I'm so glad you mentioned them staring, all three of my boys sit together to gawp at me, sitting as close to me in their cage as they can get. I felt so self-conscious at first!
Its not staring, its rat telepathy! 'Treats now hooman!' I find them fascinating, I love just watching them, they way they interact with each other, with items in the cage, the way they eat, drink etc even just sleeping. I have a doe and a buck who both push the ball in on the water bottle and drink silently then use their wet paws to wash themselves with. The only type of potato that is cute is a fluffy ball of snoozing rat.
The thing about bucks being creepy is too accurate 😂 sometimes my three boys will all lie in their hammocks and stare at me sitting on the couch, like they’re trying to guilt trip me, for not having them out of the cage all the time 😂😂
This actually helps a lot. I didn't think about rats having a "teenage" phase. I got two baby rats about to become teenagers a few months ago and they settled in fine at first but then they became super "manly" as I call it. One, Offal, shot to the top of the hierarchy and was fighting Anthrax a lot even though he was near the middle of the hierarchy. Anthrax became such a problem, that he was rejected from the colony, despite attempts from me to reintegrate them. Thankfully, I found someone who had similar problems so we could swap rats to ingegrate the other's rat with our colony, which is working out pretty well so far and Anthrax is doing much better with the new colony.
So glad I finally saw this video. I've been having some issues introducing a new boy to my mischief and I never really understood why they get along well in the Alaska but start having trouble once they get to the bigger cage. They are back on the Alaska and I'll leave them there for a few days, hopefully that will settle them. Also, Eclipse looks just like my alpha Boris, and Boris (now about 19 months) has been really grumpy lately, exactly like the little clip at the end. This series has been extremely helpful! Thank you very much for taking the time film those.
I should report that eclipse has fully grown out of his arsey teenage phase now and doesn’t fluff at anything. Much better. Some need help to get past it (eg castration), others do get through things themselves
@@IsamuRatCare That's good that Eclipse has gotten over his angsty phase - Boris only occasionally fluffs now (when someone gets between him and his food) but we used to say that he had locked himself in his bedroom (the sputnik) and was sulking listening to Nirvana when he was a young lad - he did it quite often. That's exactly what he looked like - a sulking teen (he was so funny!)
Thank you so much for this video, you explain everything so well. I have two boys, coming up for 5 months old, one bit the other and caused stitches, he then has proceeded to bit and hump me. I got him booked in the vets, but he was unable to have the castration as he had a chest infection. Now he's finished his medicine, he's rebooked in. When we've tried reintroduction it hasn't gone well. He has too much testosterone than he can handle, you have made me feel so much more at ease about this decision, thank you.
@@IsamuRatCare thank you so much, that means a lot ❤️ they're both still seperate at the moment, don't want any more stiches 😭 I know from your video to not have the cages as close too!
Lovely video and thank you for this series. We're coming up to 3 years keeping bucks so very much still learning. I admit I am surprised by the lap rat comment! I guess it depends what you mean by lap rat? In general our boys prefer play to snuggles and are just as you describe, coming by to say hello but not really stopping, until about 18 months. Then they start to spend more time during free range looking for somewhere comfy to snooze and, depending on the rat, they seem to choose us as their prime snoozing spot from some point between 18 months and 2 years. Right now I have a boy who was alpha but has been deposed by the next generation recently. Since moving down the hierarchy, if anything upsets him he makes a beeline for me and goes headfirst down my cleavage, butt tucked under my chin, tail in my face! He also likes to sleep on my shoulder inside my clothes. But our first alpha, Tyke, was a super independent chap, very determined to do his own thing. He had a particular "Ik-Ak!" noise he made if he was thwarted in any way. At 18 months his preferred snooze spot in free range was under a cupboard. Still, by the time he turned 2 he was a very content lap rat, choosing us as his preferred bed. He had mild HLD at 2. By the time he died at 2.5 he'd worked out ways to communicate things like "My ears itch" - a particular head waggle and lick that told me to put my little finger in his ear. He'd then turn his head and wriggle to get the scratch he wanted while I stayed still. So very interested in interaction, very aware of us as useful objects. I wonder if it is all about temperament or down to the fact we've never had >7 rats and they live & free roam in our living room, so that we are absolutely part of the furniture for them? Every time we take on a new set of kittens I am expecting something different from them. I feel that being a lap rat is very much the rat's choice ("I'm sleepy, you're warm") and certainly not something you can force. In fact my husband tries harder to elicit cuddles and I'd say, until they reach old age, he gets less!
Your experiences are very similar to mine but then I think it matters both there genetic temperament (and I breed for nutters) and how you raise them. If you spend more time with rats able to explore and interact then that encourages them to be our kind of rat. If you sit on the sofa with them and don’t let them get down or explore beyond that they settle down for cuddles and learn to like that. To be fair with either of my groups if I take them into the lounge on the sofa they will go to sleep on me as they don’t know they can explore beyond that (and it not rat proved so I’m glad they’ve not sussed how to escape yet). I do it occasionally for a cuddle lol but mostly I love the exploration
@@IsamuRatCare Oh no! Our rats are never confined to the sofa! They have the whole room and are free to come and go. There are play and climbing areas set up for them - I mean mostly they eat them or go to sleep on them but that's their choice. Free roam is free roam. If they come to us it is because they wish to. Or, because we have food. Or we said their names and they think we have food. They were bred for temperament but I never thought to ask what temperament! I assume not nutters :) They sometimes get taken up to bed which is more restricted as they are not allowed on the bedroom floor, that room is not rat safe. But even then they're free to be anywhere on the bed or bedside table. They may chose to be snuggled right up under my husband's chin or perched on the lamp or headboard.... I also love watching them explore. Especially youngsters climbing and jumping and being daft. Popcorning is entertaining to watch, better than TV
I will be yes. I’m finishing the buck series which will includes one on health, then diet and habitat considerations. Then I’ll do a 4 parter on does too
One of my old boys likes to sit on my lap during his playtime, he is very chilled 😬. Thank you for the video, as always you are a mine of information 😃
I think the main reason people say bucks are cuddly, is because they do slow down when they age. Where as females don’t seem to. Of course there are exceptions, and breeders certainly have personalities they prefer and tend to breed towards. I personally avoid the overly outgoing males as I like the more laid back ones. But that said I love having them through their entire lives as you get to enjoy playful bouncy babies and the golden years as they mellow. :) This is a great video with lots of good information!
Funny that you mention the situation you had with your three boys... I'm currently using the carrier method to introduce my older boy to two 11 week old babies. It's been a month already since this one baby keeps me from moving up a stage. Basically, at first I thought my big boy was the agressor aswell, but turns out the baby keeps nipping at him. And then when my older boy gets angry and puts him in his place the baby screams bloody murder and acts all terrified afterwards. He's such a drama queen and It's so silly, like somehow he hasn't realized yet that his actions have consequences! Hopefully he'll learn eventually so they can finally start bonding properly. :')
Interesting stuff. We had the screaming blue murder without the nipping. Babies who, on being put in a carrier with adult bucks, stood up on their hind legs and squealed. It was a bit heart rending but the worst of it was that it freaked out one of the adults, who bit a baby. Paused intros for a bit and tried again, same squealing. But once we understood that the adult's issue was the screaming, not the babies themselves, we were able to fix it. We used a pre-carrier step where we gradually reduced the space they had (starting from a bed and working down) so that the babies got used to the bucks being nearby and didn't scream. Had to monitor it constantly, but eventually got them to be calm in a carrier sized space. A stressful day, but then they went into a carrier and intros went really well from then. It really helped to understand what caused the buck to bite. I still have no clue why the babies were so vocal and scared.
Screaming like that tends to be a bit of a panic response, eg “I don’t know what to do so I’ll scream so he thinks I’m big and scary” backed up by standing on hind legs to make themselves bigger but also a good defensive position (well not good for intros but they feel like they have the high ground). You do need to move them out of that headspace to move forward with the intro as it’s not a headspace they can learn in but sounds like you did a really good job with that.
@@IsamuRatCare that's good to know! Any tips for moving them into a different headspace safely? We thought the general idea was that you leave them to exhaist themselves but it did not seem at all a viable option, as our stressy "I hate this noise!" bug buck would possibly have bitten someone again before that point, which was why we went for the approach we did. It felt right for that group of rats. The biter was actually a soppy old sod, so when we were trying to get them to be calm in a smaller and smaller space, I just picked him up and calmed him if he started to look fluffed or angry. Very easy to do with that particular rat, Puck, but I don't know if I'd try it with any old rat I didn't know well. Maybe with a towel? Puck, I just scooped up. Once we got them to coexist in a carrier and peace broke out, he was the first adult that the babies used as a cushion. A good boy really :) Still, I can't help giggling at the thought of those silly 200g kittens trying to convince him they were Big And Scary. He was nearly 800g I think, and not fat. A huge, long, heavy-set, buck. And it's funnier still that in fact he Was kind of scared of them, hence the bite! He tried to be alpha for a bit in his prime, it was a disaster. In the end Tyke took the role back and I swear Puck was relieved :')
The best read I’ve found in heirachy is a book that looks at a whole host rat related things called “the story of rats” by S Barnett. He’s a scientist who’s worked with rats long term and looks at what we can learn from them as well as contrasting poet and wild rat behaviour. I found it really interesting to read
Hello, really loving your videos, so interesting and informative. Could I please ask how noisy rats can be? I know it's all relative based on personalities but I am thinking of getting 3 rats, who'd live in a spare room but I don't want to wind up my dog 🤫 she'd be barred from there of course. If you have any useful links or general guidance that would be great thank you.❤🐀
They are not going to do a lot of squeaking etc unless they have a scrap but they can bang and bounce around the cage and gnawing isn’t exactly quiet. I would say though it’s something your dog gets used to it should be straightforward to train them to ignore it.
@@IsamuRatCare thank you so much for taking the time to reply. Thanks for the advice. We have a hamster downstairs (totally out of reach) who she's vaguely aware of the running and gnawing of but doesn't react to other than a dutiful listen 😊 she's my picture so a little terrier who doesn't bark much surprisingly! Thanks I feel better about the prospect of having rats.❤ take care.
I love watching your videos, they are so informative and valuable thank you. Is it true that bucks become sterile at a certain age? I recently lost one of my boys and have one left and wanted to introduce him to some new cage mates. Only problem is when my sons dad brought them home, he got girls clearly not seeing the problem! I don't have alot of room for loads of cages and my girls are in there own cage. But the whole point of getting more was to keep my boy company and I do love bucks my boys are so cuddley. So do I introduce them or do I get some more males to keep him company Thank you
I love listening to all your info. You make me laugh because you say it how it is and that’s exactly what I do. Like when you say one acts like an asshole lol. My boys, they are almost 12 weeks. They have biff’s and one gets pinned down more than the others by more frequently by one in particular. Most of the time they wrestle then Abe pins down Archie and eventually Archie submits and lays in his back frozen. Sometimes Abe will frantically groom around Archie’s head. Out of the four I’m still trying to distinguish who is in what position.
I am definitely not good as sugar coating stuff lol, but the good thing is the rats never take it personally! They know I adore them even if I call them names
Are bucks or does more beginner friendly (or doesn't it matter)? We are planning to be first time rat owners in a year or so and educating ourselves. We are heavily leaning towards bucks but would love for you to weigh in.
Hey Jemma or if anyone else has input on this: with play-fighting, how often/ how much is too extreme, where you should think of possibly neutering? Also when compared with does, do you see much differences in the occurrence/ nature of the play fights? Thanks in advance🙂
It depends if it’s play fighting, jockeying for position or proper aggressive fighting. I would say if anyone of getting wounds (more than just the odd tiny nip) or you notice your rat’s are very tense or losing condition it’s going too far.
hello, i recently got some rats who are about two months old. i also have two others who are about 8ish months. the older ones are in a double critter nation and the younger ones are in a smaller cage. i introduced them today and everything went good. once they’re all bonded do you think i could move the smaller ones into the critter nation or is it too big?
I'm glad I stumbled on this while looking through your bioactive substrate videos! I kept does in high school and college, but ended up with two bucks July of 2019 - so they're nearing the 18mo mark now. I have one chunky alpha and then my sweetheart of a little guy. I've been on the fence about when to introduce a male kitten or two. Do you ever have issues with an older bucks getting bullied by younger ones or does the alpha generally take care of that?
Usually they form a nice group, you can get a point where the teenage bucks attempt to and eventually do take over. This doesn’t normally last long and then they very much look after each other which is lovely
Sometime in February I'll doing intros which I'm wondering if it might be complicated. I have one old buck (13 months by then if he's still with us) 4 bucks who will all be around 30-32 months old (depending on when I introduce them) and 2 new kittens who will be atound 10 weeks old by then. My older boy is the dominant male and I can see the start of one of my 4 brothers becoming more confident and occasionally gets told off by my older boy because he is gaining confidence and the older boy feels he needs to supress this confidence (I think). I hope my older boy is still around when we get the new kittens as I think intros will go better with him in charge. The unknown regarding my confident young buck is slightly worrying me. Do you think that intros could be problematic if my older dominant buck isn't around by then and if so do you have any tips? 🙏😊
One of my bucks has kept his young craziness, he popcorns everywhere, sprints towards me and then runs away and then doesthe same over and over. I can play fight with him, but his buck brother won't have any of it, he's clearly the dominant one, always on top in play fights pinning the other one down. They've never had a fall out and will cuddle up together probably 50% of the times I see them sleeping.
Bless them that sounds wonderful, my skip is still very playful and young mentally and Bobby whose roughly the same age is much more mature and dominant
@@IsamuRatCare I love the the name skip, reminds me of my old springer spaniel, probably the most bonkers animal I've had until Alfred the bonkers rat I have now. I'm still really liking the looks of some degus 😊 it's the life span that's selling them to me and the easier diet, fibee fibre fibre
Hi, my boys have been fine, now approx 12months and have started fighting, last couple of weeks, lots of scuffles and night, now resulted in a but of hair pulling out. Just the two together. Confused as to why it’s happened now.
There’s likely been something that’s unsettled the heirachy a bit, that could be one rat deciding he fancies a go or someone getting a growth spurt. I’d keep an eye and if they do get a bit arsey try doing a carrier method type intro. This can help settle them
Thanks, I did the 2nd stage of the carrier method and it seems to have settled them down again. I also took out the boxes we had put in for them to hide in climb, on, like a cardboard maze for them as I wondered if they were fighting over that territory after listening to your comments about the alpha needed to control and keep and eye on territory. They even seem to be arguing over a small box we attached to the inside of the cage as a kind of nesting box. It seems to have helped! Shame as thier cage is more boring now. I am going to replace with more ropes and open climbing things to see if they are less problematic! Complicated creatures!
I’m glad out helped, you could still offer fun things but make sure they have multiple entrances and can’t easily be guarded. You’ll probably find after a couple of months it doesn’t matter any more again and you can put the boxes back
Since 2006, though sadly there’s not been any shows for over a year now. I do enjoy them and the rats seem to too. The ones on the door behind me tend to be the ones from the rats that are alive and with us, the ones around the ceiling 1-2 special ones per rat as a memory
I have a question about my boys behavior. So I have currently 3 nutered males and the Leader of the pack Called Buboni is always nibbleing/biting my fingers.. he sniffs and than bites.. should I then just grab him out of the Cage like u do or what can I do to stop that behavior? The others are very gentle with me.. Buboni is quite interested in everything and explores often first.. So what should i do to stop him from biting my finger everytime..?? Thanks so much for the Answer :D love Isi
In what age, will bucks begin to establish the hierarki? Mine are almost 5 months, and dosent seem to, have an alfarat. I have 3 brothers. When do the hormons kick in/show? From a fan in Denmark.
Great video. Ive got 4 bucks but they keep fighting mostly at night but also in the day. They keep making each other squeal. And its not just one dominant its all of them against all. They are 2 months old . What should i do to stop them fighting ?
Boys do scrap (especially teenage boys) and as long as no one is getting hurt and everyone is eating well then I tend not to worry. Look out for that fluffing up type behaviour which says they are getting angry
My boys arent lap animals, however they are all lazy as anything. They dont do much and no matter what time of day I bring them out they only play for a little while. However, that might have to do with my one boy always trying to "fight". He likes to sneak around, pounce ,hide and act a fool. I think he gets on their nerves as as soon as they come out he doesnr like to stop. My other male, captain, all he does after I bring him out, is find somewhere near me to sleep. He either hides behind me or will climb on my shoulder to sleep. After he is done sniffing everything!
I have two boys that are approaching 2 years of age and one of them seems to have had an aggression spike. I have no idea what to do or how to fix this. It's lot of pinning behaviour (and a ton of screaming which sometimes they do if one looks at the other, they're massive drama queens) and there have been a few gashes (which I think were from claws not bites if that plays any insignificance) and I feel like I'm at my wit's end. Any advice? I don't think castration would help due to their ages as I don't think it's a hormonal thing
Honestly it might help, or you could consider trying an implant given his age. However I’d first really keep an eye out for any neurological type symptoms (eg my PT video in the health playlist)
@@IsamuRatCare I've not noticed any neurological symptoms however the rat that is getting the aggression does have myco symptoms and I know sometimes there can be aggression towards sick rats? There does seem to be pinning behaviour on both sides and sometimes it's just for am intense grooming session and other times it seems more like an assert of dominance.
Sometimes I think the aggressor just has a very short temper. My myco boy also has a head tilt and is a bit wobbly and will overestimate his balancing abilities and will fall onto the aggressor which can cause scuffles. But they're also very affectionate towards each other and always sleep together and snuggle lots and there's never any aggression from either of them towards humans
Very sorry for all these replies last one I swear - the normal "screamer" does like drama though. He screamed at me this morning when I didn't give him a piece of banana fast enough so honestly who knows
Do you have Instagram or Facebook where I can send you a short 30 second video of them wrestling and pinning down to see what you think. All my boys came from a well know breeder here in Sydney Australia. They aren’t all from the same litter but all have the same father and all born within days of each other. She used the same father with multiple Doe’s because of the bloodlines and temperament, health and size. The father is a Selkirk and mum was Birkshire with Selkirk genes. So I have two mink Selkirks but one has solid colour the other has white and mink. Then I have Selkirk coat but Birkshire black and white and lastly straight up Selkirk white pink eyed. I needed these boys as therapy pets and she said her bloodlines with Selkirks would be perfect plus they get quite big. My daughter who’s 20 years old has 4 girls.
I have 2 bucks, one is mad and popcorns everywhere and loves attention, the other doesn't like being held much, but will come to me for a head massage and then bugger off again
Aww that sound like perfect characters in there own right. One of the best buy about knowing rats is getting to learn who they are and grow our relationship
@@IsamuRatCare so true, there's just something about rats that is simply brilliant, I have to admit I'm still learning alot about them, I'm an experienced Guinea pig keeper ( Guinea pig diets are so much easier, pretty much 90% fibre and the rest vit c rich veg lol)
Does anyone ever set up a really interesting free range for their rats, wait for them to wake up and have a wash first, get them out, and then all they do is sit there sleeping again 🤣
@@IsamuRatCare wish mine were like that. They always wake up at 10pm and then stay active until about 8am. I work all hours all over the country, so some nights I don't even get to see them much, which is sad with how short their life span is. My wife is there with them a lot though, I make sure I spoil them all weekend and let them run everywhere. This is where I prefer guinea pig that just nap for 20 minutes or so then are back out eating and messing about again
I think my does think they're bucks! They're all bigger laprats than most bucks I've met and all well versed in staring at me! 🤣 It's quite nice cos I get the best of both worlds, I can't keep bucks as for some reason I'm allergic to them?!
I actually cant figure out who is in charge in my 3 boys, all I know is that my rat data is not. He is very energetic and like the child of the group, he fights a lot. But once the other rats have had enough, they end up pinning him down for ages. Every time he moves, they push him. Making him scream because he is a drama queen. The other two also push him away when they dig for food, they mostly go after him when he has food as well. They all do get along thankfully tho 😊 When my rats were babies they all slept together. But I think I did get that teen phase with them, because captain wouldnt stay with the other Rats. He would fight the others, piss on everything and stay with himself most of the time. Any time one of the rats would come to his hammock, hed either fight them away or move. Now though, they are all back to cuddling ! Cuties 😊😊
I would probably pay more attention to if it would benefit them, as really it’s surgery and that always carries risk to the individual. It have very little impact on marking though and if they are well bred rats they are unlikely to suffer from aggression in later life. If you do consider it though I wouldn’t do it before 6 months old to give them chance to fill out and gain muscle. Poor things though at 5 weeks old they are really too young to be homed
@@IsamuRatCare thank you for your reply! I could be completely wrong about their age. They’re much smaller than your rat pup you showed. I’m honestly just guessing because they’re about the size of a full grown mouse. And the older two aren’t as fluffy (their hair is flattening soft where as the youngest is like baby fluffy soft) I do appreciate your advice and will avoid neutering because I do want the best for them. I just didn’t know if three boys would become very aggressive though I think they will do just fine with the double critter nation I’ve ordered. They have a three level all living animals cage for now which is decent but the critter nation will be their main home. I’m still learning and as I said I appreciate the reply because I can trust your advice from what I have learned from your videos.
lol it is particularly poofy right now (humidity) and whilst I wanted to see dark roots I think it’s more brown than blond now lol. Only 2 weeks until I can get a hair cut!
I'm so glad you mentioned them staring, all three of my boys sit together to gawp at me, sitting as close to me in their cage as they can get. I felt so self-conscious at first!
lol yes it’s a bit unnerving, they are funny souls aren’t they!
Oh gosh yes! It is in-nerving sometimes and I’m glad mine aren’t the only ones who do it!
Glad to see I'm not the only one with stalker rats. One of mine happily stares at me for longer than is comfortable 😂😂
All four of my boys stand in the corner of their cage on their lava ledges staring at me- I must of won the lottery on weirdo creepy rats lol
Lol
very informative! definitely a good video. will recommend to my friends!
Its not staring, its rat telepathy! 'Treats now hooman!' I find them fascinating, I love just watching them, they way they interact with each other, with items in the cage, the way they eat, drink etc even just sleeping. I have a doe and a buck who both push the ball in on the water bottle and drink silently then use their wet paws to wash themselves with. The only type of potato that is cute is a fluffy ball of snoozing rat.
They are wonderful to watch. Could sit and watch mine for ages. We can learn so much from them
@@IsamuRatCare I thought I was the only one who can't get enough of just observing them. They are brilliant little souls!
The thing about bucks being creepy is too accurate 😂 sometimes my three boys will all lie in their hammocks and stare at me sitting on the couch, like they’re trying to guilt trip me, for not having them out of the cage all the time 😂😂
lol yep you have stalker rats
This actually helps a lot. I didn't think about rats having a "teenage" phase. I got two baby rats about to become teenagers a few months ago and they settled in fine at first but then they became super "manly" as I call it. One, Offal, shot to the top of the hierarchy and was fighting Anthrax a lot even though he was near the middle of the hierarchy. Anthrax became such a problem, that he was rejected from the colony, despite attempts from me to reintegrate them. Thankfully, I found someone who had similar problems so we could swap rats to ingegrate the other's rat with our colony, which is working out pretty well so far and Anthrax is doing much better with the new colony.
Good vid! I. Have bucks and can relate to some you said. Explained behaviours I've faced. Given me a better understanding. Thanks.
According to the subtitles, I’m watching a video on “doors” and “boots” 😂
So glad I finally saw this video. I've been having some issues introducing a new boy to my mischief and I never really understood why they get along well in the Alaska but start having trouble once they get to the bigger cage. They are back on the Alaska and I'll leave them there for a few days, hopefully that will settle them. Also, Eclipse looks just like my alpha Boris, and Boris (now about 19 months) has been really grumpy lately, exactly like the little clip at the end. This series has been extremely helpful! Thank you very much for taking the time film those.
I should report that eclipse has fully grown out of his arsey teenage phase now and doesn’t fluff at anything. Much better. Some need help to get past it (eg castration), others do get through things themselves
@@IsamuRatCare That's good that Eclipse has gotten over his angsty phase - Boris only occasionally fluffs now (when someone gets between him and his food) but we used to say that he had locked himself in his bedroom (the sputnik) and was sulking listening to Nirvana when he was a young lad - he did it quite often. That's exactly what he looked like - a sulking teen (he was so funny!)
Absolutely love you & what I'm learning from your experience! Thank you!❤️🐀
Another fantastic video! Thank you!
Thank you so much for this video, you explain everything so well. I have two boys, coming up for 5 months old, one bit the other and caused stitches, he then has proceeded to bit and hump me. I got him booked in the vets, but he was unable to have the castration as he had a chest infection. Now he's finished his medicine, he's rebooked in. When we've tried reintroduction it hasn't gone well. He has too much testosterone than he can handle, you have made me feel so much more at ease about this decision, thank you.
Best of luck for him, if for any reason you can’t castrate him let me know and I can give you some other options that might help
@@IsamuRatCare thank you so much, that means a lot ❤️ they're both still seperate at the moment, don't want any more stiches 😭 I know from your video to not have the cages as close too!
Lovely video and thank you for this series. We're coming up to 3 years keeping bucks so very much still learning. I admit I am surprised by the lap rat comment! I guess it depends what you mean by lap rat? In general our boys prefer play to snuggles and are just as you describe, coming by to say hello but not really stopping, until about 18 months. Then they start to spend more time during free range looking for somewhere comfy to snooze and, depending on the rat, they seem to choose us as their prime snoozing spot from some point between 18 months and 2 years. Right now I have a boy who was alpha but has been deposed by the next generation recently. Since moving down the hierarchy, if anything upsets him he makes a beeline for me and goes headfirst down my cleavage, butt tucked under my chin, tail in my face! He also likes to sleep on my shoulder inside my clothes. But our first alpha, Tyke, was a super independent chap, very determined to do his own thing. He had a particular "Ik-Ak!" noise he made if he was thwarted in any way. At 18 months his preferred snooze spot in free range was under a cupboard. Still, by the time he turned 2 he was a very content lap rat, choosing us as his preferred bed. He had mild HLD at 2. By the time he died at 2.5 he'd worked out ways to communicate things like "My ears itch" - a particular head waggle and lick that told me to put my little finger in his ear. He'd then turn his head and wriggle to get the scratch he wanted while I stayed still. So very interested in interaction, very aware of us as useful objects. I wonder if it is all about temperament or down to the fact we've never had >7 rats and they live & free roam in our living room, so that we are absolutely part of the furniture for them? Every time we take on a new set of kittens I am expecting something different from them. I feel that being a lap rat is very much the rat's choice ("I'm sleepy, you're warm") and certainly not something you can force. In fact my husband tries harder to elicit cuddles and I'd say, until they reach old age, he gets less!
Your experiences are very similar to mine but then I think it matters both there genetic temperament (and I breed for nutters) and how you raise them. If you spend more time with rats able to explore and interact then that encourages them to be our kind of rat. If you sit on the sofa with them and don’t let them get down or explore beyond that they settle down for cuddles and learn to like that. To be fair with either of my groups if I take them into the lounge on the sofa they will go to sleep on me as they don’t know they can explore beyond that (and it not rat proved so I’m glad they’ve not sussed how to escape yet). I do it occasionally for a cuddle lol but mostly I love the exploration
@@IsamuRatCare Oh no! Our rats are never confined to the sofa! They have the whole room and are free to come and go. There are play and climbing areas set up for them - I mean mostly they eat them or go to sleep on them but that's their choice. Free roam is free roam. If they come to us it is because they wish to. Or, because we have food. Or we said their names and they think we have food. They were bred for temperament but I never thought to ask what temperament! I assume not nutters :) They sometimes get taken up to bed which is more restricted as they are not allowed on the bedroom floor, that room is not rat safe. But even then they're free to be anywhere on the bed or bedside table. They may chose to be snuggled right up under my husband's chin or perched on the lamp or headboard....
I also love watching them explore. Especially youngsters climbing and jumping and being daft. Popcorning is entertaining to watch, better than TV
They sound perfect
Are you going to make/ have you made one of these videos with females?
I will be yes. I’m finishing the buck series which will includes one on health, then diet and habitat considerations. Then I’ll do a 4 parter on does too
One of my old boys likes to sit on my lap during his playtime, he is very chilled 😬. Thank you for the video, as always you are a mine of information 😃
The fabled lap rats do definitely exist just few and far between
I think the main reason people say bucks are cuddly, is because they do slow down when they age.
Where as females don’t seem to.
Of course there are exceptions, and breeders certainly have personalities they prefer and tend to breed towards. I personally avoid the overly outgoing males as I like the more laid back ones.
But that said I love having them through their entire lives as you get to enjoy playful bouncy babies and the golden years as they mellow. :)
This is a great video with lots of good information!
Yep where I tend to select for through life nutcases lol. Be they buck or doe
Funny that you mention the situation you had with your three boys... I'm currently using the carrier method to introduce my older boy to two 11 week old babies. It's been a month already since this one baby keeps me from moving up a stage. Basically, at first I thought my big boy was the agressor aswell, but turns out the baby keeps nipping at him. And then when my older boy gets angry and puts him in his place the baby screams bloody murder and acts all terrified afterwards. He's such a drama queen and It's so silly, like somehow he hasn't realized yet that his actions have consequences! Hopefully he'll learn eventually so they can finally start bonding properly. :')
Yeah I think that kind of behaviour is actually more difficult than being overly dominant.
As babies this is very normal. When it becomes problematic is when they start taking it seriously as they gripe up
Interesting stuff. We had the screaming blue murder without the nipping. Babies who, on being put in a carrier with adult bucks, stood up on their hind legs and squealed. It was a bit heart rending but the worst of it was that it freaked out one of the adults, who bit a baby. Paused intros for a bit and tried again, same squealing. But once we understood that the adult's issue was the screaming, not the babies themselves, we were able to fix it. We used a pre-carrier step where we gradually reduced the space they had (starting from a bed and working down) so that the babies got used to the bucks being nearby and didn't scream. Had to monitor it constantly, but eventually got them to be calm in a carrier sized space. A stressful day, but then they went into a carrier and intros went really well from then. It really helped to understand what caused the buck to bite. I still have no clue why the babies were so vocal and scared.
Screaming like that tends to be a bit of a panic response, eg “I don’t know what to do so I’ll scream so he thinks I’m big and scary” backed up by standing on hind legs to make themselves bigger but also a good defensive position (well not good for intros but they feel like they have the high ground). You do need to move them out of that headspace to move forward with the intro as it’s not a headspace they can learn in but sounds like you did a really good job with that.
@@IsamuRatCare that's good to know! Any tips for moving them into a different headspace safely? We thought the general idea was that you leave them to exhaist themselves but it did not seem at all a viable option, as our stressy "I hate this noise!" bug buck would possibly have bitten someone again before that point, which was why we went for the approach we did. It felt right for that group of rats. The biter was actually a soppy old sod, so when we were trying to get them to be calm in a smaller and smaller space, I just picked him up and calmed him if he started to look fluffed or angry. Very easy to do with that particular rat, Puck, but I don't know if I'd try it with any old rat I didn't know well. Maybe with a towel? Puck, I just scooped up. Once we got them to coexist in a carrier and peace broke out, he was the first adult that the babies used as a cushion. A good boy really :) Still, I can't help giggling at the thought of those silly 200g kittens trying to convince him they were Big And Scary. He was nearly 800g I think, and not fat. A huge, long, heavy-set, buck. And it's funnier still that in fact he Was kind of scared of them, hence the bite! He tried to be alpha for a bit in his prime, it was a disaster. In the end Tyke took the role back and I swear Puck was relieved :')
I love this video! Is there any books on the topic? I find it fascinating to hear about their hierarchy.
Thank you for the amazing content
The best read I’ve found in heirachy is a book that looks at a whole host rat related things called “the story of rats” by S Barnett. He’s a scientist who’s worked with rats long term and looks at what we can learn from them as well as contrasting poet and wild rat behaviour. I found it really interesting to read
Hello, really loving your videos, so interesting and informative. Could I please ask how noisy rats can be? I know it's all relative based on personalities but I am thinking of getting 3 rats, who'd live in a spare room but I don't want to wind up my dog 🤫 she'd be barred from there of course. If you have any useful links or general guidance that would be great thank you.❤🐀
They are not going to do a lot of squeaking etc unless they have a scrap but they can bang and bounce around the cage and gnawing isn’t exactly quiet. I would say though it’s something your dog gets used to it should be straightforward to train them to ignore it.
@@IsamuRatCare thank you so much for taking the time to reply. Thanks for the advice. We have a hamster downstairs (totally out of reach) who she's vaguely aware of the running and gnawing of but doesn't react to other than a dutiful listen 😊 she's my picture so a little terrier who doesn't bark much surprisingly! Thanks I feel better about the prospect of having rats.❤ take care.
I love watching your videos, they are so informative and valuable thank you.
Is it true that bucks become sterile at a certain age?
I recently lost one of my boys and have one left and wanted to introduce him to some new cage mates. Only problem is when my sons dad brought them home, he got girls clearly not seeing the problem! I don't have alot of room for loads of cages and my girls are in there own cage. But the whole point of getting more was to keep my boy company and I do love bucks my boys are so cuddley. So do I introduce them or do I get some more males to keep him company
Thank you
I love listening to all your info. You make me laugh because you say it how it is and that’s exactly what I do. Like when you say one acts like an asshole lol. My boys, they are almost 12 weeks. They have biff’s and one gets pinned down more than the others by more frequently by one in particular. Most of the time they wrestle then Abe pins down Archie and eventually Archie submits and lays in his back frozen. Sometimes Abe will frantically groom around Archie’s head. Out of the four I’m still trying to distinguish who is in what position.
I am definitely not good as sugar coating stuff lol, but the good thing is the rats never take it personally! They know I adore them even if I call them names
Are bucks or does more beginner friendly (or doesn't it matter)? We are planning to be first time rat owners in a year or so and educating ourselves. We are heavily leaning towards bucks but would love for you to weigh in.
Hey Jemma or if anyone else has input on this: with play-fighting, how often/ how much is too extreme, where you should think of possibly neutering? Also when compared with does, do you see much differences in the occurrence/ nature of the play fights? Thanks in advance🙂
It depends if it’s play fighting, jockeying for position or proper aggressive fighting. I would say if anyone of getting wounds (more than just the odd tiny nip) or you notice your rat’s are very tense or losing condition it’s going too far.
I love your sweater! (Jumper)
Thank you so much! This is such informative and helpful video! By the way, how can I find this facebook group? I would really like to join!
It’s called rat care uk, if you search for that you should find it.
hello, i recently got some rats who are about two months old. i also have two others who are about 8ish months. the older ones are in a double critter nation and the younger ones are in a smaller cage. i introduced them today and everything went good. once they’re all bonded do you think i could move the smaller ones into the critter nation or is it too big?
They will be fine in the big cage
I'm glad I stumbled on this while looking through your bioactive substrate videos! I kept does in high school and college, but ended up with two bucks July of 2019 - so they're nearing the 18mo mark now. I have one chunky alpha and then my sweetheart of a little guy. I've been on the fence about when to introduce a male kitten or two. Do you ever have issues with an older bucks getting bullied by younger ones or does the alpha generally take care of that?
Usually they form a nice group, you can get a point where the teenage bucks attempt to and eventually do take over. This doesn’t normally last long and then they very much look after each other which is lovely
Sometime in February I'll doing intros which I'm wondering if it might be complicated. I have one old buck (13 months by then if he's still with us) 4 bucks who will all be around 30-32 months old (depending on when I introduce them) and 2 new kittens who will be atound 10 weeks old by then. My older boy is the dominant male and I can see the start of one of my 4 brothers becoming more confident and occasionally gets told off by my older boy because he is gaining confidence and the older boy feels he needs to supress this confidence (I think).
I hope my older boy is still around when we get the new kittens as I think intros will go better with him in charge. The unknown regarding my confident young buck is slightly worrying me. Do you think that intros could be problematic if my older dominant buck isn't around by then and if so do you have any tips? 🙏😊
How long does the teenage bit last for
I wish I found your page when I first started owning rats. It would’ve saved me a lot of stress 😂
I have five boys so I need this video 😂
my rule of thumb is to pick the most active buck, or the most laid back doe. Thats just how I do it.
One of my bucks has kept his young craziness, he popcorns everywhere, sprints towards me and then runs away and then doesthe same over and over. I can play fight with him, but his buck brother won't have any of it, he's clearly the dominant one, always on top in play fights pinning the other one down. They've never had a fall out and will cuddle up together probably 50% of the times I see them sleeping.
Bless them that sounds wonderful, my skip is still very playful and young mentally and Bobby whose roughly the same age is much more mature and dominant
@@IsamuRatCare I love the the name skip, reminds me of my old springer spaniel, probably the most bonkers animal I've had until Alfred the bonkers rat I have now.
I'm still really liking the looks of some degus 😊 it's the life span that's selling them to me and the easier diet, fibee fibre fibre
I have 6 bucks ranging in age from 3.5 to 2 months. I love everything about the boys.
Hi, my boys have been fine, now approx 12months and have started fighting, last couple of weeks, lots of scuffles and night, now resulted in a but of hair pulling out. Just the two together. Confused as to why it’s happened now.
There’s likely been something that’s unsettled the heirachy a bit, that could be one rat deciding he fancies a go or someone getting a growth spurt. I’d keep an eye and if they do get a bit arsey try doing a carrier method type intro. This can help settle them
Thanks, I did the 2nd stage of the carrier method and it seems to have settled them down again. I also took out the boxes we had put in for them to hide in climb, on, like a cardboard maze for them as I wondered if they were fighting over that territory after listening to your comments about the alpha needed to control and keep and eye on territory. They even seem to be arguing over a small box we attached to the inside of the cage as a kind of nesting box. It seems to have helped! Shame as thier cage is more boring now. I am going to replace with more ropes and open climbing things to see if they are less problematic! Complicated creatures!
I’m glad out helped, you could still offer fun things but make sure they have multiple entrances and can’t easily be guarded. You’ll probably find after a couple of months it doesn’t matter any more again and you can put the boxes back
@@IsamuRatCare thanks, they’re so much calmer now, huge relief. Thanks so much for your advice.
So helpful! Thank you 👏🏽🐀
I notice that you have ribbons for show; how long have you been showing rats?
Since 2006, though sadly there’s not been any shows for over a year now. I do enjoy them and the rats seem to too. The ones on the door behind me tend to be the ones from the rats that are alive and with us, the ones around the ceiling 1-2 special ones per rat as a memory
I have a question about my boys behavior. So I have currently 3 nutered males and the Leader of the pack Called Buboni is always nibbleing/biting my fingers.. he sniffs and than bites.. should I then just grab him out of the Cage like u do or what can I do to stop that behavior? The others are very gentle with me.. Buboni is quite interested in everything and explores often first.. So what should i do to stop him from biting my finger everytime..?? Thanks so much for the Answer :D love Isi
Is he breaking the skin at all
@@IsamuRatCare Yes he is.. One time he bit me for no reason at all. And now there is a mark on my finger..
In what age, will bucks begin to establish the hierarki? Mine are almost 5 months, and dosent seem to, have an alfarat. I have 3 brothers. When do the hormons kick in/show?
From a fan in Denmark.
Normally around the 4-6 month mark you’ll notice it getting more obvious however in a very settled group you might not
Great video. Ive got 4 bucks but they keep fighting mostly at night but also in the day. They keep making each other squeal. And its not just one dominant its all of them against all. They are 2 months old . What should i do to stop them fighting ?
This is my current situation too and I have 3. They all seem to have beef with each other constantly.
Is anyone getting injured?
Isamu Rat Care I’m not sure I haven’t seen any major injuries
Boys do scrap (especially teenage boys) and as long as no one is getting hurt and everyone is eating well then I tend not to worry. Look out for that fluffing up type behaviour which says they are getting angry
Isamu Rat Care thank you very much for your information it helps a lot
My boys arent lap animals, however they are all lazy as anything. They dont do much and no matter what time of day I bring them out they only play for a little while.
However, that might have to do with my one boy always trying to "fight". He likes to sneak around, pounce ,hide and act a fool. I think he gets on their nerves as as soon as they come out he doesnr like to stop. My other male, captain, all he does after I bring him out, is find somewhere near me to sleep. He either hides behind me or will climb on my shoulder to sleep. After he is done sniffing everything!
That sound like wonderful characters
I have two boys that are approaching 2 years of age and one of them seems to have had an aggression spike. I have no idea what to do or how to fix this. It's lot of pinning behaviour (and a ton of screaming which sometimes they do if one looks at the other, they're massive drama queens) and there have been a few gashes (which I think were from claws not bites if that plays any insignificance) and I feel like I'm at my wit's end. Any advice? I don't think castration would help due to their ages as I don't think it's a hormonal thing
Honestly it might help, or you could consider trying an implant given his age. However I’d first really keep an eye out for any neurological type symptoms (eg my PT video in the health playlist)
@@IsamuRatCare I've not noticed any neurological symptoms however the rat that is getting the aggression does have myco symptoms and I know sometimes there can be aggression towards sick rats? There does seem to be pinning behaviour on both sides and sometimes it's just for am intense grooming session and other times it seems more like an assert of dominance.
Sometimes I think the aggressor just has a very short temper. My myco boy also has a head tilt and is a bit wobbly and will overestimate his balancing abilities and will fall onto the aggressor which can cause scuffles. But they're also very affectionate towards each other and always sleep together and snuggle lots and there's never any aggression from either of them towards humans
Very sorry for all these replies last one I swear - the normal "screamer" does like drama though. He screamed at me this morning when I didn't give him a piece of banana fast enough so honestly who knows
Is anyone getting injured?
Do you have Instagram or Facebook where I can send you a short 30 second video of them wrestling and pinning down to see what you think. All my boys came from a well know breeder here in Sydney Australia. They aren’t all from the same litter but all have the same father and all born within days of each other. She used the same father with multiple Doe’s because of the bloodlines and temperament, health and size. The father is a Selkirk and mum was Birkshire with Selkirk genes. So I have two mink Selkirks but one has solid colour the other has white and mink. Then I have Selkirk coat but Birkshire black and white and lastly straight up Selkirk white pink eyed. I needed these boys as therapy pets and she said her bloodlines with Selkirks would be perfect plus they get quite big. My daughter who’s 20 years old has 4 girls.
I have a Facebook page which is probably best to contact me on, I do have Instagram but I often don’t get notifications
What is the name of your Facebook page?
Isamu rats
Isamu rats
I have 2 bucks, one is mad and popcorns everywhere and loves attention, the other doesn't like being held much, but will come to me for a head massage and then bugger off again
Aww that sound like perfect characters in there own right. One of the best buy about knowing rats is getting to learn who they are and grow our relationship
@@IsamuRatCare so true, there's just something about rats that is simply brilliant, I have to admit I'm still learning alot about them, I'm an experienced Guinea pig keeper ( Guinea pig diets are so much easier, pretty much 90% fibre and the rest vit c rich veg lol)
Does anyone ever set up a really interesting free range for their rats, wait for them to wake up and have a wash first, get them out, and then all they do is sit there sleeping again 🤣
Not my bunch, they would trash it!!! They don’t do sleeping unless I’m not there lol
@@IsamuRatCare wish mine were like that. They always wake up at 10pm and then stay active until about 8am. I work all hours all over the country, so some nights I don't even get to see them much, which is sad with how short their life span is. My wife is there with them a lot though, I make sure I spoil them all weekend and let them run everywhere. This is where I prefer guinea pig that just nap for 20 minutes or so then are back out eating and messing about again
Could a spayed doe ever be the alpha of the group?
Yep it doesn’t affect does in the same way it does Bucks
I think my does think they're bucks! They're all bigger laprats than most bucks I've met and all well versed in staring at me! 🤣 It's quite nice cos I get the best of both worlds, I can't keep bucks as for some reason I'm allergic to them?!
I actually cant figure out who is in charge in my 3 boys, all I know is that my rat data is not. He is very energetic and like the child of the group, he fights a lot. But once the other rats have had enough, they end up pinning him down for ages. Every time he moves, they push him. Making him scream because he is a drama queen. The other two also push him away when they dig for food, they mostly go after him when he has food as well. They all do get along thankfully tho 😊
When my rats were babies they all slept together. But I think I did get that teen phase with them, because captain wouldnt stay with the other Rats. He would fight the others, piss on everything and stay with himself most of the time. Any time one of the rats would come to his hammock, hed either fight them away or move. Now though, they are all back to cuddling ! Cuties 😊😊
It’s possible your other two happily share it, I’m glad Captain has calmed down now though
Would fixing my boys benefit me at all? With marking, aggression, etc. All three of them are MAYBE 5 weeks old right now. They’re tiny new boys.
I would probably pay more attention to if it would benefit them, as really it’s surgery and that always carries risk to the individual.
It have very little impact on marking though and if they are well bred rats they are unlikely to suffer from aggression in later life. If you do consider it though I wouldn’t do it before 6 months old to give them chance to fill out and gain muscle.
Poor things though at 5 weeks old they are really too young to be homed
@@IsamuRatCare thank you for your reply! I could be completely wrong about their age. They’re much smaller than your rat pup you showed. I’m honestly just guessing because they’re about the size of a full grown mouse. And the older two aren’t as fluffy (their hair is flattening soft where as the youngest is like baby fluffy soft) I do appreciate your advice and will avoid neutering because I do want the best for them. I just didn’t know if three boys would become very aggressive though I think they will do just fine with the double critter nation I’ve ordered. They have a three level all living animals cage for now which is decent but the critter nation will be their main home. I’m still learning and as I said I appreciate the reply because I can trust your advice from what I have learned from your videos.
Boy will be boys 🤣
Ps - Nice hair 😂
lol it is particularly poofy right now (humidity) and whilst I wanted to see dark roots I think it’s more brown than blond now lol. Only 2 weeks until I can get a hair cut!