# Aggresive rat drawing blood



## Capistrono (Apr 12, 2010)

Okay, so we had two boys and they got along fine. Would sometimes squabble, but never draw blood or anything. We got them both from a petstore at separate occasions when they were young. 
Then, because we had the room/time/money/etc. we decided to get a third. We found a youngish (we estimated 6 months old or so) rat who needed a home and decided to take him. He was not housed with any other rat with his previous owner. Introductions went the same way we've always done it for all 14 of our rats that we had in the past and he was a bit shyer and sometimes fought with the other two, but it wasn't ever too bad. 

In the past few weeks he has gotten increasingly more aggressive. He has torn one of the other rat's ear in two and caused a large (albeit surface) gash on the other. The problem boy is roughly a year and 3 months old by now. The only things I'm really aware of to attempt to stop this would be to restart introductions (as in, separate them for a few weeks, then start again with cage switching, bathtub intros, and etc.) or to get him neutered. The other two boys don't really fight each other and from what we have seen it's usually problem boy starting the fights. He acts like the victim every time, running and squeaking soon after starting the fight. He has never bitten my friend or I, who live together and both care of him. They always have plentiful food (Harlan Tekland 2016), water, and space. The exact kind of cage it is I don't know (we got it from someone on craigslist), but it has 3 levels and met the ratty cage calculator requirements for 3 rats. None of the boys are neutered.

Let me know if there's anyhing else you guys need to know about the situation and I really appreciate any help or tips you guys have to stop this kind of behavior. Thanks in advance.


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## Capistrono (Apr 12, 2010)

I forgot to ask you guys-is it okay to put a small amount of neosporin on the injured one's wound? Boo Boo was the one who's ear was torn and it has been healing wonderfully, but Jack Spicer just got bit a few minutes ago. It isn't really bleeding, but it looks really bad. It's definetly through the first layer of skin, I'm not sure if it's too deep to put anything on. If you want a picture let me know. We were planning to keep him in their playpen tonight alone, to prevent the other boys aggrevating his bite. He has never attempted to jump out of it so I don't think that would be an issue.
Sorry to be hounding you guys with all this information, I'd really like to hear any input you have. Thanks again.


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## nanashi7 (Jun 5, 2013)

Neosporin is fine, but Maluka or raw honey might work better. 

Do you have pictures of your cage? Often, a cage that is fine for three rats (2ft per rat) can be too cramped for older males especially if set up wrong. It also matters the way you feed and how many points of access there are. 

Where exactly and how exactly are the bites? Some can be rough play gone wrong, indicative of defence, and of course indicative of aggression. Rump bites are usually aggression, but ears and face tend to be rough wrestling. 

Other things of interest would be who the alpha is and how he rules; has your life or their environment changed; has your involvement with them changed?

I would look into the carrier method of intros (hopefully Isamurat pops by, else a google search should come up with a result or two one is from sunshine or somesuch rats). Redoing intros can help, especially if you take a proactive role in preventing bullying of any type.


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