Confusing Behavior in Adolescent Male

The Rat Shack Forum

Help Support The Rat Shack Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

littlelunarat

New Member
Joined
Jun 24, 2018
Messages
2
Location
California
Hey guys,

I’m a pretty new rat owner, only recently getting my boys in January, and have a question about one of my boys.

To paint a good picture, I currently have a total of six rats. Three boys in the bottom of a critter nation, and three girls on top. The boys consist of a set of brothers and a cage mate since birth. I will also mention all of my rats are unaltered at this point. Seemingly once I got the girls, one of the brothers has started picking fights with his brother. It’s the most horrible sounding thing. Once I run over however, they both just look at me like I’ve interrupted playing. This has left me pretty confused as to whether this behavior is aggressive or just playing. I’ve heard when rats play, especially big boys like what I have, it sounds bad when it really isn’t. Hell, they still cuddle with each other all the time.

My main concern, and the reason I separated this morning, is they were snuggling and I found a cut on my boy whose being bullied. I can’t say for sure it’s his brother, but I have a good idea.

Am I overreacting? Should I keep them together since this is normal? I already plan on neutering one by one (my vet charges $250 [emoji43]) but any advice in the mean time is appreciated.

Thank you!
 
Neutering would be a good idea, as aggression in boys is usually hormonal
However spaying girls is important for health reasons if you have a good rat vet that can do it safely

They could be playing and one of them could have been hurt by accident
Girls go into heat every few days and that will make the boys worse

Here is some info: https://www.ratshackforum.com/threads/why-spay-or-neuter-rats.35402/
 
Neutering would be a good idea, as aggression in boys is usually hormonal
However spaying girls is important for health reasons if you have a good rat vet that can do it safely

They could be playing and one of them could have been hurt by accident
Girls go into heat every few days and that will make the boys worse

Here is some info: https://www.ratshackforum.com/threads/why-spay-or-neuter-rats.35402/

Thank you! I thought as much about the girls agitating the boys. Yes I plan on neutering/spaying everyone at some point, unfortunately I have to do them in batches since it’s so expensive lol
 
Its soooo expensive! My vet also charged $250 for a rat neuter, yet I can have my cat done for $50 >_< I wish they would be more reasonable about the price!
 
Thank you! I thought as much about the girls agitating the boys. Yes I plan on neutering/spaying everyone at some point, unfortunately I have to do them in batches since it’s so expensive lol

You might want to start with the "bully" and then get the girls done as soon as possible - the younger girls are spayed the greater the health benefits (so I try to spay by 4 months - but spaying at any age lowers health risks of several health issues)
 
Its soooo expensive! My vet also charged $250 for a rat neuter, yet I can have my cat done for $50 >_< I wish they would be more reasonable about the price!

Price varies from place to place and vet to vet …….. some vets charge $50 others $120, others $250, others charge even more ……. the most important thing is to make sure you have a good vet with the experience and knowledge to do it safely …… but if a vet charges a lot, you can see if there is another good vet within your area that charges less …… In June I took a 3 day trip to another prov to get 9 girls spayed and 1 boy neutered because of a huge cost difference
 
Price varies from place to place and vet to vet …….. some vets charge $50 others $120, others $250, others charge even more ……. the most important thing is to make sure you have a good vet with the experience and knowledge to do it safely …… but if a vet charges a lot, you can see if there is another good vet within your area that charges less …… In June I took a 3 day trip to another prov to get 9 girls spayed and 1 boy neutered because of a huge cost difference

I know this is a question my vet could answer, but do you know how young you can spay female rats? My google search didn’t get a clear answer. My girls are currently 8 weeks now- is that a safe age?

Again thank you for all of your information!
 
Its soooo expensive! My vet also charged $250 for a rat neuter, yet I can have my cat done for $50 >_< I wish they would be more reasonable about the price!

I mean I understand because they’re little guys and of course more delicate, but it is insane! It’s going to cost about $1,500 to get all of my rats done. I have no problem with it because that’s what I signed up for, but jeez is it expensive lol
 
Unfortunately, the boys are probably going hormonal because they have the girls nearby. That's probably all that's going on.

I thought as much, as much as I’d love them to kumbaya all the time and get along, I realize I put them in an awkward situation. The boys have urges! Aha and of course one of them has to be the “stud” of the group. I’m hoping the neuter will fix everything :)
 
IMG_2474.jpg
IMG_2475.jpg


The aftermath of their fight. I hear the worst screams and come back to this? These boys stress me out lol. Can’t wait for the neuters .
 
Very sweet ratties!!

As for age, I know that some vets are able to safely spay at a young age …. my vet likes girls to be about 275 g (which with mine is usually around 4 months) before spaying because of the anesthetic
 
So update- big boy is getting neutered on Friday and has been moved to a travel cage in the meantime. When I was at work this weekend a horrible fight broke out that left his brother with a huge gash in his tail and back. He’s been checked out by the vet and is okay, but I’m not going to put them back together like this.

I feel horrible putting him in the travel cage since I know it’s too small, but I don’t really have another option at the moment. Friday can’t come soon enough [emoji25] does anyone have any advice for situations like this? Any DIY temporary cage ideas? Please let me know!
 
You could use a big storage tote and try to make a lid the has ventilation, or if you have a playpen for them you could try to find a way to cover that and leave him in it for the majority of the time, possibly supervised, and then put him in the travel cage for night.
Don’t feel bad, you’re doing all you can for them right now. Also, make sure to clean the cuts well to prevent future abscesses!
I’m curious, are the girls from the same litter as the boys? I had/have rats in the same situation in that cage and haven’t had any hormonal problems, but mine were all from the same litter. I know that rats don’t recognize incest, but the difference is interesting. Another thing you could try is putting the boys on the top and the girls on the bottom. I did a lot of experimenting with this when mine were young and currently have the girls in the bottom cage. Maybe that’s part of the difference, because the boys on top had more air circulation away from the girls? I don’t know, just a thought.
 
I’m curious, are the girls from the same litter as the boys? I had/have rats in the same situation in that cage and haven’t had any hormonal problems, but mine were all from the same litter. I know that rats don’t recognize incest, but the difference is interesting. Another thing you could try is putting the boys on the top and the girls on the bottom. I did a lot of experimenting with this when mine were young and currently have the girls in the bottom cage. Maybe that’s part of the difference, because the boys on top had more air circulation away from the girls? I don’t know, just a thought.

Being from the same litter does not make a difference and neither does what cage section they are in re scent. They would still react to the scent if they were in a room two floors away in a house. ……………. Different rats have different hormone levels due to genetics so not all males will react violently, however, it will impact all intact rats and increase their stress
 
Yes I know that. Cage position might help because there are other things to distract the males from the females, nowhere did I say anything about there being less hormones. I’m not sure why my suggestions need to be criticized, and I made it clear that my question was just out of curiousity.
 
Yet another update: my boys have been 10x calmer since I separated. I know that seems obvious because of the tension in the cage, but it’s a crazy difference. My two boys still in the main cage are more confident and even started playing with each other (which they never did). My separated boy has been napping peacefully in his temporary cage. He was of course scared at first but is now showing relaxed body language. They’re also more comfortable with me, which is surprising because my boys have always been pretty difficult (they had a rough past before I took them in). I’m really excited to see where this goes with the neuter and wish I would’ve done it sooner! Luckily I contacted a local rat rescue and found a cheaper vet too so everyone will be fixed more quickly! My dream would be to be able to House everyone together, but I’m getting ahead of myself. :)
 
Back
Top