our male rats hate each other

[steven.karen]

We are first-time rat owners who got our 2 baby male rats in January/2011. The younger, Dulce, was about 6-8 weeks old and the older, Snowflake, about 12 weeks - and far far bigger. They are cousins, from 2 different breeders. We were new to this and were persuaded this would be OK. We did not go through an intro process and seemingly did not need to - from the moment they were together they were snuggling and grooming one another, and sleeping side by side in the same hammock. Then Dulce reached puberty and all hell broke loose. Snowflake's aggressive behavior toward him grew worse and worse and nothing worked - vanilla, gradually re0introduction with carefully monitored playtime together, etc. Dulce was getting frequent bites on the tail and his growth was actually stunted - he is now an adult of course but is only a little over half the weight of Snowflake. They now alternate 24 hours at a time between our beautiful Critter Nation cage and our much smaller carrier cage. My son is ever-hopeful and keeps trying to give them time together, during which at best there's a prolonged nose-off but more commonly Dulce cowers and hides and starts shrieking and jumping on everything he can if Snowy approaches them.

We are giving up and buying a second cage. We thought about neutering Snowy but it's terribly expensive in NYC and there's no guaruntee it will fix the problem.

So, 2 questions:
1. Any last-ditch ideas for making this work?
2. We will be shopping for that forbidden item, a cage for 1 rat- and no way there's room in our apt for another luxury villa. Any ideas about what would be acceptable? We still plan to give them each turns in the 2 cages.

Thank you!

 

[jorats]

If you can afford it, I'd have Dulce neutered. In all my years, a neuter has worked 100% of the time.
You can start with intros all over again. Find a scary spot for both, even a car ride would do. For the first encounter.

 

[Joanne]

I would take the money you are going to spend on a cage and invest in neutering. That is the best, long-term solution. I would approach several different clinics to check prices. There must be several exotic vets in NYC. The prices here vary from $45 - $300!

 

[SQ]

Neuter
Then wait at least 4 weeks or so for hormone levels to decrease.
Then do intros following established gradual steps.

 

[M0onkist]

I wholeheartedly back this - Chance and Mr. Honeycomb were best buds until Mr. Honeycomb got all hormonal. Then he got snipped, and went right back to being a sweet, calm cuddlebug. Chance acted a bit like your Dulce (he was the smaller one too) - he actually kind of camped out in one corner of the cage until the snipping took place.

I think you mean that it should be Snowflake, the aggressor, who should be neutered, Jo? Dulce sounds like the scared one.

 

[RatsForever]

If you can afford it, I'd have Dulce neutered. In all my years, a neuter has worked 100% of the time.
You can start with intros all over again. Find a scary spot for both, even a car ride would do. For the first encounter.

o

I had two males who were out for blood and neutering worked wonders; they became the best of buddies.

 

[mamarat]

I totally agree, neuters have helped even the most aggressive ones.

 

[steven.karen]

Thanks so much to all of you, this is incredibly helpful. I have not discovered any reputable small-animal vets in NYC that are not infamous for their sky-high prices, but will shop around outside the city.

Just to clarify, do follks think we should neuter the aggressive rat, our should we neuter the scared one so the aggresor will not see him as a threat?

 

[Joanne]

I would do the aggressive rat. (I tend to get all mine done so there aren't any extra hormones to cause angst so I would do both if you can.)

 

[SQ]

Both if you can, otherwise just the aggressive one.
His hormones are causing the problem.

It is important that you use a vet experienced in sucessfully doing surgery on rats.
Please read this: viewtopic.php?f=26&t=9640

 

[steven.karen]

Thank you again. I'm so glad we turned to this forum. We will try to get both of them don fi possible.

Nice to see a Canadian contingent - I hail from Kingston.