# Boys vs. Girl Rats



## rubytuesday (Jul 23, 2013)

I stumbled across this YouTube video a couple days ago and I cannot stop thinking about it! I had planned on having 2-3 male rats, but this video says that male rats are more likely to fight and suggests either having female rats or a spayed/neutered opposite sex pair. Any opinions on this? It sounds like mullarky to me since I know there are forum members with male mischiefs. 

I'm also interested in what everyone thinks about the personalities of male and female rats in general, if there are any differences. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BPxnUyDERs0


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## nanashi7 (Jun 5, 2013)

Males aren't more likely to fight, unless you toss two strange adults together. 

Females are hyper escape artists generally while males are lazy cuddles generally

Every rat has their own personality though. 


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## Phantom (Apr 4, 2012)

I own three males, one neutered and two un-neutered ones. I am planning on getting my two intact males neutered in the future because I do have a female rat. I could have my two intact males living together and my neutered male and the female living together, but Toast (one of my un-neutered males) is extremely attached to my neutered male Pastoolio. They are un-seperable. My two hairless babies are also un-seperable, and one of them is the other un-neutered male and the other is female. I will say that I have never had any fighting incidents with my males. Whether they are neutered or un-neutered all three of them get along very well together. I have, however, had one dominant female before. I think it really depends more on the rat's personality then it does gender. I've found that both genders can be equally as cuddly or as hyper. It all depends on individual personality.


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## lalalauren (Jul 3, 2013)

Due to the rush of hormones males get when they hit puberty (3-6 months), it could increase their urge to fight, especially a power shift occurs (currently going through something terrible myself, but in hindsight, it's totally my fault for bringing in a pet shop rat who has possibly awful behavioural genetics). But I think you see just as many threads on here about boys fighting as you do girls fighting. With girls, I think their urge to fight or be annoying comes when they're in heat, which happens quite a lot. 

There's definitely no reason why you shouldn't get an all male mischief (I've read several resources saying that males will fight and shouldn't live together...think they're thinking of hamsters). 

Neutered male and female seems like a nice combination, because I don't think there'll ever be a power struggle within the group, because makes are the natural leaders, but I can't say this from experience. Just a theory. Plus neutering/spaying can be a dangerous operation in such a small animal, so should really only be done if absolutely necessary. 

I've not had girls, so I can only speak about boys but, aside from the current hassle I'm having (which I hope, at worst case scenario, I just have to put up with/put a lot more effort into for the next two months), I love my squishy boys. I didn't think they'd ever get squishy, but they have (the older two at least - they're seven months old now). Watching a rat fall asleep on you is so precious. I've heard that females can be pretty restless! But they're also very clever. I'm sure 90% of the rat tricks videos you see on YouTube are done with female rats


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## Siringo (May 7, 2012)

I got female rats in the first place because everyone I met in person said that females were the way to go. They said that males were really smelly, unhealthy and aggressively territorial. Since I've joined this forum, I've learned that that's not true at all! They may be a little smellier, but I was under the impression it would be unmanageable. I love my females, but I'm really looking forward to a nice pair of mellow/cuddly boys that are less prone to tumors!

They could be hormonal and aggressive to eachother, but from what I've heard, it's not common and the chances are especially low if you adopt brothers. If one does become aggressive, it should be fixable.. either with immersion or neutering. I have no idea how well non-sibling boys adapt to eachother as adults though.


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## anawelch (Sep 25, 2013)

I have two males who I think are from the same litter but if they aren't then they were still together since birth. They are between 7-8 weeks old and they get along great. They wrestle but thats about it. I know for gerbils its better to get two girls or three boys, not sure about rats but my two boys seem to do fine


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## mameur (Nov 3, 2012)

i have males they grew up together love each other and protect one another there is no dominance traits so far as they are immersed titan is lazy and caster and smokey are very curious and active those are my older rats, the male rats i had before that were hyper active but never attacked one another thought they marinated in their pee and were pretty dirty unlike my current extremely clean crew. I sheltered females for a while which were very active and kind of dirty. honestly if you have a chance visit the litter you are picking your rats from and pick the friendliest less never ones forget gender. also males get very big i mean titan has to be picked up with both hands now lol he's very very big and 5 months now so still has a little bit of growing to do he's around 600 g.


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## Daniel (Jun 24, 2013)

rubytuesday said:


> but this video says that male rats are more likely to fight and suggests either having female rats or a spayed/neutered opposite sex pair. Any opinions on this?
> 
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BPxnUyDERs0


The video is wrong. Older information on rats (30 years old) like to think of rats as big mice, where males living together is a little tougher. But they are nothing alike. Mice have packs based on one male, his harem, and their offspring. With rats, they have an alpha male, several beta males and then females. So it's natural for them to be kept together and they will go crazy alone anyway. They establish boundries but will usually love each other very quickly. 

For a beginner, I would recommend males. Females tend to have more health problems, are more escape-prone and destructive, and intact females have about an 80% change of getting huge tumors as they get older.


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## monster_paws (Jan 17, 2013)

i've had a mixed sex mischief before (neutered boy and two girls) and it was the best group i've ever had. No power struggles, fights, puffed fur ever.


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## rubytuesday (Jul 23, 2013)

Daniel said:


> The video is wrong. Older information on rats (30 years old) like to think of rats as big mice, where males living together is a little tougher. But they are nothing alike. Mice have packs based on one male, his harem, and their offspring. With rats, they have an alpha male, several beta males and then females. So it's natural for them to be kept together and they will go crazy alone anyway. They establish boundries but will usually love each other very quickly.
> 
> For a beginner, I would recommend males. Females tend to have more health problems, are more escape-prone and destructive, and intact females have about an 80% change of getting huge tumors as they get older.



I think it's a little irresponsible for a vet to spread misinformation. These videos are recent and I think this vet does actually care about rats because the rest of his videos contain decent information; which makes me wonder where he got his ideas about the sexes. 

I agree about beginners and male rats. I had a female rat from Petco when I was a teenager (I was 16 and my mom and I did the best we could but we received a lot of misinformation) and she developed mammary tumors before 2 years of age. That is why I'm planning to get male rats from a breeder this time.


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## Daniel (Jun 24, 2013)

rubytuesday said:


> I think it's a little irresponsible for a vet to spread misinformation. These videos are recent and I think this vet does actually care about rats because the rest of his videos contain decent information; which makes me wonder where he got his ideas about the sexes.
> .


Oh I know. It's just that it's an old line that some vets still repeat. IIRC it's still on some care sheets. I am sure the guy means well. If you look at Rat Fancy stuff from the 70s, you see the same kind of talk.


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## Daisy (Jul 8, 2013)

I think it can go either way, depending on the individual rat. My all time favorite rat, Chloe, is a very strong alpha. She beats up any females except for her sister. She's also headstrong, adventurous and has the quirkiest personality. Definitely not a cuddle bug. But I love her for her independence and fearlessness. She regularly forces my 50 lb dog down for grooming sessions  My males, on the other hand, are very sweet and content to chill in your lap or on your shoulder for hours. They've also been very good when introduced to any other rat. Take that as you will.


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## kjgannon09 (Oct 16, 2013)

I have eight males all in the same huge cage and they are best of friends. Of course they wrestle and play fight, but that is just part of their nature. I have never had a serious fight. Actually, my females get more worked up than the males do, but I believe it is simply because they are more active.

Males in general tend to be more laid back than females, but each rat truly has their own personality. One of my girls loves to chill with me and falls asleep on my lap, and one of my boys never seems to stop moving and is extremely hard to catch.


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