[Hippy]

Ok, Ive had bad times with male rats before. I had two and they just were horrible biters, since day one. I ended up being scared of them but I kept them none the less and let them live out there lives, but it made me sad. I also here about other male rats becoming nasty until the point where they have to be neutered.

[Im down for neutering, but maybe in the case of placing them with females and preventing mistake perggo's.]

If I ever got males again I would want to know, are all un-neutered males mean and nasty?
Have you ever had females and males, different cages, in the same room? Does it make the males mean or aggressive so they can get to the females or is it ok?
Should you just never get a male who isn't neutered?

If you have any more information about male rats I would like to know. I know they can be completely different then females and I mainly only have females. I would maybe get males later in time, no I would not breed, I don't want baby rats around. I just would like a lazy rat compared to my females who bounce bounce bounce! Thanks for the help.

 

[sonoma]

Hmm…all the male rats I have known were very sweet (none of them were neutered either.) Some males can be aggressive with other males (mostly over females or territory) but that’s where neutering comes in. In my experience aggressive males would be the exception, not the norm. :?

 

[Forensic]

Of my six only one bites.

And with him it's very obvious he was never handled prior to me taking him out of the box.

 

[Mana]

I have one male, who lives across the room from my intact females (he was just neutered a few days ago), and he has never once bit me. He is very sweet, and not even territorial about his cage, no matter how often my hands went in there.

One of my females, however, is a horrible biter, and has been since I got her. Nothing I've done has worked to get her over that. So, it's not males or females, it's just individual rats who sometimes have problems.

Male rats can be aggressive with other males (mine was), which I hear can be worsened if there are intact females nearby, but neutering reduces that aggressiveness.

 

[Poppyseed]

Out of all six rats I have had, none have bitten me. I have had one time when I was being stupid and feeding them through the bars that they bit. Perhaps that was what you were doing? I don't ever feed through the bars now, it teaches them fingers can be food >_>

But they do nip a bit when playing and have total control over it, so it doesn't pierce skin or scratch at all it's just a play nip. I think it's so fun when they do that and when they get to rough I squeek at them and they calm down. It's cute.

I love all my uneutered boys. They only problem I have with them is they all won't get along to the point of living in one cage. But I can live with seperate cages right now.

May I ask why you are against neutering? I would suggest if you want to get a boy to adopt a rat from a shelter that has already reached 6 months. By that time, their horomones are fully developed if they havn't been neutered so you know if they will be a biter or not. You also know their personality when they are that old.

 

[Stephanie]

Of my eight boys only one is a nipper and he only bites certain people (namely my husband). I have never had a problem with biters at all LoL

 

[Hippy]

Poppyseed I never said I was against neutering, as I did post in [ ]'s. I just don't think because you have a male your should neuter them because of that. The thing is If I ever got males, I would have them in my room and of course, across the room but being across the room cant prevent them from smelling!

I also read if you have males and females to always clean your hands after the touching the females or else the males will fight to smell your hand or something? Or well, frisky them up again.

So having males. They wont stay in the same cage because they fight? Does that mean males can live alone? And you shouldn't put your hand in a males cage or else they will bite?

And for everyone who says they have males, do you also have females?

 

[Stephanie]

I have males and females that live in the same room. Four boys live in one cage three in another and I will be doing intro's with my youngest soon. Males should not live alone they just need to be introduced properly.

 

[Hippy]

Or bought or adopted together, yes?
Well, its only a thought, I wont be getting any males any time soon.

 

[Stephanie]

yeah or from the same litter LoL

 

[Kimmiekins]

Nearly all of my boys are rescues. 3 have bitten, only 1 that gave a severely bad bite. Of all the rats that have gone through the rescue, 1 bit (since leaving - he did not bite here at the rescue).

So, out of 16 of my own rats, 3 bit. Out of 10 boys through the rescue so far, 1 bit. Not so bad. I'd say odds are, most male rats won't.

In every case of a rat bite, there is usually a good reason for the rat to have bitten. Most of the time, it's a human error sort of deal (food on hands, good smelling soap, pain, children sticking their fingers through bars, being afraid of being bitten [which rats can sense], messing with a cage aggressive rat's cage with them still in it...).

Females bite too, by the way. It doesn't seem to be a gender-related issue one bit.

Neutering (and spaying) as a general practice is actually very beneficial to the rat. It lowers (or removes in some cases) the potential of some cancers/tumors. It often can solve biting, cage aggression and rat aggression. I hope there comes a time when it's routine to have your rats neutered.

Never mind that it opens the door to mixed cages, which seems to be the best situation for a happy cage, from all that I hear from those who have mixed-sex (at least one of all gender neutered, in some cases, both genders are) cages.

 

[lilspaz68]

At the moment I have 4 neutered boys, living with intact or spayed females. Recently I had 4 very intact foster boys, ranging from 5 months or so to about 18 months old. Sweet as lambs. Loved to smell the girls on my hands but never poufed or are starting rubbing or digging with their front paws. I had 4 older male rats before that. One of them at just over 2 years old became insanely hormonal after smelling females for the first time...bit me badly and was scheduled for a neuter. Sadly he had a hidden underlying respiratory problem and contracted pneumonia soon after the surgery so I never saw how it would've affected his aggression levels.

I think spaying females is much more beneficial but if your male is hormonally aggressive than a neuter may be in order.

And mixed sex cages are the happiest ones ever! One neutered boy lives with 12 girls (spayed and unspayed), 2 more neutered boys live with their mom, 2 sisters and 7 other youngish unrelated girls. And my wildling neutered boys (partially wild/non-domestic) live with their 5 intact sisters.

 

[Lesath]

I've got 4 boys right now, I've had 3 other boys in the past, none of them have ever bitten me or my husband but some of them have fought with each other, once to the death. They get a little nippy if you stick food through the cage but they've never actually bitten out of aggression. I've had sick rats try to bite before, that's natural.

 

[mopydream44]

My boys are super sweet. One is still young, so he is hyper active but my older male is dopey and squishy! He makes me laugh!

 

[Vixie]

Mixed-gender cages are amazing!

My Jake is neutered and in the FerretNation with my girls, they all get along perfectly and are often seen snoozing in a big ratpile in the hammock(melts me every time).

I agree with Kimiekins, it would be a good thing to have the rats spayed/neutered. The only reason my girls aren't spayed is because I don't make enough money for two spays and a neuter. But I'm so glad I got Jake neutered.

Not only is he all squishy and snuggly now, he doesn't stink and no more buck grease!


As for biting, I recently adopted off an older male I had, Ed, because he was cage-aggressive and bit my sister. Out of 8 rats, one bit. Also, Meromi does what people call a 'trust hold' something or other. She just holds my finger and sometimes grooms it. People confuse the two.