viscious rat bite

Question
QUESTION: My daughters have had 2 male rats for almost 1 1/2 years. One started aggressively attacking the other and we were told he was being territorial so we separated them. The aggressive one bit my daughter on the hand (a deep tearing wound). She received antibiotics & stitches because it was so big but her hand still got infected and she needed to be hospitalized with IV antibiotics. The pet store said they would find a home for him and blamed the attack on testosterone. Have you ever heard of anything like this? It was very scary.

ANSWER: Oh, jeez. That sounds positively HORRIBLE! I'm so sorry your daughter is going through that! I certainly hope this hasn't put her off rats forever, they can be such charming pets.

Unfortunately yes, I have heard of sudden aggressive behavior due to hormones. There have been a few instances related to me from other breeders; I myself have (thankfully) never encountered SUCH aggression. I have seen aggressive males but most were either imbalanced due to illness or I had just broken up a fight between them and another youngster.

It's rather unusual however for males to behave badly after they've gone through the initial hormone surge (around 6 to 8 months old), and that leads me to believe that he may have had a neurological or otherwise health issue that was causing him to lash out inappropriately.. of course the only diagnosis for this is usually necropsy (performed after they've died or been euthanized), and without a warning sign for this behavior, it was inevitable that someone got hurt.. you did the right thing by getting rid of him.

I'm so sorry to hear it! I hope your daughter is recovering (or has recovered) well.

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Should we have gotten rid of the rat after he attacked the other rat? It was a vicious attack, similar to the attack on my daughter.  We talked to people at the pet store and no one ever suggested he would be dangerous.  Shouldn't people who sell rats be knowledgeable about the risks?  Some of the people at Pet Smart have rats and really like them.  I'm just flabergasted this happened, as we did research before we bought them and never would have bought them if we had known this was possible.  Would females have been better?  Thanks so much, as we still have the other rat.

Answer
There's no way to tell if a rat will turn on you if he's turned on his buddies, really. I've been around hundreds of rats and I've only been bitten a few times, and most were pretty predictable (only one was from a male who gave me no prior warning), so if he gave you no indication he was going to come unglued, there was simply no way of knowing. I've had very sweet rats be incompatible with cagemates, and I usually try not to take that as an indicator of their rat-to-human behavior. Unless your daughter reached into the cage directly after an argument/fight with his cagemate or when he was in a volatile state of mind, neither you nor her had any way of knowing he would bite her (especially not that badly).

This instance is REALLY rare, I can't stress that enough. I have literally owned & handled well over 500 rats and never had such a thing happen to me -- not as severe and not as aggressive. With animals, anything with teeth can bite and anything with nails can scratch - it's part of the hazards of owning animals - but I have NEVER encountered a male who went out of his way to inflict damage. It's scary and pretty gruesome, but if your current rat is still sweet, try not to let this incident scare you off rats forever. They really are very awesome little pets.

There are things you can do to eliminate a recurrence. When/if you get another rat, buy from a breeder rather than a pet shop. Breeders take their time to pick and choose from the best personalities, whereas pet stores receive stock from a large warehouse breeder, where the animals are never even handled until they're weaned from their mother. We (breeders) also handle our animals daily and track their health, so not only are you getting a sweeter, more well-adjusted animal, we're a constant resource to go back to and will continually update you on the health and progress of the line. If at any time, an issue of aggression or temperament flaw comes up, most breeders go out of their way to let the adopters know what exactly is going on.

If you wanted one-on-one information or need advice in the future, please feel free to e-mail me outside the website at Angelfinx@hotmail.com -- and I may also be able to help you find a breeder in your local area.