Different ideas and exectations
We all have different ideas
on how to care for our pets, and we also have different
ideas about what is the perfect temperament and behaviour
of our pets.
My experiences through many years of having rats as pets, breeders and for show purposes have told me that rat owners have extremely different expectations on their rat ownership. A person that wants to breed and show rats after a written standard may not always care that much about the temperament and behaviour of the individual rat, a problematic rat (a problematic rat may not always bite, but causes turmoil and often fights in the cage) can often be successfully showed. And this rat can live alone in a cage of its own, to avoid getting holes (bites) in other rats.
Anyone that buys rats as pets - to have and to love some cute, friendly and snuggly animals, full of innocent mischief - that person may find that a problematic rat can be a main disaster in the family. This person may be a child that gets bitten by his or her own pet rat and thus becomes afraid of his or her own pet. Or this person may be a sensitive person that can't stand it when the rats fight and bite holes in eachother.
We all have different expectations on our pets, and that should be taken into consideration by anyone that breeds rats to sell. If your breding rats have a more problematic or dominant composition it is not acceptable to sell babies from these rats to children and sensitive rat owners that does not want want any blood in their rat cage. Then you need to find other buyers for your rat babies, persons that already knows what kind of temperament and behaviour these rats will express when they grow up.
A dominant rat is unsuitable to sell to the wrong buyer, a dominant rat may bite if it feels that it is being handled in the wrong way. This is not a bad or abnormal behaviour in itself, but if it leads to a situation where the owner becomes afraid of the rat then it is a question of wrong rat in the home of wrong owners. That would be like selling a dominant rottweiler to a family that needs a nice tempered labrador - this may end in tears and disappointment. And also that the animal is put down.
Rat behaviour
I myself belong to those that for many years have taken
interest in the behaviour of the rat. I am also delighted in
studying scientific litterature about any subject of my
liking, and I have found that the rat has been subject to
several scientific studies, especially the wild Norvegian brown
rat. The result of my findings, both in scientific litterature
and from my own rats, is that the so called problematic rat is
abnormal in itself. It does not exist in nature where rats have
a hard live enough as it is, without biting its friends in
the rat colony.
I have also seen how people wrongly accuse rats of aggressive behaviour. Rats that only bites through bars and never in any other situation may have been fed through the bars. This can be done something about through training, and is not aggressive behaviour. Female rats that defend their young are showing normal behaviour, and stops when the young are weaned, so this not aggressive behaviour either.
I can add that I through the years have learnt how to handle aggressive rats with my bare hands without getting bitten, you learn if you have to, but I personally prefer rats that never even thinks about biting nor me neither their cage mates. I do that in the same way that I avoid getting close to an aggressive dog and prefer very nice dogs that even can be handled by children. (I prefer German Shepherd Dogs...)
In 1980 I met my first tame rat and have been owning, breeding and taking care of rats ever since (also at work), and through these years I have met many aggressive rats and many normal rats. I have also owned, bred and worked with many other small pets during many years.
Biting who?
That an aggressive rat bites its owner is one thing, if
you want aggressive rats you only have yourself to blame.
If you got tricked into buying aggressive rats you know
who not buy from the next time!
But it is another story when it comes to the rats that live
in the same cage as the "biter". These rats will suffer!
When it comes to rats I like comparing them to dogs when talking about behaviour. There is one big difference between dog behaviour and rat behaviour though. Problematic dog behaviour is often caused by bad handling (the dog was not trained at all, or badly trained), seldom mistreatment. In the rat problematic behaviour is usually genetic, since it can clearly be traced through pedigrees. Rats, just like dogs, are seldom mistreated (at least in Sweden!).
This difference between the origin of problematic behaviour in these species - the dog and the rat - makes it clear that treatment cannot be the same. With one exception to the rule: rats that have been badly treated (bitten and terrorized) by cage mates. These rats can get well though love and understanding, if put in a cage with really nice cage mates. They may express strange behaviour for a while after they were removed from their offenders.
Why does some rats become aggressive?
Of couse it is of utmost importance to find out why a rat
express a problematic behaviour, but usually the origin is
genetic (hormonal) and may sometimes be corrected though
castration. Some rats are impossible to cure, and will
keep on acting as if they eat one box of anabolic steroids
every night...
Facts and studies of problematic rats does not exist, so the "facts" that are taught from breeder to breeder are totally based upon that persons view of rats. People that accept blood, fighting, and maybe one or two killed rats in their cages without problem, may think that agression in rats is usually curable. But fighting among cagemates is unnatural and aggressive behaviour, and accepting it is not at all the same as curing it.
What to do with the aggressive rat
What do you do when a rat gets aggressive? Some
aggressive males can be totally cured by castration
(aggressive females are uncommon). Most aggressive
males there are no cure for. So what you should do
depends upon yourself. Can you live with an
aggressive rat? You should keep in a separate cage,
since rats often aquire problematic behaviour through
sharing a cage with aggressive rats. In the same time
rats housed separately will develop even more aggression,
since they are not made to live alone. Some aggressive
males can have a castration and be put in with females.
There may be someone around that likes to take in your aggressive rat to try to cure him. Make sure that this person does not breed from aggressive rats if you consider leaving your aggressive rat in the hands of such a person!
Most agressive rats are hopelessly, incurably aggressive. Actually they are sick. Since they express such an abnormal behaviour. If these rats were humans they would be in jail or in psykiatric care... One way to "cure" such persons is though chemical castration.
Written by Eva Johansson.
Coyright Eva Johansson.
Last update: 11th of August 2006.