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Anonymous
Hey, /an/. I got a pair of young rats (brothers) about three weeks ago, and they have some behavioral issues. One has bitten me three times, drawing blood each time. The last two bites were rather serious, at the same time and on my lip. He seems to be cage aggressive, as I didn't provoke him. The other is very sweet with me, but bit his brother badly enough that I had to take him to the vet.
I do *not* want to keep the one that has bitten me: I feel uncomfortable reaching into his cage to clean it and feed him. However, I would like to keep the one that hasn't bitten me. I got them from a breeder with a good reputation, which makes this frustrating, and I believe that I could return them to him as a pair. Alternatively, I could try to rehome the biter and keep the nicer one, but rats are social and I don't want him to be unhappy (though since he bit his brother he might just be a loner rat). What do you think I should do in this situation?

In before: snake, you're horrible for not giving him a "forever" home, and OP here, I sat on him
>> Anonymous
The second may have been punishing the first one for biting you.
>> Anonymous
This is what we did for our biters was this.. Don't know if it's really recommended, but it more or less worked.

Constantly "bug" him by opening the cage whenever you go by and petting him. If he's the type to lunge at you, skillfully and slowly reach in and pet on top of his head, right at the base of his skull. Put a tad of pressure so that he's less likely to unexpectedly lunge.

After you've got him like that, pick him up, either by the base of the tail or around the belly. Usually when we hold ours, they're more sedate. Make it short, put him back. Come back later and do it again. Do it a lot to make him used to you.

Also, when they DO bite, we will immediately grab them by the scruff (also support the rump, and not too roughly either) and hold them like that and say NO to them. After a time or two of that, they stop biting.

Except if you're Petunia. She's a fucking cunt.
>> Anonymous
>>291057
>>In before: snake, you're horrible for not giving him a "forever" home, and OP here, I sat on him

I like the "Snake" idea... do you have any friends who keep large reptiles? I'm sure the biter will make a great companion to their pets.
>> Anonymous
>>291060
I wish...
>>291068
Were these biters ones that were drawing blood? When I got the last two bites he just dug into my lip, seemed to grind his teeth together, and pulled backwards. I didn't move so the damage wasn't as bad as it could be, but part of my lip is numb and not really showing signs of improvement. He seemed pretty intent on hurting me, so I'm concerned that trying this will just result in bloodshed and nerve damage.
>> Anonymous
I have a rat like this, OP. I got my two girls as rescues and one was mauling both me and her cagemate.

I put the larger, more aggressive girl in with my sister's ferret. They get along nicely, and Sophie is more than content to wander around my room with me. She doesn't seem to suffer from being alone.
>> Anonymous
Huh, how rare is it for rats to be biters? I got my boys from a big-chain pet store and they remind me of a Basset hound my friend once had - gentle, lazy and will lick you until you take your hand away. Never shown the slightest aggressive tendency aside from the dominance wrestling that all rats do, and that's only with eachother.
>> Anonymous
>>291088

>I put the larger, more aggressive girl in with my sister's ferret.

What the FUCK?

You do know that ferrets kill small animals, right? They were bred to kill rabbits, so if that ferret decides so, your rat is dead.
>> Anonymous
>>291191
Ace is also incredibly chill, and the rat doesn't fuck with him. He was raised with them and with my field mice. It was a bit of a dick move, but I didn't have much of a choice; she was ripping giant holes in Sophie and bloodying her because Sophie didn't have the bollocks to fight back.
>> Anonymous
>>291238

>but I didn't have much of a choice;

Uh gee, my first thought would have been, "Let's buy another cage!" not "let me put the small animal with the ferret."
>> Anonymous
>>291250
Fuck that, if the rat is that much of an abusive bitch, let her have a taste of her own medicine.
>> Anonymous
I had one rat like that.... he bit everyone, and he just got worse as he got older. He shredded one of his cagemates at one point and we had to keep him in a separate cage after that.

After he finally died of old age and loneliness, we found out that having him neutered would have helped tremendously. Apparently the problem is typically too much testosterone rather than any sort of behavioral issues.
>> Anonymous
How weird. I work at a pet store and I bred rats for snake food for a long time (it beats paying 20 bucks a week for rats from the store). I've never encountered a rat that was aggressive. Sure I've been bit, but I've also picked up a thousand different rats.

Maybe just get a rat from a pet store. None of ours are from special breeders or anything, and they're all perfectly friendly to humans and each other.
>> Ragnaros the Firelord !!yzhEkwd9SJR
why in the hell was it that close to your mouth?
>> Anonymous
Thanks, everyone. I'll think your posts over.
>>291425
He came to the door of the cage when I was cleaning and rearranging things in his cage...I don't have massively long arms so my face was near the cage.
>> Anonymous
>>291425
Not the OP, but I give my rats kisses all the time. Rats are as clean as cats, so if you'd kiss your cat on the head, then you can kiss your rat.

And as for rats being aggressive.... it's very rare. Out of the 14 rats I've had over the course of my life, only one has ever bitten anyone. Some were from breeders, some were from pet stores... I don't find that it really makes a difference.