. Their brothers and have been happily living together but recently one of them has become aggressive when free ranging. Its gotten progressively worse over the coarse of a few weeks to the point that as soon as someone else comes out he immediately goes for them. They then fight and the other rat runs back into the cage. They are fine once they're back in the cage! i'm going to try free ranging them in a different area to see if this helps but i'm hoping someone can help me workout why this has happened? or give me some advice?
 
I would do a time out for the bully. Everything he goes after someone, put him in a tiny cage or carrier with no food, no water, no toys, nothing. Leave him in there for 10 to 15 minutes only. Do this every time he goes after someone, even if it's in the cage. After a couple of weeks, he may stop.
 
The reactive boy is also the age for hormonal aggression to rear it's ugly head. Does he puff up his fur, arch his back, scuttle around, maybe digging with his paws or rubbing his side's on everything? The others seem worried when he approaches?
 
What does it mean when they are elderly and start fighting for no reason? This happened when we bought the bigger cage for our boys. They were chasting eachother around and the fur looking rough, and not normal smooth-like. There was blood sometimes, but we never saw it happening. My girlfriend wanted to have them put them to sleep. We were told to time-out the rat for a couple of days, a week, and then a month. The month worked, and there was no more fighting. But my question is why did this happen in the first place? The breeder said hormones was impossible at this age. Just curious. I hope our new rats won't be like this, because my girlfriend is doing some research studies on rats, and this is the first time she's seemed interested.
 
For the seniors who got over it, it could have been pain, mites, someone might have been getting on someone's nerves - like people they can hold a grudge, too small of a cage, neurological issues ....
But for teen and adult boys, it is usually hormones
 
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