Would an aggressive lone male rat be aggressive with his sons?

[fallblossom]

Over a year ago I owned a rat who hormonally aggressive. He repeatedly attacked his sweet submissive brother leaving open lacerations behind (he ripped my hand open too) so the boys were separated and my submissive rat got a new baby cagemate whom he loved until the end and vice versa.

My question is if the aggressive rat had sons at that time, would he also have been hormonally aggressive toward them? How do rats in the wild handle hormonal aggression and not kill their sons? A rat's goal for mating is to have his genes carry on and killing his sons would defeat the purpose.

My thinking is a rat in the wild isn't separated from the female when she is pregnant which translates to him knowing the babies are his. On the flip side introducing the aggressive rat who had been separated from his sons would make him inclined to ask, "Who the heck are these baby rats and who is the father", while looking around with his front paw and pointing to all the other males saying, "Is he the father? How about him? How about that ugly scruffy dude over there? OMG maybe it's that beautiful shiny boy in the igloo. Ahhh!"

 

[Sheldon]

I don't think relation matters at all to them. I think if a rat sees another as a competitor it's game over.

 

[Vicki]

Rats in the wild aren't forced to live in a cage together though.

I really can't see it making a difference and I wouldn't want to breed a rat exhibiting those behaviours anyways!

 

[fallblossom]

Rats in the wild aren't forced to live in a cage together though.

I really can't see it making a difference and I wouldn't want to breed a rat exhibiting those behaviours anyways!

Neither would I! Getting the webbing of my hand ripped open was a reminder of what damage a rat's teeth are capable of.

 

[jorats]

A colony in the wild will have multiple males going after the females. Some females have litters with multiple fathers so they don't really know who the father is but the real issue with hormones is that in the wild, the male can keep trying to mate with the females when he wishes and if he's not fast enough or strong enough, he can choose to leave that colony and start a new one.
I really don't think we can compare pet males in cages to their wild cousins. The average age for a rat in the wild is 9 months give or take.