Time to put the rat down?

Question
QUESTION: Hello Sandra,
I am the one with the rat that attacked me about a week ago. I have been taking him out everyday with his cagemates and he has been friendly enough... until tonight. The rat climbed over my leg while I was laying on the floor and took another big chomp out of me. I am thinking it is time to get rid of this rat. I am unwilling to take him out anymore and I really don't want to leave him with the other two boys for fear that he may do damage to them. I currently own fifteen rats and with all of them and all the past ones, I have never experienced anything like this. Any thoughts?

ANSWER: Hi John

I wish I had a better answer for you. I am really not for putting a rat to sleep because it bites or getting rid of it just for it to be someone elses problem.  I feel, as a rat owner, that there may be one bad apple in the whole bunch but we take the pet, rat or dog or cat, till death do us part.  You can love him from a distance like I have done many times before. I can show you a trio of boys that look like the sweetest things but I have scars and even nerve damage from them. I did not handle them. I would put the play pen around for them to come out for exercise, lure them back in after playtime was done and that was it. They were happy with that. They showed me in the end that they loved me in their own weird way because when each of them fell ill, they would allow me to hold and comfort them. Once, one of them, my boy Skittles, came to me and wanted on my lap. He plopped down and looked up at me and allowed me to pet him. It was that moment I felt a huge mass in his abdomen. He died a week later a few days after surgery failed. The tumor was cancerous.  He wanted to be comforted despite the year of him biting and lunging at me during feeding or cage cleaning.  They were rescue rats from a lab at a vet school so they literally were terrified of humans and rightly so.
Something is obviously not right with him. Owning 15 rats, you should know that this is not normal behavior.  You can always neuter him. I have had to neuter two for aggression out of all the rats I have ever owned.  The reason I did not neuter the other biters is because they were ok with other rats, but the two I had neutered tore into each other as well as me.  They were like new rats afterwards.

If you want to, you can do a few things:

Love him from a distance. So what if he doesnt play with you. As long as he gets along with the others, thats all that matters. I know you have some fears about that. Have you ever witnessed him fighting other rats?

Neuter him

If he doesnt get alone with others, let him live alone. That may be one of his problems anyhow if he fights with others. I had a rat named Kirby who hated me and other rats too. He actually degloved a rats tail that I had the cages too close and Peanuts tail dropped down in Kirbys cage and Kirby degloved him. I felt so guilty!!!!  Kirby would bite me when I would reach in his cage so I let him come out alone. He came out, ran around his play area, did this and that, and went back in for his snacks afterwards.  No, we didnt cuddle and interact much other than me talking to him and keeping his litter box changed etc...but he was still happy in his own right.

I dont know really what else to tell you. I know your frustrated, I can tell, and although I disagree about getting rid of any pet when it is less than the perfect pet, I still feel for you and understand why you feel the way you feel. What I always tell people is to try to put yourself in the rats place.  See what he sees.Hear what he hears. Sometimes its just a matter that he has too much testosterone and once he hits puberty around 6 to 8 months, he may outgrow it.  Also there is medication that can actually help control raging hormones, but this will also need a vet that is up to par about rat care. Also a daily dose of valium can even calm down a rat that is aggressive too.

What do you want...that would be the easiest way to start....I know you have tried all you can try, but if it meant his life being taken away or him staying with you, but loved from a distance, how does that sound to you?

Let me know so I can help you, but I do support you, just know that.



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

QUESTION: He does not fight with the other rats, so I guess I'll let him remain. When they come out I will stick them in the playpen together and just not hold that particular one. We'll see if he calms in the coming months. I kind of have an idea now what he looks like before he attacks so I guess inevitably I will be the guinea pig in the future.

Answer

Hairy, my Double rex   Awww I dont want him to bite you and all :(  But I do admire you putting up with him.  Obviously something is wrong as you know this is not something that rats normally do.  He just isnt a "people rat"

Putting him down would not be fair just because he isnt acting the way we want him to act. Thats how I see it. If you gave him away, there is no telling what would become of him.  Someone wrote to me last week about a sick rat. She found the rat in the boys bathroom at school after it had been placed in a urinal and urinated on.  Isnt that terrible?
I adopted/rescued what I thought was the fugliest rat in the world from  the clutches of a college student who was about to buy this funny looking rat as a "prank" and they were going to toss it in his ex girlfriends bed in her dorm. Her greatest fear is rats. Can you imagine the beating and stomping that rat would have had to endure? If someone ends up with a less than desirable rat who knows what kind of treatment they will get unless we know the person or knows someone that knows the person is going to take good care of it, biter or not.  I know you already decided to put up with Mister Nasty, but just in case others are in the same boat you are in, a bit of education.  Unfortunately I have seen alot of bad things, from cigarette burns where they burn the rats eyes out to having objects put in areas that they should not be put if you get my drift. It should be ILLEGAL and in many states it is, but when animal protection hears it is a rat, they dont seem to care as much as if it were a dog or cat.  
I am glad you are going to love him from a distance, even if love is a bit strong. I can almost bet my left arm that as he ages he will start to depend on you more and although I hate to have to talk about end of life, it seems the biters turn a new leaf and want comfort from the owner they used to fear so much.

I am glad your keeping him, you made my day!