[Jessiferatu]

So a few months back I had posted about Opie's injury (which was quite severe) and having to separate him from his brothers (Jax and Chibs) after a vet visit and meds to get him on the mend. He is fine now, and has since gotten new cagemates. I wasn't able to figure out who had injured him at the time since there were three of them and I didn't actually see it happen.

Fast forward to a few days ago, I am sitting on my computer and I hear fighting coming from the rat room. So I rush down there and Jax and Chibs are going at it. I made noise to startle them/break them up. Jax was trying to hide, he had jumped on top of a basket I have zip-tied in there and would not come down. After a while I ventured my hand into the cage and he practically flew into my arms and was clearly upset. He had a bite wound on his hind quarters . Not as severe as Opie's thank goodness, but still bleeding. Chibs was puffed up and pacing around the cage. He let me inspect him and pet him just fine, and he had no injuries. I was able to clean and treat Jax's wound, which closed up nicely within 24 hours and is now just a small scab - no sign of infection.

I'm assuming this is a hormonal thing, but the thing is they both show signs of excess hormones. Unless I'm reading things incorrectly? There is a lot of squabbling, puffing up, rubbing their sides against things (scent marking?), and excess urine marking. Both of them do this, all the time. Jax is especially prone to getting "puffy" when he's interacting with other rats.

So...here's my dilemma. I have them separated for now with Chibs in my spare cage. They are both clearly unhappy about this arrangement and I feel so bad. I absolutely cannot get any more rats, I'm at the top end of my limit as far as time and expenses go. I will absolutely get them neutered if that's what it takes, but it will have to wait a couple weeks since it's expensive (IMO unreasonably so) to have done around here. It would be easier to have only one rat neutered, obviously, but since they're both acting hormonal how the heck do I know which one to get neutered? Should I try having Chibs neutered and see how reintroductions go first?

 

[nanashi7]

Just try one and see how it goes. Neutered rats not only are less likely to attack bht to be attacked as well.

 

[Leahrae]

Sorry to hear about the fighting. I don't have any advice because I'm a new rat owner and mine are girls, but I wanted to say that I love your names. My two are Juice and Chibs! Juice cause he was the "rat"

 

[Jessiferatu]

Just try one and see how it goes. Neutered rats not only are less likely to attack bht to be attacked as well.

Thanks for the input!

 

[Jessiferatu]

Sorry to hear about the fighting. I don't have any advice because I'm a new rat owner and mine are girls, but I wanted to say that I love your names. My two are Juice and Chibs! Juice cause he was the "rat"

Lol, that's cute. *high five*

 

[new_rattie_mommy]

I only really had a problem with one of my boys being overly hormonal. My other boy did annoying things also, but it was normal boy things lol like marking, which I hate, and a few other things. But my other boy who was overly hormonal and also the alpha of the pack was constantly jumping on his brother's back, almost as if he was going to hump him or something. I think it was just one way he did his dominance fights though. And of course he was constantly, and I mean constantly pinning his brother. He was marking all the time, and also showing aggression with me. It was nothing extreme that it was 100% necessary to get him neutered and he never fought to draw blood with his brother, but he did draw blood with me 3 times. I decided though to get him neutered cuz I was so sick of dealing with the issues and i knew that was going to help. I decided to get both my boys neutered because my other boy also could use getting his hormones taken down a notch so if I was already getting one done I might as well get them both done so that his problems would be taken care of too, even though they weren't major super bad problems. I also did both of them because I wanted to get a girl in the future and be able to house them together, and that made it possible and I now do have a girl living with them. So on that note, my opinion is that you should get them both neutered, because trust me it really helps a lot. My boys were soo much better. it took care of every problem I had. they are just so much more calm and reasonable and they don't mark on my floor or on me and they rarely have dominance fights. They are just so much more mellow and also the aggression towards me became so much better and he is actually my baby now. He is my cuddler who grooms me all the time and has to have lots of love and attention everyday. If I got another boy I would get him neutered. I have heard there are also health benefits to getting rats neutered or spayed. Also, with how extreme your fights have been, and how hurt your first boy got before, it would be a hassle if you only got one neutered now, and then it ended up not working and you had to get the other one neutered anyways. it would be easier to get them both done at the same time so they can comfort each other during recovery. That's my opinion. But if you are really tight on money and can't find a vet that will do it for a reasonable price then maybe it is best for you to just start with one. Check around different vets for prices cuz some places are ridiculously expensive. I called every place in 3 different towns until i found a place I could afford and the prices ranged $500. My vet neutered both of them for a total of $120. it was a great price. I hope neutering solves your problem. I really think it will because it worked wonders for my 2 boys.