Please help, my neutered rat is suddenly extremely aggressive again!

[veggies]

In January I had to get my 1.5 year old rat Basil neutered because he was terrorizing his brother Baron. They had lived together all their lives but now Basil was drawing blood from both Baron and me! I had to seperate them for 3 weeks as we went through with the neuter.

After a few complications from the surgery I successfully and easily introduced them again and they were living in complete peace and harmony, absolutely no scuffles or anything!

Until this morning.

They were fine when I woke up but all the sudden I heard screeching from the cage and Basil was attacking Baron. He was all fluffed up, huffing, sidling, and chattering. Baron jumped into my arms and hid as soon as I opened the cage door. So right now Baron is with me and Basil is still in his cage, but he will puff up and hiss at me if I come close to rhe cage.

What is going on? I'm going to seperate them for a few hours, but Baron is scared out of his mind and honestly I'm scared of Basil right now too. He bit me so hard before the neuter that I lost all feeling in my finger and had to get stitches. That time was so, so hard on me and now it's happening again. What do I do?

 

[lilspaz68]

In January I had to get my 1.5 year old rat Basil neutered because he was terrorizing his brother Baron. They had lived together all their lives but now Basil was drawing blood from both Baron and me! I had to seperate them for 3 weeks as we went through with the neuter.

After a few complications from the surgery I successfully and easily introduced them again and they were living in complete peace and harmony, absolutely no scuffles or anything!

Until this morning.

They were fine when I woke up but all the sudden I heard screeching from the cage and Basil was attacking Baron. He was all fluffed up, huffing, sidling, and chattering. Baron jumped into my arms and hid as soon as I opened the cage door. So right now Baron is with me and Basil is still in his cage, but he will puff up and hiss at me if I come close to rhe cage.

What is going on? I'm going to seperate them for a few hours, but Baron is scared out of his mind and honestly I'm scared of Basil right now too. He bit me so hard before the neuter that I lost all feeling in my finger and had to get stitches. That time was so, so hard on me and now it's happening again. What do I do?

Give him time to settle down. Did you notice a big change with the neuter originally? Was he fine with you in the end? Some males neutered or not, will be naturally (genetically) more aggressive and the hormones can make them really out of hand. It's probably just a temporary thing, unless he's in pain or not feeling well, or Baron was "threatening him" in some way?

 

[veggies]

Yes, there was a big change after the neuter. He was back to being my sweet submissive rat, and although Baron was once again the alpha he never caused Basil any problems or threatened him. They were more cuddly and affectionate with me and with each other than ever before. He had never bitten me before his hormonal rage kicked in in January and he hasn't since the nueter, nor has he shown any other sign of aggression, so today was very out of the blue.

For the record, Basil did draw blood from Baron in today's fight. Baron is still hiding and I can't find the wound but there isn't an alarming amount. I haven't noticed any signs of illness in Basil lately-- in fact, he's had chronic myco flareups all his life but the past month or so he's been healthier than ever.

 

[jorats]

Unfortunately...this could be a neurological event like PT. Keep a close eye on other symptoms like porphyrin, pouffy, clubbing/knuckling, circling, loss of balance, loss of hind end mobility.

 

[veggies]

Oh, that's a scary thought. He is not showing any abnormal behavior besides the aggression earlier today but I will keep an eye on him.

I just got home from work and he has settled down, atleast towards me. Baron is still shaken so I think I'll leave them seperated tonight and try to get them back together tomorrow evening.

 

[jorats]

Did you do intros or just put them back in the same cage?

 

[veggies]

I did intros and they were completely fine, Basil immediately went up to Baron and started snuggling him. They're back kn the same cage and haven't fought. If it was PT would the aggression be constant or come in random bursts?