Strange behavior

Question
I have had rats for 20 years and I have a 6 month old male Himalayan dumdo eared rat who is not behaving normally. I got him at about 4 weeks old and he had lice and I treated him with spray from petco and teatree shampoo and everything was normal. He moved in with my other 2 males which were a year his senior. This was in August. Then in early November my eldest rat died and the little guy (Leifaen) layed down with his body and kind of mourned him. The very next day Leif was skiddish. He started fighting with the other male left in the cage that was his care taker and protector as a baby. The fighting got so bad I separated them and Leif only saw the other rat for play time. Since then he has gotten more skiddish and squeaks when I touch him. And last night he instigated a fight with the other rat and produced a 3cm really deep bite in the face of my eldest. What is happening? Also, what do I do about the face bite, im washing it and putting bacitracin on it, is that ok?

Answer
Oh lordy. I'd say your little boy is definitely acting out and it may be because he is in fact mourning; but it may also be that he hit this grief surge at the same time his hormones kicked in (puberty). If you can afford it, I'd highly suggest having Leif neutered to see if it helps. It isn't an instant fix, but normally after a few weeks of having that testosterone out of their system, they'll go back to being their original sweet self; or at least much more manageable. As far as his grieving, I'd see if you can get him to settle down with his original cagemate first, and then perhaps see about getting him a younger buddy to play with - maybe the he wants to play with your other older male and that older boy wants none of it? But I'd wait until you can get his behavior toward you a little more dialed in before approaching that.

As far as the face bite, I think you're doing well by it. I've also had great luck with neosporin on an open wound like that. Good luck!