male rat doesn’t like us anymore since we got females?
My boyfriend and I have had our pet (male) rat Havarti for four months, and about 3 days ago we got 2 new female rats (in a seperate cage of course)
I’ve been letting them out at different times, and now when I let Havarti out he just goes straight to the females cage, and (I guess lovingly) nips the girls through the cage, or sleeps next to the cage. (he used to hang out with us on the couch)
If I try to pull him away he acts really strange and throws a tantrum of sorts. If I just try to pet him he halfway rolls over and squeals like I’m hurting him/ gets all stiff and twitches. When I let him go, it’s right back to the girls cage. It’s like we don’t exist anymore.
I’ve tried luring him away with food and he’s not interested.
I don’t mind that he’s interested in the girls, and I understand that it’s animal nature. But it’s very disheartening that Havarti is acting like we’re hurting him when we try to spend time with him now.
What should I do?
Obviously he has discovered girls and likes what he sees! I’m afraid the only thing you can do is make it so he cannot see or smell the girls at all, or have him neutered. It’s not uncommon for male rats to exhibit this kind of behaviour around females, and even touching the female rats and then trying to play with him can have him upset. He’s basically acting like you’re another male rat competing for the attention of the females, and you’re winning.
You’ll have to move the females into a separate room where he cannot smell them, and wash your hands after handling them or cleaning their cage. This may help, it may not, and either way it will take a while for him to get used to you again.
Probably the best option is to have him neutered, that way he won’t have the same drive to mate and you can even put him in the same cage as your girls with no unintended babies. Neutering almost always calms male rats down in any situation, plus it reduces their risk of cancer in older age, reduces their smell, urine marking, and buck grease.
I hope that helps you, good luck with your rats!
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