Reptile & Amphibian Forums

i have a small breeing colony of rats and have noticed two male rats being aggresive toward some females? even noticed one female with facial wounds. i would just remove him and bring him to my local pet store and hopefully be fed to a boa cause my balls only eat small rats this male is huge! is this somewhat normal sometimes? i did have him seperated for two weeks. i will say if i notice any open wounds on the females he will be removed for sure. just wandering if a aggresiveness is expected some what or should they just be getting along pretty easily? thanks in advance.

For the most part, they should get along - I always leave mine together - males & females.
If there's a trait I don't like (such as biting), I feed them off.
If it's a nursing female that bites, feed her & her litter off!
That way you end up with friendly genetics

Right now, I'm dealing with a whole new colony. & they're a lot more hyper than my old ones - they jump out & run! My others used to just wander & explore slowly.

I'd trade your aggressive male for tamer stock - Probably from a different source than your others (Maybe could get some from a "pet" breeder). LOL
Cheers,
Max
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"How the hell do you find a Heloderma in a snowstorm?"

I breed my rats for their personalities also. I would feed off any aggressive rats and keep/breed only rats with mellow dispositions.

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Shannon in Reno
1.0 savannah monitor (Pombe-means "beer" in Swahili)
2.4 dogs
1.0 cat
5.32 rats
6.44 mice
7.50 chickens
1.2 beardies
0.1 black rat snake
~500 hissers
1 giant millipede
0.1 Chissel tooth kangaroo rat
1.1 rabbits
1.0 wonderful husband

I posted these "rodent rules" some time back and a lot of people got a big kick out of them. Truth be told, I do follow them and over the years have worked the colony into a tamer group of rodents. By losing individuals with undesireable traits, you do promote the more desireable traits.

Don't produce - fed off
Fight - fed off (new rule added just for you)
Kill babies - fed off
Sick - fed off
Jumpy - fed off
Bite me - whacked on cement then fed off

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Thanks,

Dave Colling

www.rainbows-r-us-reptiles.com

0.1 Wife (WC and still very fiesty)
0.2 kids (CBB, a big part of our selective breeding program)

LOL, to many snakes to list, last count:
24.36 BRB
19.19 BCI
And those are only the breeders

lots.lots.lots feeder mice and rats

what an honor! thanks dave. unfortunatley i need these two males but as soon as i dont if they havent changed they will be snake crap. thanks all.

is to feed off any of their offspring so as not to pass along those genes. Then raise up some good, unrelated stock.
Max
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"How the hell do you find a Heloderma in a snowstorm?"

Males will pin the females down to see if they are in heat and if they don't cooporate they stand on hind ends and dance and soon enough the female submits and the male is groomer her, i don't feed off this kind of aggressivness, it's part of the "cooporate or else" from the males. No blood shed here.
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1.4 various boas(Flicka,Felony,Nova,Alias,Alibi)
0.1 BRB Abalone; ABBI
1.0 Rott X (OSO)
2.0 cats (Simba, Morris)
fish & feeders
~:~~~~~~~ ~:~~~~~~~~

I go by the same rules, othen then the cement.
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Shannon in Reno
1.0 savannah monitor (Pombe-means "beer" in Swahili)
2.4 dogs
1.0 cat
5.32 rats
6.44 mice
7.50 chickens
1.2 beardies
0.1 black rat snake
~500 hissers
1 giant millipede
0.1 Chissel tooth kangaroo rat
1.1 rabbits
1.0 wonderful husband

Bite me and payback is a ........
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Thanks,

Dave Colling

www.rainbows-r-us-reptiles.com

0.1 Wife (WC and still very fiesty)
0.2 kids (CBB, a big part of our selective breeding program)

LOL, to many snakes to list, last count:
24.36 BRB
19.19 BCI
And those are only the breeders

lots.lots.lots feeder mice and rats