Boy trouble!

Some people reckon boy rats make better pets than girls because they’re bigger and squishy and less active. I have decided that mine are just trouble!

I am worried about Luke because he still appears to be being picked on. He has several scabs on him, some of them long scratches so not scabs from him scratching himself or anything. I’ve given him some invermectin, in case he does have mites or anything and i’ll keep an eye on him. I think it’s Charlie causing the wounds because i’ve seen them scrapping and Luke seems very wary of him. I’m not sure what to do with them – I could take Charlie out, then I’d have to put him somewhere and he’s definitely not got to the stage where castration is needed, as he’s fine with his brothers. The most sensible thing seems to be to remove Luke, but not sure where to. I’m not leaving him on his own and am terrified of having him castrated. I don’t think the new boys will accept him as they are very confident. I could try though. I thought about putting him with Sugar and Tinkerbell as they’ve been spayed but I don’t really want to take them out of the girly group and I’m not sure if he’d still hump them and annoy them. I will have to ask for some advice, as he’s not really happy at the moment and he’s such a lovely boy, so people friendly.

I am also having trouble with Bob, who is showing some over-dominant behaviour towards me and bit me today! A couple of times i’ve had him out on my lap and he’s got foofy and grazed my knuckles with his teeth, but not bit. He did it again today so I went to get a grip of him and put him on the floor and he sunk his teeth in hard & definitely deliberately. It’s amazing how much rat bites bleed and how much they hurt! He was fine afterwards, letting me pick him up to go back in his cage. I’m just crossing my fingers he doesn’t do it again.

So, I have decided – boys are just trouble (well a couple of them anyway, most of them are absoloutely fine 🙂 )

The boys

I got some lovely pics today of the boys all snuggled up together in their hammock today, so thought i’d share them on here.

I’m a bit worried about Luke at the moment. He seems to be so much skinnier than the other boys and he’s got a couple of scratches across his back and his tail, i’m worried he’s being picked on. I’ve been watching them closely around the food and he does seem quite wary if the others are around. He waits for them to finish before he gets something out of the bowl and a couple of times i’ve seen Charlie sitting across the bowl preventing Luke from getting at it. There are two bowls of food in the cage so he can still get to food and he’s definitely not terrified of the others or anything (he climbed into the hammock earlier, straight over Rupert), he just seems to be a bit of an underdog which is a shame. If it was just Beau causing trouble it wouldn’t be such a problem as his op on Wednesday will hopefully solve his problems but it’s the other three as well, particularly Rupert and Charlie. I’m going to wait and see what happens after Beau has been castrated and what that does to the group dynamics and if Luke still appears to be being picked on, I shall have to separate him and Beau. 

They are such a nightmare at times, they have little squabbles and I end up thinking they hate each other, then find all five led in a heap like the photos:

This second one shows Charlie’s head where he was squidged underneath Beau and Luke.

And this was later on this evening. Luke wrapped around Rupert.

I see them all together like that and wonder why I worry!

Todays sleepy rats pics

Had the camera in the rat room today and got these pics of the boys, snuggled in their hammock today. Thought it was nice that Beau was in these as well seeing as he was on his own when I took yesterday’s pics.

Beau, Luke and either Jools or Rupert.

Charlie on top, Luke and Beau on the bottom.

It’s a rats’ life!

The boys at 10:00am:

The boys at 11:50am

The boys at 1:30pm

The pictures were taken on my phone so the quality isn’t great but you get the general gist of what the boys did today. Can’t remember who the black nose belongs to in each of the pics, but the brown one is Luke and the champagne one is Charlie. There were four of them in the house. Poor Beau was on his own.

Rats’ Sunday afternoon

First share a quick cuppa (this is Luke licking out my mug):

Then have a snooze in those lovely things called sleeves (This is definitely Charlie and I think Rupert):