tail wagging in male rat

Question
I hope you can help me :)

I have a male rat of about 1 year and 9 months old.
Lately something in his behavior has changed and i dont know what it means or what I can / should do to make him feel better.

He has not been very healthy due to airway problems. He is periodically getting treatment for this, which works for a short while and then the breathing problems return. I am off course seeing a vet for that.

He is kept alone.
Before I got him, he was looking for a home because he could not deal with other rats, up to biting limbs off... But he was incredibly sweet to humans. I adopted him when he was a little less then a year old.

Towards me he is indeed truly adorable, washing, licking, grinding his teeth in pleasure, plopping with his eyes and wanting to get attention at every turn.

Now the behavior change...
Lately he wags his tail a lot (as in really a lot) and very very wildly and hard. He does this both in his cage as well as when he is sitting with me. Also lately he seems to be more.. hyped by lack of better term. As well as that he still loves attention but does not seem very happy outside the cage anymore.

His diet has not changed. The amount of attention he gets has not changed... basically nothing has changed.

But I am concerned that he is growing less happy and might be hurting his tail. Or that it might be a symptom of something else.

So, what does it mean and what can i do to help my sweet little pet ?

Answer
OK, first off, the meds that you are using to treat his respiratory issues may not be the best ones for him. I would recommend that you suggest to your vet to try using amoxicillin with him rather than baytril. If the issue is not myco related, then baytril is a bad choice in antibiotics for a rat.

Secondly, the issue that your rat has is called male hormone aggression. It can range from picking fights with cage mates, to killing cages mates, but still sweet and loving to humans to getting irritable with humans too down right attacks on humans to the point of hospital visits being necessary. Only you can judge how bad his aggression is and if he is starting to bite you, it will only get worse and no matter how much training you do, it will not get better.

For his behavioral issues, I would recommend getting him fixed. It sounds like he is still social enough that it may fix the issues with him.

As to the tail wagging, there are a few different reasons why a rat will wag their tail. Some rats do it when they are happy or excited, some do it, like a snake, to warn ppl that they do not like then being in their territory, others do it as a habit, like when someone plays with their hair.

I would definitely suggest getting him neutered and see if that helps with some of his issues and helps improve his disposition. I personally believe that rats with aggression are not happy rats at all and sometimes getting them fixed or even euthanized is better than letting them continue to suffer, but I, in no way, believe that, from your description, euthanization is warranted at this point. I would talk to your vet about trying amoxicillin with him and look into the cost of getting him neutered, to see if that will help make him a happier rat.

Tami
Social Rats Adoption and Rescue - Chicago, IL