For those who don't know what's been going on with my rats, a potted history:
I had 2 x 10 month old bucks, and one died. After a few days I saw how lonely he was an got him some cagemates. After a short time I discovered his new young friends were actually does, and not bucks as the store had suggested and have had to separate them.
Since the separation, the girls have come into a life of their own. They've gotten over their shyness and are taming beautifully and are more frequently to be seen running around. Unfortunately Domino is not being so gracious.
Tonight I was playing with him as usual, and to be fair he has been a little bit down ever since the separation, but now he's becoming kind of aggressive towards me. He scent marked my hand (yeah, cheers) and then after a few minutes he sniffed it and started biting me! Not hard enough to draw blood or really hurt, but harder than I could excuse as "Overenthusiastic grooming" by a long shot. After about 8 or 9 little bites, I shut him back in his cage with a very firm "NO!"
Since then he's not bitten me again, but he just keeps sitting with his head hanging out of a pipe or house looking miserable. I don't want to get another buck for him just now for two reasons: I may well have a large number of babies on the way and he'd probably be feeling extremely "Alpha male"ish at the moment having just been separated from his girls.
What can I do!?
I had 2 x 10 month old bucks, and one died. After a few days I saw how lonely he was an got him some cagemates. After a short time I discovered his new young friends were actually does, and not bucks as the store had suggested and have had to separate them.
Since the separation, the girls have come into a life of their own. They've gotten over their shyness and are taming beautifully and are more frequently to be seen running around. Unfortunately Domino is not being so gracious.
Tonight I was playing with him as usual, and to be fair he has been a little bit down ever since the separation, but now he's becoming kind of aggressive towards me. He scent marked my hand (yeah, cheers) and then after a few minutes he sniffed it and started biting me! Not hard enough to draw blood or really hurt, but harder than I could excuse as "Overenthusiastic grooming" by a long shot. After about 8 or 9 little bites, I shut him back in his cage with a very firm "NO!"
Since then he's not bitten me again, but he just keeps sitting with his head hanging out of a pipe or house looking miserable. I don't want to get another buck for him just now for two reasons: I may well have a large number of babies on the way and he'd probably be feeling extremely "Alpha male"ish at the moment having just been separated from his girls.
What can I do!?
