Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Howdy everybody,
It's been years since I've been on here! I always found it a great resource for information, though, so here I am again.
And by the way, I could really use help by Saturday. Need to make my decision by then.

I've had several rats throughout the last 10 years. My first was a solo, but I was CONSTANTLY with him (he even came with me to school on my shoulder on a regular basis). My second two came from the same tank at the store (no luck finding breeders) and were both just peachy their whole lives. My next set of two were easy as PIE to introduce to each other, like good to go after just an afternoon together. So really, my introduction experience is admittedly limited and has been lucky thus far.
Now I have a total new issue on my hands.
We got two rats from the same tank about 3 weeks ago, a blonde hooded guy named Fujin and an agouti hooded slightly smaller fella named Alobar. Fujin ended up being the perfect male rat! He's affectionate, LOVES us to death, practically leaps out of the cage (if not out of it, then directly onto the wires of the wall)when he sees us, grooms, plays, etc. Alobar ended up being not so fantastic. He was super introverted, and not too nice because he never stopped nipping at us and was constantly over-dominating Fujin. When he gnawed all the hair off Fujin's back and only got worse about trying to escape all the time, we took him back to the store and tried to find another docile guy. We brought home a black hooded gorgeous silky soft guy we call Squee. Squee and Fujin were great at first! We did everything right - cleaned both the cages, supervised introductions and play, bathed our guy (needed it badly anyway...), distracted with treats, rewarded good behavior, gave it PLENTY of time, etc. etc.
Squee and Fujin got along great! They had their wrestling matches here and there of course, going back and forth between who's boss (Fujin ended up winning gently in the end) We finally felt comfortable letting them spend a night together with a dim light on and with our door open to hear any commotion. They were good for about 3 solid days and 2 nights with no problems until last night. Squee went berserko on Fujin! I woke up at 5 this morning to a crash and a bunch of squeaks. I ran out to the room, Fujin was on the second level looking terribly freaked out. Squee was on the lower level, hair all puffed up, back still slightly arched, not looking good. I took Fujin out immediately and blood tricked down my hand from where I'm guessing Squee ripped his hind right first toenail out. He had a few deep cuts along his back and one bite on his belly. We cleaned him up immediately and administered first aid and put him in a separate sterile tank.

So now, I have an injured rat (though he'd never admit this, he's acting just peachy and happy now) on one hand and a sweet but surprisingly unpredictably aggressive guy on the other. We have til Saturday to make a decision about either exchanging one more time or just getting a refund.
I want a friend for Fujin because my significant other and I both have full time jobs. I get home in the evenings around 6ish and he gets home around 4ish. We have time to play with the rats in the evenings, but that doesn't make up for all the lonely time during the day!

Anyone have any advice or insight, or sound familiar to anything you've experienced? Any help would be appreciated (especially BY Saturday)

and please, no silliness about us "not being responsible" for wanting to take the new guy back if it's just looking hopeless trying to find a suitable rat to pair with Fujin. This place finds good homes for their rats, no one will be fed to anything, and we realize we only have time for either a pair of rats or ONE solo rat considering our evenings and weekends (I also work with horses for a living on top of working at a chiropractic office, so dropping everything for the care of two rats in two cages when I'm the primary person doing all of this isn't really an option) - it would be unfair to the second one or both if we tried to split our time. I'd much rather just make it work with two rats, for their sake, but if Fujin is just too submissive for us to find another rat that would get along with him then we'll just have to pour all kinds of our time into him alone.

Thank you!

Might be easier to get the male fixed and introduce a female for a companion. Male rats can and do get along but two strangers being introduced, especially with adults, doesn't always work out as well as just raising two brothers or two same age young rats who are not yet fully mature sexually.

Also, at the place you are buying the rats, are they all housed in groups or separately? If they are kept separate, they may not have learned good social skills (rat to rat) and thus dont' know proper rat behaviors etc. Hence this could be why the males end up fighting. It could also be a matter of jealousy between the rats, one gets more of your attention (because he's sweet etc) while the nippy one doesn't (as you don't like being bit etc) but they may end up fighting over treats or whatever because of it.

Another thing, how long between getting rid of the first rat and picking up Squee? The stress of having a new rat introduced so soon after the other one was taken away could have caused issues as well.

Perhaps it will be better for you to return both males and pick up a pair of females who have been housed together, this may make it easier for you to have some pet rats without as much squabbling between them. Or since you have little time to spend with rats anyway, just skip out on getting them completely. Things to consider anyway...but only you will know how much time you can spend with the rats on a daily basis. In general rats are quite capable of having little to no interaction with us, other than for food and drink, (and general cleaning of course) if they have another rat for a companion.
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PHLdyPayne

Eh, too late for a return (plus I've actually never had the pleasure of owning females), but thank you for the response!!

They're being housed separately and we're having them fixed ASAP to see if this solves the problem. If it still doesn't, we've decided we actually don't mind the schedule we've set up to be sure each rat is getting at least a few hours attention each day. I just hate them being by themselves!

They had plenty of socialization prior to acquiring them, so it's definitely not that. I think it's purely hormonal. Fujin started to mount Squee, and Squee got more and more aggressive about expressing his opinion about that (and I don't blame him). However, ironically, Squee has actually gotten more and more hormonal with all this time - rubbing himself hard up against everything (cage walls, pillows, me, couch, chair, anything), puffing up even at ME (and there's a running joke around the house that I'm the only one he likes - that probably just has to do with the fact that I'm the main one who feeds him and takes him out every morning and evening and all I can when possible, hmm...). He's actually puffed up, arched his back, hissed at me and bitten me already, all over a toy. He's thankfully not getting dangerous - I know what he's capable of and he didn't go full out attack on me by any means, but I'm not letting this continue without intervention. He's marking everywhere, gets puffy too quick, and he just seems uncomfortable and restless within himself! I'm still taking him out and keeping him busy and his cage is plenty big for lots of activity, but I feel terrible for the poor thing I've never had a male rat that's gotten so hormonal! Fujin is just fine and peachy with how things are, in tact and all, so Squee's up for the big change first and we'll see how it goes after he's had a few weeks for the hormones to settle down.

Skipping out on rats entirely? I'd rather live on the streets! At least I'd befriend a few there