help with a aggressive male rescue!

[XViVidX]

I currently have a male rat that is very aggressive. I adopted him from petsmart when someone returned him and he was put in the back rooms, but no one was adopting him. I don't know what could of happened for him to become so aggressive All my rats Ive had before never bit or acted this way. There has been little improvement. He used to try and bite me when i got his food bowl out from his cage to give him food. Now he is a bit better, i worked with him for hours a day just opening up the cage door and letting him come to my hand. I have a closed fist because he will bite my fingers and it has happened that he bit me so hard that it drew blood. He is okay now when i put food in the cage and fix his bedding and such. He will reach is arm out from the bars on the cage and try to pull you into the cage and then bite. I have to be careful when near the bars of his cage. He is okay when i open his cage and he ventures out a little bit and sniffs my hand and i attempt to pet him. He is very nervous and skiddish. He won't let me pick him up, if i try he freaks out and tries to bite me. He doesn't have a cage mate because my two older males passed away but when one Dewi was still alive i put them in a neutral area on the floor and everything seemed fine until he attacked Dewi. Because Dewi was old and had HED i didn't want to chance him getting injured. Does anyone have any suggestions of what I can do to try to get him less aggressive? To guess his age he is probably about 1-1 1/2 years old.

 

[smilez_n_hugs]

Sounds like he needs a neuter to get his hormones under control. Not sure where in TO you are located but Dr. Munn is a very good rat vet in the area.

 

[XViVidX]

is a neuter the only thing that can be done at this point? If he does get the neuter what are the chances of him becoming less aggressive?

 

[mamarat]

All my aggressive males have become sweeties after their neuters. If he's in good health that's what I would do. Good luck!

 

[jorats]

We've had dozens of aggressive and some severely aggressive rats become so much better after a neuter.
You being in Toronto are in luck. Dr. Munn is one of the best vets for rats.

 

[Sam]

rodentmama suggested I use a green tea extract call L-theanine on my male and it calmed him right down. It also made socializing him much easier. I buy it from health food stores.

 

[lilspaz68]

I also say the neuter, he's classic and will only get worse. With mild aggressive tendencies, sometimes you can work through them, but with behaviours such as these you want to remove the catalyst (the hormones) by neutering. I would say almost all my aggressive males became eventual lovely rats after a neuter.