# How long for hormones to die down? Neutered Rat still biting...



## baxonline (Mar 31, 2012)

Hello,

We have 3 rats: Eccles, Clunes and the Dude. Eccles and Clunes are brothers (8 months old) we've had since they were 3 months old and the Dude is an older rescue rat.

Eccles and Clunes lived in a cage together. At about 6 months old (2 months ago), previously playful rat Clunes began beating Eccles up (serious fighting with bloody belly wounds), puffing up at the slightest provocation, puffing up if he even senses the Dude's cage is near, and finally biting us (clinging on and drawing blood). We understood he'd become a teenager and 4 weeks ago - after careful consideration- we had him neutered. 

Since then, we've kept him in a separate cage (right up against his brother's) until his hormones die down. Once the surgical wound healed (about 5 days later), we've been re-introducing them daily. Every day Clunes puffs up instantly and attacks Eccles. He still bites us (sometimes clinging on and drawing blood) so we wear gloves or use a towel to handle him.

How long do we give him for the hormones to die down and we'll know he's not going to change easily?


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## RatzRUs (Feb 5, 2012)

It takes few weeks too a month or two. Our oldest boy was clinging onto me before the neauter and really gashed my hand up.it took three weekS for him to settle


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## lilspaz68 (Feb 24, 2007)

Its too soon for intro's to take place. Its better to just let him relax without the stress of intro's...time for you to bond with him again. Some boys take a week, others take a month for the homrones to die down.


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## baxonline (Mar 31, 2012)

Clunes has had a month to recover so far. We hope a few more weeks should see him calm down. Opinions seem to vary. Some say rats need to be reintroduced often after neutering to prevent them losing familiarity with one another.


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## SCgirl (Jul 31, 2012)

I had pretty much the exact same problem. I have two brother, together since birth, which I had to separate about a month ago because their fighting turned pretty bloody. The one that always starts the fights (Buddy), who really wants to be dominate, unfortunately isnt much of a fighter so he kept getting beat up but refused to admit defeat. I really didnt want to separate them b/c everyone told me it would be really hard to put them back together but I didnt have much choice so I split their cage in half so they can still smell and see eachother but cant touch. I got just the aggressive one (Buddy) neutered 3 weeks ago and have tried a few times to re-introduce without success. The first was a week after surgery and I put them in a neutral place which turned into Buddy trying to dominate his brother, which turned to a fight I broke up...thank god for oven mitts. I tried again 2 weeks later and they kinda ignored eachother in the neutral space but then they jumped up to their normal play area and a fight started pretty quick...again with the oven mitt. Now that I know the signs their about to fight I've been putting them together for highly supervised playtime. I've done it twice more around the 3 week mark without any fights, although I'm pretty sure they would have if I didnt interfere first. I had heard 3 weeks was when hormones decreased, but its been 3 weeks already and I still cant leave them alone together. I'll let you know if/when I start to see a change, fingers crossed its soon.


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## baxonline (Mar 31, 2012)

Well, it's been almost 2 months since Clunes was neutered and he's just as aggressive. 

He'll be happy being stroked then decide he's had enough and turn to savagely bite n hold ontop our fingers. We re-introduced him to his brother a week ago for about 30 secs. The first 10 secs went well. Then he puffed up and pursued Eccles to a nearby box where he bit into his stomach.

So now Clunes is all alone in his cage. Eccles has been introduced to our older rescue rat the Dude and they're quite comfortably living together in another cage. He's such an intelligent curious rat who was so sweet before adolescence kicked in (what a cliche)! He must be so bored.

I've searched the forums and the sites and cannot see a way of retraining him. We're just waiting until he calms down.


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## elliriyanna (Jul 27, 2011)

I know of some rats who after reaching maturity can never live with another rat  I hope your boy isnt one of these but dont give up maybe he needs girl friends?


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## SCgirl (Jul 31, 2012)

Its been about 2 months since I neutered my aggressive rat Buddy and he's calmed down a lot. However now his brother Monty has become very aggressive and territorial...I cant win. When I've tried re-introduce them they get close to eachother and freeze and then they start puffing up, which is usually when I break it up. I tried once on neutral ground and it was going well, but as soon as they hopped up to their normal play area they went straight into corner/freeze/puff mode. I've made an appointment now to get Monty neutered, wish i'd done them both at once


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## baxonline (Mar 31, 2012)

Gosh, Clunes is just not changing. 

We were wondering if he just needed special affection and time but he's still puffy, wiping himself against us and the furniture, and likes to bite any part of us he can. He'll behave well if he knows food is at the end of it. Today we coated both him and his brother Eccles in some yoghurt (I know, sounds odd but it's supposed to bond them a bit) and supervised their interaction. After 2 minutes he went for Eccles, as usual.

We don't know where to go from here really. It's such a shame as he was a lovely, playful guy before puberty clearly struck (cliche or what!).

Any advice from hardened experts welcomes really.


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## baxonline (Mar 31, 2012)

Today he has started hissing at us.


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