intros.... need help

[Narcissus]

ok. I'll try to make this as short, but as informational as possible.
I have an adult male rat (Jacob) and a young 14 weeks old rat (Cowboy). I have been doing play time intros with these two for 9 weeks. This is were my confusion come in, during all these playtime intros there has been absolutely no fighting. Jacob will power groom Cowboys, but never any aggression. we bought a brand new cage for them 3 days ago to make the "living together" transition easier. Everything neutral, we bought new EVERYTHING! During the day, they do fine, no fights. They even sleep cuddled up together in their fleece tube. But, as soon as night time comes, Jacob becomes aggressive towards Cowboy. Even to the point that Cowboy has small bite marks and blood on his back. And he spends all his time hanging on to the side of the cage begging for me to open the top and let him out. I have had to separate the two of them at night. I can put them back together during the day and everything is ok untill the next night. anybody have any ideas? I've tried bathing them together, vanilla on their noses, and like I said everything is new so there shouldn't be any smell issues... I am about to just give up.

 

[bell89]

Hello, Im not the most experienced rat owner but there are others on here with years of experience that Im sure can help. The first thing I would say is how old is Jacob? and are either of them neutered? I don't know if this may help but have you got two sleeping areas for them?

 

[jorats]

How big is the cage?
Have you seen Jacob attack Cowboy?
Can you take a picture of bite wounds? It almost sounds like scabbing from mites.

 

[Narcissus]

I do not know for sure how old Jacob is. We have had him about 6 months. He was with another rat when we got them, but unfortunately the other rat had tumors all over him and had to be put down. Neither Jacob or Cowboy are neutered. Their new cage is a Quality Cage Town House, it is about 3ft wide by 2ft deep by 3 1/2 ft tall. They have several sleeping spots, a tunnel covered in fleece, two other hammocks, a sling tunnel, two wooden hidey houses. They will sleep.together in the tunnel during the day. Yes I have seen Jacob attack Cowboy. they do fine untill about 10pm and then Jacob starts in. He has drawn blood twice on Cowboy.

 

[smilez_n_hugs]

It's possible that they do have mites and that's what is causing Jacob to be so testy. A pic would definitely help

 

[Narcissus]

as soon as I figure out how to upload pics to my posts....anyone know how I do that?

 

[Narcissus]

[album:vqhn5yxg]1885[/album:vqhn5yxg]
[album:vqhn5yxg]1886[/album:vqhn5yxg]
This is Cowboy's back. I looked all over jacob and I dont see any scabs. He did seem to look.... dirty.... with a orange oily substance on his skin. What should I be looking for? How do I treat for mites?

 

[clmntine]

Is that the only spot he has? Check if he has any on his chest, neck and head? Thats usually where you first find bites from mites, then on the back. Mites are very easy to treat, most of us use Revolution. You should be able to find more info and pictures if you search for it here on the forum.

 

[Narcissus]

that is the only one that I can get a pic of. It is 4 days old. He has one more on his shoulder from yesterday. There is none on his head, neck or chest. The bites showed up after I heard him and Jacob fighting. So I figured they were from Jacob biting him.

 

[clmntine]

You saw them fighting? Are you sure it wasnt just playing? Jacob is much older, and may be playing too rough with the little guy. Or are you sure it was aggression?

 

[clmntine]

My boys have had similar small bites from each other. Sometimes they just get rough. But if they want to do real damage they can.

 

[album:1dqi0b4e]1885[/album:1dqi0b4e]
[album:1dqi0b4e]1886[/album:1dqi0b4e]
This is Cowboy's back. I looked all over jacob and I dont see any scabs. He did seem to look.... dirty.... with a orange oily substance on his skin. What should I be looking for? How do I treat for mites?

By the way, the oily orange substance is something that some male rats just excrete naturally. Don't worry about it, but if it really bothers you, wet a washcloth and wipe him down. Un-neutered males are prone to this, and it is called "buck grease".

 

[jorats]

Those wounds look pretty shallow but Jacob is being very dominant with Cowboy. What happens after 10? Do they get food at that time? or a bedtime treat?
Doesn't look like mites.

 

[Narcissus]

I think they are fighting. When I hear them scuffle I say "stop" pretty sternly. Jacob will stop, Cowboy climbs the side of the cage all the way to the top sqeaking the whole time. If I dont let him out, after a few minutes he will climb back down. Jacob will then follow him all over the cage, untill they either start fighting again or Cowboy runs up the side of the cage. The bites aren't very deep, the second one swelled up quite a bit (about the size of a pea). I feed and water in the mornings, and give treats before lunch. Nothing is really going on when they start fighting, my kids have gone to bed and me my husband are usually just watching t.v. I guess they could just be playing... but Cowboy seems so stressed from it. He stayed on top of their waterbottle for 2 hours last night because if he came down Jacob would start following him again. I quess im just not real sure what is going on. These are our first Rats, I breed chinchillas and with any sign of fighting or aggression with them I separate them. so maybe im just over reacting because of that?? Stupid question... when introducing the chincuillas we clip the whiskers of the dominate chin. It stops any aggression or dominance.... is there anything like that for the rats??

 

[clmntine]

Neutering Jacob will stop it.

 

[Narcissus]

should I only neuter Jacob? or should I get them both neutered?

 

[bell89]

maybe only neuter the more dominant rat, I hear it helps with aggression. do NOT touch the whiskers. x


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk - now Free

 

[jorats]

Jacob is being a bully. I would get him neutered and not Cowboy.