# Male rat questions



## camygirl (Aug 3, 2015)

I have had a total of 4 rats, and I am absolutely in love with ratties! Right now I have 3 beautiful, healthy ratty girls, a male teddy bear hamster, and a female winter white hamster. I feel like I am ready to grow in my ratty population! However, I wanted to spice things up a bit, and get a few males (and put them in a seperate cage of course). I work at an animal rescue, and I know that males tend to have very awful smelling urine, and they spray to mark their territory. I have no experience with male rats, and I was wondering if anyone could educate me with ANYTHING I need to know before getting a few handsome fellas. I am very educated with the females, and I have heard that female and male rats are so different. If anyone has any information or helpful tips, please let me know!;D


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## Sndnsun808 (Jun 25, 2015)

I have 3 females and I have to say they pee mark and tear up everything! And so rowdy ! I have one verry aggressive male rat who lives alone although I know this is not ideal he has never lived with anyone else untill we got him so we desided to immersion train him witch works wonders! But he has killed 2 rats that we hand picked for him unfortunate as it is I can't put rats with him but he loves his humans he is so cuddly and loves to play I have to say after the 5 + hours for weeks on end he has tured in to the sweetest thing ever!.... my girls are just go go go all the time no cuddling from them. He is the only male rat iv had and he doesn't smell maybe due to the lack of another male he does get a bath when the buck greese builds up as he is old and fat and doesn't groom as well as he used to. When he goes over the rainbow bridge I deff will be getting more boys...

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## camygirl (Aug 3, 2015)

My one female is so cuddly, but you sure have me looking forward to maybe getting a few boys! My girlies are very loud, and they do tear up everything, but I thought that was just how rats were! Thank you so much for this! I will start looking for cages!


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## Sndnsun808 (Jun 25, 2015)

He's verry content hanging out on my lap for hours as with my girls if I stand or sit too close to anything there jumping off me and makin a run for it!

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## camygirl (Aug 3, 2015)

My rats do the same! I thought that that was just how rat are! You definetly have me convinced! However, I heard that there are certain foods that cause cancer and other diseases in male rats, but not females. Could someone enlighten me about what these foods are and what they may cause?


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## LilCritter (Feb 25, 2014)

Citrus fruits can cause kidney disease (or liver, can't remember) in male rats.


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## Mojojuju (Nov 15, 2014)

Males can get hormonally aggressive towards each other, even if they've been cagemates since birth, so neutering can help that. Some rats never need it, though.

My boys' pee smells slightly stronger than my girls', but not SO much stronger. Also, both will scent mark but not spray. You're probably familiar with scent marking from your girls. Males do just the same.

Neutering and spaying, btw, decreases this behavior drastically, I have found.


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## JAnimal (Jul 23, 2014)

as a steyrotype (that is usually true) males tend to be more lazy. they arent as active but the still like to run around. my males at first marked me (really unpleasent) but then they stopped. also males get diffrent types of cancer than females and males are less likley to get it overall. One last thing : no citrus (gives them cancer).


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## camygirl (Aug 3, 2015)

When you all say, they "mark" you, what does this mean exactally? The only thing that my females have ever done is pee on me. Is that what their "mark" is?


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## JAnimal (Jul 23, 2014)

Exactly what marking is. They grossly mark you as their territory. It's basically saying this thing or this person is mine!


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## camygirl (Aug 3, 2015)

My girls have just started doing that to me. It is so frustrating!


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## cookiebear<3 (Aug 2, 2013)

Citrus slices are okay, it's a chemical in the peel that bonds to proteins in the kidneys. This means no orange juice as many are squeezed while in the peel, but if you rinse it first, peel it and let them and have a slice it's okay. A good quality food is good, neutering and just regular cage cleaning equal no smelly ratties  when they are no longer babies around say 8 months, males benefit from a lower protein diet. 

If you decide to neuter for smell/testosterone issues leave the male seperate from the females for three weeks to prevent babies and you can allow food/water before surgery because they cannot vommit


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