I don't know if anyone will be able to offer any help, but I'm going to ask anyways. I just got two new bucks from our local humane society a few weeks back. When I first met them, they were both really sweet, although one was definitely shyer than the other. Anyways, everything was going fine but about two days after I get them, the shyer one, named Kryten, bit my finger while I was opening the cage, and it was a good bite. I've had plenty of rats in the past and I've had my share of troublemakers, but never one like Kryten.
At first I thought I may have just startled him, but that quickly left my mind when he did it again, intentionally running to the door to bite me while I was opening it. I know it's probably a territorial thing, but he seems just flat out vicious!
Whenever anyone stand near his cage he just freezes and stares at them until they leave. He will also attack anything I put in his cage until he figures out its not a finger. Then I can put other things through the bars and he was fine, not even giving them a second thought, but the moment I stuck my finger in the cage, and he realized it was me, he lunged at my finger.
At first it was just when you stuck your fingers through the bars, but he did actually attack my hand when I had my hand inside the cage while fixing some bedding. Naturally I'm worried about him, and he makes it hard for me to refill their food or anything. To open the cage you have to slightly put your fingers through the bars to unattach it and he always just sits there and waits. I feel terrible for his brother (who oddly enough is the dominant one of the two), because he's such a sweetie, but I can't take him out as much as I would like to because of Kryten!
I have another male rat, Squiggy, that has his own cage (I had his brother as well, but he had to be put down) and I would like to move Marvin in with him, but even though they get along fine out of their cages I still don't trust them enough to cage them together as they haven't established a dominance yet and I want to be able to intervene if it get too out of hand when they do.
Anyways, I don't have enough money to get Kryten neutered, so does anyone know any other solutions to territorial aggression? Or something else it might be?
On another subject I have a little girl that thinks its fun to chew the bars of her cage at night (Kryten actually does this as well). I've tried both lemon juice and bitter yuck spay, but neither have stopped the habit. Any suggestions?
Kryten-Don't let that cute face fool you!Marvin <3My little girl NyxSquiggy <3(The dumbo at the bottom) and his brother Lenny, who is no longer with us.And This is one of my former rats. Her name was Boo and she was my baby, I love and miss her so much <3
The fearless Miss Boo <3She loved to terrorizes my cat :3The cutest picture EVER <3<3 My baby girl
by Atheon » Sat Jul 27, 2013 7:14 pm 
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