Neutering does work sometimes

OK, so I lied. Really, this is just another piece of evidence that you shouldn't believe everything you read on the Internet. But I'll tell you what happened:

At the time that I wrote "Neutering your male rats is costly and ineffective", the information available was this:

If you don't like the way your rat is acting, snip him.

It's not the worst advice in the world, and though it's definitely a minimal-thought solution, it's a costly solution, particularly if it doesn't work. And with Wolfman, it didn't work. But now I know why it didn't work. Read on...

First, there are different types of behavioral problems:

The rat's biting us - why?

The rat's making his cagemate squeak - why?

The rat's biting/slashing his cagemate(s) - why?

The rat's mounting his cagemate(s).

The rat's simply not getting along with one of his cagemates.

The rat sidles against walls, or is constantly puffed up, or flaps his tail.

And a wide range of other scenarios...

You need to figure out what your rat's behavioral problem is (and who exactly has the behavioral problem) and ask yourself why he is behaving like that. Why are the rats squabbling? Why is he biting you or his cagemates? What else is going on at the time? Are there any types of instigating behaviors? Are there any signals before the biting and fur-flying begins? How long have the squabbling rats been together? Etc.

It may even be useful to familiarize yourself with their strategies and tactics as it is important to understand that their methods of communication do differ from our own: things we may perceive as problematic may not be as problematic as they appear while other things we perceive to be harmless, may in fact be quite harmful.

It is important then, to remember that we are not rats and in many respects we do not think like rats however we must trust our instincts using what we do know and understand about their behaviors to decide how to respond: quite often the answers are there and quite possibly the solution is right there with it.

Some things to consider:

Most fights have a pre-fight stage. Like us, rats will "talk" it out and we don't hear that part because they talk at decibels lower than we can hear. A quiet eek-eek noise is not an end-of-the-world scream. It's usually a rat's way of saying "OK, OK! I get it!" or "OK, OK, you're scaring me!" because he's already tried "talking" it through with the aggressor. It's not a sign that you need to intercede but it is a smart thing for the squeaker to just stay there and let the alpha give him a good sniff or power-groom or whatever it is that he's trying to do. If he takes off, he's testing the law-maker...and government doesn't like that.

Mounting is a natural alpha behavior. It should be a quick process, one that shows the rat being mounted that he is boss. It should not last 4-10 seconds and be followed by a sheath cleaning. Most of the rats we have neutered fit the latter description. We call them sexual offenders. If the other rat(s) tolerate the behavior, it's not a problem - the behavior may subside over time (but it's not a short period of time). If the other rat(s) don't tolerate the behavior, they become angry and the rat fights begin. Knowing why the fights begin, then, is important. Usually the mounter is not even part of the squabble so you can waste $100 by simply neutering the wrong guy. And of course when all is said and snipped, the fighting continues because the mounter is still doing his thing, ticking everyone off.

Rats consider the wires of their cage to be a territorial boundary: Inside is his, outside is yours. If they're not used to the intrusion, anything that gets through that boundary needs to be sent off running.

Rats attack band-aids.

A rat's fur should be flat against his body. If it's jutting outward, he's either sick or angry. They also don't normally "scoot" on the ground or rub their sides along wall edges and such behaviors are indicative of hormone-drive actions. Similarly, rats don't "wag" their tails like dogs and any wagging, or tail-flapping, is an instinctive hormone-driven behavior.

So...now that we know what's normal and what's not normal, you need to take that knowledge and apply it to what you're seeing.

The rat's biting us: Why? When? Is he biting only when we shove our fingers through his cage wires? Is he biting one particularly person or biting one particular location of one person or all persons? Does he only bite when he's in one location of the room or only when someone's cooking or only when the heat, A/C, a room fan starts up or is running? Does he respond adversely to a particular hand soap, lotion, laundry detergent? Is there something you do that causes him to snap (i.e. tickling his rump)? Are the biting escapades prefaced by the fluffing out of his fur? Are the biting escapades prefaced by warning nips or attempts to get away?

Neutering will solve... Biting escapades prefaced by the puffing of fur. Biters that have a tendency to sidle along walls and/or flap their tails. Biters that respond adversely to room noises or smells. Eliminating the stimulus is sometimes possible but generally these guys are so high-strung that neutering them becomes a health benefit as you don't want them dying of a heart attack at 1½ years of age.

Neutering will not solve... Cage wire biting. The only solution to this problem is to offer them your fingers through the wires when they're young to bore them of the practice. If they're older, remembering not to stick your fingers through the cage wires is the way to go. Band-aids. The solution is to remember not to put band-aided fingers in front of rats' mouths. The biting of only one person. Chances are, that person is either inadvertently doing something that scares or annoys him or that person is using some kind of soap, lotion, fragrance that makes him nuts. Exploring the things they do differently and getting rid of whatever that thing is (behavior or fragrance) is the only solution. The biting of one particular location. This is usually a smell thing and the "particular location" is usually an ear or a socked foot. Try using a different fragrance, soap, laundry detergent. Biting preceded by warning nips or attempts to get away. This is generally a very young children thing: They squeeze and prod and squish and stretch the rat past his limits. Teaching the child to heed the warnings (his attempts to get away, the warning nip(s)) is the solution.

The rat's making the cagemate squeak, the rat's biting/slashing his cagemates, and/or the rat's simply not getting along with one of his cagemates: The best thing to do is to watch them, in their own environment, as quietly as you can and without interjecting because... The biggest part of the problem is usually us: We expect quiet, they squeak, and our maternal (or paternal) instincts go into overdrive. But rats aren't us. They are supposed to sniff each other's rumps, they're supposed to establish a pecking order, and they're supposed to respect the alpha.

And most of the time, squeaking rats are rats that also, in addition to abiding by the rules of the colony, need to learn the language - you're essentially introducing a french-only speaking person to a german-only speaking person. In time, they'll learn to communicate with each other, but they have to seek out the common mannerisms and common terms before they can get anywhere.

So you have to just sit there and watch and avoid interrupting the discussions because often times, the squeaker needs to be nipped in order for him to understand the laws of the colony.

Of course you obviously don't want them tearing each other apart so you do need to know when you absolutely must interject and how to interject without being too disruptive. Little eek-eeks are, again, not signs that you need to interject. If, however:


There's a high-speed chase and the one doing the chasing has very puffed out fur...

The squeaker is screaming (reeeeek REEEeeeeek ReeeeeeEEEEEKKK) and not squeaking...

Two rats are standing tall, boxing, and are at an equal height (nobody is bowing down, keeping himself lower than the mouth of the rat standing the tallest)...

One rat is pinned with the alpha leaning on top of him and it appears as if he's going to attempt to run off...

You'll want to blow on the squabbling rats as hard as you can to distract them. If the pinned rat is trying to take off, he'll stay put for an extra moment. This may be enough to satisfy the alpha and will also show the pinned guy that just waiting it out is what causes the least harm to his person. If two rats are standing equally tall, one will usually rest or they'll forget exactly what they were doing and return to that encounter at a later time. If there's a high-speed chase, it'll slow the chaser down and give the one being chased a chance to catch his breath while also hopefully causing the chaser to forget what he was doing.

And of course you don't want to just shove your hand between the two. If the alpha's fur is puffed out, he's not a thinking rat, he's a reactive rat and he'll snap at you.

The rat's mounting his cagemates: Mounting is normal and sexual aggression rare and if you ever see one rat mounting another rat, I would first assume it normal and only if squabbles ensue on a routine basis would I worry at all about it. Any alpha has a right to mount another rat to show dominance over that rat. His first subordinate has a right to mount every rat except the alpha himself. When you get down to the very bottom of the social pecking order, rats mounting other rats with the exception of the alpha (and often the 2 or 3 rats directly below the alpha) is perfectly normal and acceptable behavior.

However...the one being mounted has to tolerate it, it should't last more than 4-6 seconds, and it should be infrequent behavior. Rats that run around mounting multiple rats in a short period of time (some period of time less than once a day) are "sexual offenders." Rats that mount the same guy repeatedly in a short period of time (for example, within 10 minutes time) or who spend more than 4-6 seconds mounting an individual rat and follow up the session by "cleaning his sheath" are usually "sexual offenders."

The rat sidles against walls, or is constantly puffed up, or flaps his tail: These are all hormone-driven behaviors. If you have a tail-flapper who doesn't puff out his fur and/or sidle walls, and if he doesn't instigate fights, I wouldn't worry about it. Those guys are usually OK. Any rat that is constantly sitting, walking, and sleeping with his fur puffed out needs to be, if only for his health, neutered. Ditto with the wall-sidlers and floor-scooters. If it's just a random new-situation thing, the behavior is fine. It shows the guy has some alpha tendencies but he's still rational. But if they're doing this all the time, anywhere and everywhere, in the cage, in previously visited territory, etc, it's a problem.

Neutering will solve... You have to neuter these guys. For a lack of a better description, they're just not right in the head. Some people conclude that they're better off living by themselves because, by removing all of the stimuli, they behave normally, but it's really not fair to the rat. If his hormones are surging, he's not thinking in any sense of the word. He's just reactive. And by doling out a sentence of solitary confinment, while protecting the rest of the colony from his random outbursts, you still have the issue of his health to consider. Rats like that don't live long if they remain intact, they hide illnesses, they're constantly under stress. Neutering them, removing them from the colony while they heal, and putting them back in with the colony 3-4 days after the neuter is generally more than enough to set the situation straight.

In all cases where neutering is the solution,

The rat should be kept with his cagemates, even immediately after surgery. The only one that will remove stitches is the one with the stitches so the only thing that needs to be protected is the neutered rat from himself. Reintroducing a neutered male to his colony more than 48 hours after separation is just as challenging as (and often impossible) introducing two full-grown strangers to one another. If, however, he was neutered because of aggression toward one or all of his cagemates, you'll want to seaprate him from the rest of the gang for the 10 days it takes to heal and reintroduce him slowly back into the colony (tip: Don't scrub his smell out of the main cage - just replace bedding for that period of time).

The rat should be removed from any stimulus that was part of the chain of events while he heals. If the room in which he dwells is the place of his aggression, move the whole cage to a quiet, dark place for the 10 days it takes for the surgical site to heal. If it's something about you or something about a room you and he spend time together in, don't handle him for the 10 days it takes him to heal except to briefly and unobtrusively check on his healing progress. If he's a "sexual offender" don't do anything different - the mounting will stop in a few days and you and his cagemates will find peace.

The reasoning: Rats have very poor memories. Neutering alone just breaks the chain of events. But rats are smart: If, while healing, they are being bombarded by whatever it is that spooked them, they just create a new chain of events. If the stimulus is removed when the drive is removed, they forget about whatever it was they had issues with. After the testosterone is no longer an issue for them (about 3-4 days after the surgery), and if the stimulus is removed, they tend to forget about the whole thing. You can then, usually, safely put them back into their room, put them back with their cagemates, take them out for play time wherever they previously had problems, and more often than not, they'll no longer respond adversely to the situation.

And lastly, if you're seriously thinking about neutering your rat(s), do think of all of the consequences ahead of time. Rats do have their social pecking order. If you, for example, snip the good and fair alpha by mistake, you're going to have another neuter on your hands very soon. If you eliminate a non-obtrusive "sexual offender's" drive, you may disrupt a fragile portion of the social ladder. So, in general, unless you're planning on neutering all of them, you want to think twice and maybe even three times about who you're neutering and why. When you start shifting the social hierarchy, particularly in larger groups, it can get very noisy (and bloody) in that cage as they reassess their social order.

Almost forgot: Click here to find out why it didn't work with Wolfman (we didn't remove the triggers after the surgery, oops!).

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Disclaimer: There are many non-sarcastic accounts and tips on the web regarding rat care. This is not one of them. These are merely accounts of our experiences with rats, our perceptions of these experiences, where we've failed and where we've succeeded. These accounts are here for two purposes:

1) To entertain.

  Remember! Your rat is not a science project, he is your friend!