Behaviour caused by genetics? Gender? or something else?

[Michaeljdawyd]

I have 4 rats, 2 sisters, and 2 dumbo brothers.

Their behaviours differ a lot and I have a few ideas why but I cant be sure.

The females came from a pet shop breeding pair of hooded rats, BUT my females are wild coats, one is all black with a white belly and the other is identical to a wild grey/brown.
They have both bitten everyone and anyone.
They are very skittish, and flee at the slightest movement, even from across the room.
They have chewed/destroyed many wires and furniture within seconds.
They fight with each other a lot even though they share a large open cage on top of a 90 gallon terrarium.

My theory is their wild coats may represent having a less domesticated personality, as my friend has their younger sister from the next litter, a hooded beige who has never bit anyone and is the sweetest rat, whereas mine are very selfish and greedy.

The males are Dumbos, so clearly they come from selective breeding and are extremely domesticated in comparison to the females.
They can run free throughout my home never chewing a thing.
They have never bit anyone, the closest they've come is gentle licking
They can be called from across the room like a trained dog, happily bounding over for attention.
They share a large rabbit cage and never fight with each other aside from play fighting.


Is this just the difference between males and females?
Or difference in the breeds?

 

Maybe they are half wilds? or maybe they were just not handled enough when younger?

Males & Females are pretty much the same as temperment. I find females have more energy and boys are more lazy ..but for personality and temperment ..they are the same.

Hopefully Lilspaz sees this ..she knows alot about half wilds and stuff.

 

[jorats]

The girls sound like they need extra socializing. Their coats, colours and patterns have absolutely nothing to do with it. If they were half wilds, they would not have a marking (berkshire), they'd all be agoutis.
The fact that you have boys, loose in the same home can definitely contribute to the girls feisty behaviour. Get your girls spayed, do some extra socializing and intro them to the boys, then you'll have a happy stable colony.

 

[xxchelle]

In Canada, all half-wild rats will be agouti berkshires, so if there was other colors in the litter (black, beige, fawn, etc.) then it's not a half-wild litter.

Well-socialized rats, whether they're girls or boys, will be very similar in terms of temperament. From a recent litter that was born here at the rescue, the boys are very kissy and lazy, and the girls are very kissy and playful. Not much different, only in terms of energy levels. They're all sweet as pie, though.

It is *very* important to handle baby rats daily from birth, and mills that supply pet stores don't do this. This causes a lot of behavioral issues with rats. Most of these issues can be corrected with proper socialization, starting from the day you bring them home, though. When you got them did you handle them daily, and spend out-time playing with them? It's vital to do this especially with rats that are already scared. However, with some rats, the behaviors are too ingrained to change much. But with undersocialized rats the best thing to do is extra socializing. Also, the smell of unaltered boys in the same house as them could be driving them nuts. They'll likely calm down with a spay.

The fact that they're black and agouti has nothing to do with their temperament. One of my sweetest girls is agouti, she'll sit and kiss you until the cows come home! I also have a cage of all black rats, and if you stick your hand in there you get soaked with kisses.

Also, I wouldn't really count their chewing on things to be a "negative" behavior, it's simply natural for rats to want to chew. Some rats won't chew on things during out time, others will. You can help by giving them a rat-proofed area to play in during out time, where anything you don't want chewed is inaccessible to them, and by giving them chew toys during out-time as well as in their cage.

Edit: Heh, Jo beat me to most of this.

 

[jorats]

Chelle wrote it all more in detail and exactly to the point.

 

[SQ]

:yeah:

 

[Moon]

Behaviour CAN be caused by genetics, but socialization and handling can do a lot to counter-act (or encourage) what the rats are already inclined to do. So a line of rats that have a tendency towards skittishness or aggressiveness may well pass those traits on BUT rats that are heavily socialized from that line would tend to not be as bad, while if they were never handled at all they'd be even worse.

As stated above, their colouration alone does not dictate personally. I had two black berks that were the sweetest, most wonderful rats