rat wrote:ratatouille. wrote:hey everyone!
i'm thinking about getting two rats, but the problem is, I don't know what gender. I've had a female in the past before, and she was fun, but i've been doing research on males. I've read on how they can be territorial and aggressive towards each other if they aren't neutered, but i was wondering if anyone knew the average cost for getting a male neutered? Is it worth it?
I've also read on how they mark everywhere if you let them out of their cages, so is that true? >> pee doesn't bother me, but if they do it all the time, i think my family will have a problem. (and i eventually will too.)
i'll probably stick with females, but i'm kinda hoping someone will change my mind. thanks!
i think they are relatively similar. boys are slightly stinkier (mostly solved with increased cleaning) if they are aggressive they are aggressive, it won't be fixed with neutering. (altering is not worth it, it can range anywhere from $60 to over $200 in some places. they are too short lived) i think they do mark but it depends on the individual.
Increased cleaning or cleaning too often will make them scent mark more and therefore smell more. I clean out every 2 weeks and have no problems with smell, but then again I use actual substrate as opposed to fleece or carefresh which seem popular choices - I don't understand why as both are awful but whatever. Neutering will fix hormonal aggression, as with neutering you are taking away the source of the hormones which are causing the issues. It's a shame that you put a monetary value on the rats like that though, it shouldn't matter how much it costs vs how long they live to get them the medical attention they need. They're still your pets and you're responsible for their wellbeing, regardless of whether it's a horse that lives 20 years or a rat that lives 2. One of mine had a horrible accident a while back and I needed to take her to an emergency appointment with an exotics specialist
immediately, I phoned the vet on my way there and told them to have someone ready for us NOW. Thankfully she survived and has made a full recovery, but you can only imagine how much that day had cost us. It didn't matter though, because the important thing was to give her the vet care she needed in order to help her - so what it put me behind on my rent payments, my animal's life was a priority and I would do it again if the situation called for it. Hormonal aggression is a medical issue which requires medical attention, whether it's neutering or an implant, or in some cases where the rat is so unhappy and nothing has helped, euthanasia.