Do all male rats become aggressive towards their owners

[phoenix.madley]

I currently have 2 male rats. I hear horror stories about them becoming hormonally aggressive and biting their owners? my rat artan is about 5 months old now. Should i get him neutered just in case?

 

[SQ]

No, all male rats do not become aggressive.

In my experience male rats that do become aggressive are usually aggressive towards other rats and need a neuter so they can continue to live safely with others and because the hormones are really interfering with their quality of life.
Most male rats do not need to be neutered. Some people, such as myself neuter all their rats, while other people do not get them neutered unless there is a problem.

When rats are neutered it is extremely important to have a good vet with the knowledge and experience to do it safely ….. only gas anesthetic is used and nothing is given by injection until after the surgery when the rat is given an injection of metacam to control pain for 24 hours (after 24 hours oral Metacam is given for pain control)
All surgery is a risk, but with a good vet who has the experience and knowledge to safely neuter rats, the risk is low.

Rats that have bitten me have usually been recently rescued rats that are terrified, or rescued new mothers trying to protect their babies.

Here is some information that might be helpful
https://www.ratshackforum.com/threads/why-spay-or-neuter-rats.35402/

and this: https://www.ratshackforum.com/threads/things-to-discuss-before-surgery.7691/

There is a lot of useful information in our Reference Thread https://www.ratshackforum.com/threads/reference-thread-read-only.35894/

I hope this helps

 

[Dena]

I have had lots of male rats. Only one of them has shown a little aggression, and for some reason it was towards a shoe! He peed on my son's shoe, and my son wiped it off, then pepper jumped and attacked the shoe, all the while squeaking and squealing. Then, a couple mins later, he was fine. Pepper kind of looked like a shark, so we call it the great shark attack. We still to this day have no idea what his problem was, but it was freaking cute and funny. He never bit, just tossed his face around on the shoe and squeaked at it while jumping different directions. But then again, maybe I've been fortunate.....

 

[Rat2020]

A horror story?

No they do not. They are lovely pets and loving animals. They deserve handling and outside of their cage time. I hold mine on the couch and allow them (males) to roam back and forth on the couch. I bring tissues or damp paper towels to clean up any droppings. But otherwise it's great interaction and bonding and good for you and your pets relationship.

The more they are in the cage and not handled, will dictate their behaviour and that goes for any gender or breed.

Best luck!

 

[maddiescoobs]

I have had two male rats in the past who were intact and they were sweeties to me and each other if I were you I would wait to neuter unless you see issues or get any females in the mix. Don't fix what's not broken, right?

 

[SQ]

Oh, btw it is normal for all rats to attack socks on feet …. it is not aggression, they may be trying to protect you

 

[Dena]

My son was wearing a shoe, but I guess same concept....LMAO. The image of him squeaking and jumping and rolling around is one we can't get out of our heads! Pepper was a character!

Now taco, my biggest, fatest (and almost 2 years old) boy, will sometimes puff up at skittle, and bump him with his sides, and stomp his front feet at him. I do know this is aggression, but he ONLY does it when skittle tries to jump on his back, or tries to hump him. In this case, I think he's more so doing it to put skittle in his place. There has NEVER been bites, cuts, blood, or fur flying. And after its all over, taco will bounce off and play with skittle as if nothing ever happened.

So I wouldn't worry TOO much if you do see what you think may be hormonal stuff. Only if it gets to a certain level or becomes problematic.

 

[lilspaz68]

A lot of it depends on your area and the care put into the temperament of the rats. In Ontario we have a lot of rat mills and backyard breeders and see a high incidence of hormonal aggression in our boys but it doesn't mean most will become this way. If your boy is sweet and normal at 5 months you should be okay. I find 5-6 months and you are already seeing signs of it. More agitated, especially with cagemates, chases and more violent pinning and wrestling among cagemates, puffed up fur, chattering teeth, hunched backs, sidling, digging with front paws and rubbing against objects to scent mark them, nipping humans or biting them. These are all signs. I'll dig out a pic of a young lad who became hormonal very young and after a neuter when he was lovely and sweet again

https://www.dropbox.com/s/i88iw32j4ppx0z6/dec28Nate.jpg?dl=0
Poor lad had genetic cataracts at 7 months of age
https://www.dropbox.com/s/d1plypddkqkse3w/dec28Nate3.jpg?dl=0

About a month later
https://www.dropbox.com/s/why1rhnyx99b40h/Feb214Natehappyagain.jpg?dl=0

 

[phoenix.madley]

They have a huge cage and it's in my living room I talk to them all the time or take them out to get treats. Or section off the hallway and let them have free range. Artan is a sweetie he prefers climbing on me when I'm sat down and then will navigate onto shoulder. He doesn't prefer hands. I pick him up for a scratch and power groom him to cement my alpha status. Caius is like a bar of soap but I groom him as well. Hands equal yogurt drops. They always come to cage doors to see me when they hear me

 

[phoenix.madley]

Also they wrestle, their has never been any wounds. Just the flip over and pin with caius from artan. Picture of my boys below.

 

[Morrigan]

Rats are some of the sweetest, easiest to handle rodents in my experience. Even pretty stressed out rats rarely bite. Domestic rats are very gentle. There's some rats out there who have trauma or other issues that need some gentle patience, but genuine biters seem pretty rare.

14/16 of the rats I've owned have been intact males, just generic feeders/pet store mill rats and if anything they only became more mellow with age. I've had some issue with rats becoming aggressive towards each other, but never towards me. Most of them just end up becoming more soft, and kind of couch potatoes in their old age...

 

[VonVicious]

Rats are some of the sweetest, easiest to handle rodents in my experience. Even pretty stressed out rats rarely bite. Domestic rats are very gentle. There's some rats out there who have trauma or other issues that need some gentle patience, but genuine biters seem pretty rare.

14/16 of the rats I've owned have been intact males, just generic feeders/pet store mill rats and if anything they only became more mellow with age. I've had some issue with rats becoming aggressive towards each other, but never towards me. Most of them just end up becoming more soft, and kind of couch potatoes in their old age...

I feel like this might be my problem right now. I think my two baby boys are traumatized. They are only 5 months going on 6. I rescued a single male rat from a schools class pet at the beginning of the pandemic. After a couple of months getting to know Loki I decided to get the babies for cage mates. They instantly loved each other. Not even a entire month and Loki died suddenly. Ive been devastated. The Dumbo babies new something was wrong with him and huddled tight away from him. Their behavior is what alerted me to Loki. I removed Loki and did everything I could but he was gone by the next afternoon. He never came back. The babies stayed freaked out. They look at me like I'm sketchy and the one who took their buddy away. I've been bit 4 times. 3 by Ruckus and once by Rebel. But I don't think it was aggression really. They cautiously came over take sniffs then chomp into my fingers. Twice I knew they smelled like treats or food. But the other two times I'm not really sure why the deep chomps. Loki would nibble on me but never hurt me. These bites hurt like a Mother****** and bleed. So now I'm a little nervous to touch them and they are always nervous. They are never more than 6ft from me and I talk to them all day. Bring treats, do their food and water and tidy up. It's been suggested to me to separate them, get a female breed more, neuter, rehome. They were learning everything from Loki, watching him with me. Without him things have regressed instead of progress. Sorry I don't know if I should've started another thread but when you said trauma it caught my attention.

 

[lilspaz68]

you should definitely start a new thread on your lads. Most rats come home by themselves or with a sibling or 2, they never get the opportunity to learn from another rat and they turn out fine, so we need to figure out whats going on with your lads. Start a new thread and add a video if possible of them interacting with you, Offer the back of your hand as its harder to bite down on and grip.
Your nerves may be affecting them or they may be becoming hormonal, we need to figure out which.

 

[VonVicious]

you should definitely start a new thread on your lads. Most rats come home by themselves or with a sibling or 2, they never get the opportunity to learn from another rat and they turn out fine, so we need to figure out whats going on with your lads. Start a new thread and add a video if possible of them interacting with you, Offer the back of your hand as its harder to bite down on and grip.
Your nerves may be affecting them or they may be becoming hormonal, we need to figure out which.

Thank you I will do that.

 

[Big Schpog]

I feel like this might be my problem right now. I think my two baby boys are traumatized. They are only 5 months going on 6. I rescued a single male rat from a schools class pet at the beginning of the pandemic. After a couple of months getting to know Loki I decided to get the babies for cage mates. They instantly loved each other. Not even a entire month and Loki died suddenly. Ive been devastated. The Dumbo babies new something was wrong with him and huddled tight away from him. Their behavior is what alerted me to Loki. I removed Loki and did everything I could but he was gone by the next afternoon. He never came back. The babies stayed freaked out. They look at me like I'm sketchy and the one who took their buddy away. I've been bit 4 times. 3 by Ruckus and once by Rebel. But I don't think it was aggression really. They cautiously came over take sniffs then chomp into my fingers. Twice I knew they smelled like treats or food. But the other two times I'm not really sure why the deep chomps. Loki would nibble on me but never hurt me. These bites hurt like a Mother****** and bleed. So now I'm a little nervous to touch them and they are always nervous. They are never more than 6ft from me and I talk to them all day. Bring treats, do their food and water and tidy up. It's been suggested to me to separate them, get a female breed more, neuter, rehome. They were learning everything from Loki, watching him with me. Without him things have regressed instead of progress. Sorry I don't know if I should've started another thread but when you said trauma it caught my attention.

Maybe, or they're just territorial. I know that when one of my females went missing her sister's behaviour changed dramatically. She got more territorial over her fave sleeping spot (the drawer) and she did things that she had never done before. Either way, you can't spend your life with them without being able to handle them and interact with them. They must bond with their human. There was another thread on here about biting rats and my solution was homemade custard to stimulate licking and trust. Rats are survivors and they LOVE homemade custard. It gets them used to hands and it's a great way to interact with them.

Rats love good food. They have taste buds. They crave tastes just like humans do.

I'm of the firm belief that the bonding process with rats involves good food in a social setting, just like it's good for humans. Going out to dinner with your friends is loving and strengthens bonds. SO it is with rats too.