You may have put them back together before all of the stored testosterone from your neutered male has been depleted. I looked around online and it said 2-3 weeks post-neuter is when testosterone levels have decreased enough for behavioral differences. So, he may still be overly aggressive until he has a little more time to work through the remaining hormones in his body.
Hormone surge post neuter?
Hi guys! I really hope someone can help as I haven't been able to find any online information.
So, I took on two boys from a girl who was no longer able to care for them, they were around 1 year old and I've had them for about 2 months now. I had noticed that one of the two rats was obsessively pinning the other, he'd never bite but the pinning was excessive.
I attempted intros with my other 2 rats since there were no injuries and I thought establishing a hierarchy might have been good for him. Intros did not go as planned, as him and one of my older boys really bumped heads, the obsessive pinning continued and the other rats were extremely cautious of him.
I made the decision to neuter him on the 12th of May and after some recovery time, put him back with his brother. The last week or so he has been brilliant, no pinning or chasing and I thought we were doing well.
Last night he started being really overly dominant with his brother (puffing, hissing, side kicking and chasing), I did eventually have to split them for the evening as his brother was shaken.
Could this behaviour be caused by a hormone surge? how long can i expect this to last? What should I do? I was keeping him and his brother together until I could be sure that it was safe to try intros again because in this time I've also added two younger boys to the mischief and all 4 boys are getting along fantastically ❤
I'm going on holiday in 3 weeks and I'm so worried that I won't be able to introduce everyone before then and it's causing a lot of stress and worry. I'd appreciate any advice, thank you so much for taking the time to read this 😅 obviously I also don't want to keep the aggressive boy and his brother separated longer than absolutely necessary.
So, I took on two boys from a girl who was no longer able to care for them, they were around 1 year old and I've had them for about 2 months now. I had noticed that one of the two rats was obsessively pinning the other, he'd never bite but the pinning was excessive.
I attempted intros with my other 2 rats since there were no injuries and I thought establishing a hierarchy might have been good for him. Intros did not go as planned, as him and one of my older boys really bumped heads, the obsessive pinning continued and the other rats were extremely cautious of him.
I made the decision to neuter him on the 12th of May and after some recovery time, put him back with his brother. The last week or so he has been brilliant, no pinning or chasing and I thought we were doing well.
Last night he started being really overly dominant with his brother (puffing, hissing, side kicking and chasing), I did eventually have to split them for the evening as his brother was shaken.
Could this behaviour be caused by a hormone surge? how long can i expect this to last? What should I do? I was keeping him and his brother together until I could be sure that it was safe to try intros again because in this time I've also added two younger boys to the mischief and all 4 boys are getting along fantastically ❤
I'm going on holiday in 3 weeks and I'm so worried that I won't be able to introduce everyone before then and it's causing a lot of stress and worry. I'd appreciate any advice, thank you so much for taking the time to read this 😅 obviously I also don't want to keep the aggressive boy and his brother separated longer than absolutely necessary.
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It does seem that way, I had read online that you could out them with a buddy almost instantly, the vet advised to leave him on his own for 2-3 days to allow him time to recover before putting them together again so I thought it would be ok 😔 I'm not sure whether to free roam them together tonight now that he's had some time on his own. It's been a stressful time and I really appreciate you getting back to me❤
1 - 3 of 3 Posts
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