ocnurbCaviar seems to have got "spin" worked out, his brothers not far behind 😍
Zumbador@ocnurb how are your little dudes getting along these days?
@Zumbador It's ... not ideal.
I lost Larry a week ago. A final respiratory infection got him while he was already weakened. He is buried next to his brother and dad now. He was the sweetest boy, so soft and gentle, I miss him lots.
That left his brother Curly alone again, so I have done a reintroduction and got him back in the cage with the younger ones. That seemed to be OK at first, but Tux has started getting aggressive with him. He's now staying more alone in a hammock, not as bad as Lassy was but he's not surrounded by friends.
The castration was done in case he didn't reintegrate and there's still a chance he'll go back to retire with his sisters once his tubes are clear; it might be better.
@Zumbador I knew that I would find the short lifespans hard to deal with, but the bullying has been dar worse.
I don't know if it's all rats, or if the young ones I got are particularly aggressive. Curly had his moments of terrorising Moe during free roam, but the younger ones have been showing big behaviour changes with puberty. It's hard to compare as the older boys didn't have a generation above them to deal with.
@Zumbador Larry's death was hastened by bullying and that has been tough to deal with. I try to keep in mind that it's just rat nature and they are doing what they do, and not apply human values to them. But it does make keeping them harder than I realised it would be, and will be another factor in deciding if I keep a mischief ongoing.
I'll probably wait for these boys to be over a year before getting any new ones, and maybe castrate Tux too first.
@ocnurb I'm so sorry. I've had similar experiences so relate so much.
What I've learnt is that some rats just are a lot more "full on" and inclined to bully. I think neutering definitely helps, but there's an aspect of personality too.
I'm also figuring out whether I'll continue keeping rats once the ones I have are not around anymore. The rat politics is difficult to deal with.
@Zumbador I think neutering Tux is likely for the best - he'll need to co-exist his whole life and I suspect he has been biting Champers too.
Sorry you're going through the same. The good parts of keeping them are so good and better than the bad parts, but the bad parts are definitely rough.