My male rat Charlie is the friendliest pet I've ever known, since the moment I adopted him he's always been so sweet and well-behaved. Before him I also had 2 mice and as the mice didn't seem to mind him occasionally sniffing at them through their cages, I kept them all in the same room together. 2 weeks ago I adopted two little girl rats. For the first few days I kept the girls in a separate room from Charlie and the mice but after the introductions were over and everyone seemed to be getting on all right, I moved the girl's cage into the same room as the others.
The girls are very timid; the only person they aren't scared of (apart from each other) is Charlie. One day when Charlie was having his daily run-around the room, I went to change the girls' water and they squeaked and ran into the corner as they always do - Charlie immediately ran up to me and bit me quite badly. I put it down to chivalry on his part, but since then he has bit my mum 3 times just in the past 5 days.
The first time my mum was just sitting on the floor talking to me and he bit her arm. The second time he was trying to climb up my dad's leg and when she put out her hands to pick him up he sank his teeth into her wrist. then earlier this evening I was making some repairs to one of the mice cages so my mum was holding the mouse, and Charlie was getting annoyed that he wasn't getting any attention. Once the mouse was back in it's cage. My mum held out a yogurt drop for Charlie in her left hand, which he ignored and instead bit her right hand twice. he really sunk his teeth in as well because the cut is so deep it is still bleeding and she's gone a bit white and faint-looking.
Don't suppose anyone can think of why he is doing this? I have included info about the other rodents just incase that has anything to do with it.
The girls are very timid; the only person they aren't scared of (apart from each other) is Charlie. One day when Charlie was having his daily run-around the room, I went to change the girls' water and they squeaked and ran into the corner as they always do - Charlie immediately ran up to me and bit me quite badly. I put it down to chivalry on his part, but since then he has bit my mum 3 times just in the past 5 days.
The first time my mum was just sitting on the floor talking to me and he bit her arm. The second time he was trying to climb up my dad's leg and when she put out her hands to pick him up he sank his teeth into her wrist. then earlier this evening I was making some repairs to one of the mice cages so my mum was holding the mouse, and Charlie was getting annoyed that he wasn't getting any attention. Once the mouse was back in it's cage. My mum held out a yogurt drop for Charlie in her left hand, which he ignored and instead bit her right hand twice. he really sunk his teeth in as well because the cut is so deep it is still bleeding and she's gone a bit white and faint-looking.
Don't suppose anyone can think of why he is doing this? I have included info about the other rodents just incase that has anything to do with it.
