The following is something that happened around 2 years ago but is a behavioural thing I've always wondered about...I'll describe the situation, tell you my theory and you can tell me yours.
So, I've had rats for years, always a handful at a time and always a mix of boys and girls caged separately. Well, at one point, my male rat named Rosco lost his cagemate Mr. B due to Mr. B passing away of old age. After this happened, Rosco was extremely depressed. It was written all over him and in the way he acted. So, we put him and a senior female rat of mine named Maeby together. Maeby and Rosco got along famously and were like a little old married couple...I didn't have to worry about them having babies because Maeby was well past that time in her life. Now, the situation that occured was that one day I brought home a couple of young (but not super-young) brother rats from the pet store. As I had always done, I let all the rats "meet" each other with me there to supervise. They were hanging out together on the bed and everyone was sniffing each other like normal--Maeby was grooming one of the young boys and being very sweet to him when a moment later he pranced over to Rosco to say hello again and they went under the blanket. Well I heard a high-pitched shrieking sound and lifted the blanket to discover Rosco in the process of killing the young rat via ravenously biting the back of his neck. I could not break the hold he had on the young one and it died instantly. Shocked, I felt horrible and awful about the whole thing while Rosco sat on the bed beside the dead rat looking proud...I just couldn't believe what had happened as none of my previous rat introductions had ever gone this way and my older males have always been gentle and kind to the younger rats. What my boyfriend said who also saw the whole thing, is that Rosco was jealous that his "wife" was paying attention to another male, as she was clearly enjoying grooming and playing with the young rat. He thinks that's why Rosco killed the young rat and I believe that theory as it seems to make sense out of a situation that completely left me confused....what do you think about what happened? Do you think Rosco killed the new young rat because he felt it threatened his relationship with Maeby? Or, could it have been something else? (BTW, this whole incident, while horrifying, did not affect my feelings about Rosco; he obviously thought he was doing something to protect himself so I forgave him and the other young rat that didn't get killed got another cagemate purchased for him to be with. I still feel bad for the rat that died though. RIP.
So, I've had rats for years, always a handful at a time and always a mix of boys and girls caged separately. Well, at one point, my male rat named Rosco lost his cagemate Mr. B due to Mr. B passing away of old age. After this happened, Rosco was extremely depressed. It was written all over him and in the way he acted. So, we put him and a senior female rat of mine named Maeby together. Maeby and Rosco got along famously and were like a little old married couple...I didn't have to worry about them having babies because Maeby was well past that time in her life. Now, the situation that occured was that one day I brought home a couple of young (but not super-young) brother rats from the pet store. As I had always done, I let all the rats "meet" each other with me there to supervise. They were hanging out together on the bed and everyone was sniffing each other like normal--Maeby was grooming one of the young boys and being very sweet to him when a moment later he pranced over to Rosco to say hello again and they went under the blanket. Well I heard a high-pitched shrieking sound and lifted the blanket to discover Rosco in the process of killing the young rat via ravenously biting the back of his neck. I could not break the hold he had on the young one and it died instantly. Shocked, I felt horrible and awful about the whole thing while Rosco sat on the bed beside the dead rat looking proud...I just couldn't believe what had happened as none of my previous rat introductions had ever gone this way and my older males have always been gentle and kind to the younger rats. What my boyfriend said who also saw the whole thing, is that Rosco was jealous that his "wife" was paying attention to another male, as she was clearly enjoying grooming and playing with the young rat. He thinks that's why Rosco killed the young rat and I believe that theory as it seems to make sense out of a situation that completely left me confused....what do you think about what happened? Do you think Rosco killed the new young rat because he felt it threatened his relationship with Maeby? Or, could it have been something else? (BTW, this whole incident, while horrifying, did not affect my feelings about Rosco; he obviously thought he was doing something to protect himself so I forgave him and the other young rat that didn't get killed got another cagemate purchased for him to be with. I still feel bad for the rat that died though. RIP.
