Expert: Sandra Todd - 7/6/2009

Question
QUESTION: I have had two male rats for about 8 months now.  I bought them from the same pet store at the same time, they shared a cage with 10 others.  Ninja was a baby and Gizmo was problem about 3-4 months old. Ninja is very loving but Gizmo has always been difficult.  He is shy eventho he is the dominate rat.  He is probably the most intelligent rat i have ever owned.  He knows his name and usually comes when i call him.
My problem with Gizmo is that he sort of bites me all the time.  It dose not hurt, he has never broken the skin, it is like he is lightly touching me with his teeth.  He'll just walk up to you and bite you.  
He bites my boyfriend more often and a bit harder and but still has never really hurt anyone.  He ALWAYS bites my toes. And sometimes he bites me a little harder. That is because i try to separate ninja and him when they get too rough play fighting, and if i tell him "no" for doing some random bad thing. How do i make him stop?
My other question was about sneezing.  They have recently began to sneeze.  It's not real serious, their isnt any red stuff leaking out of them and they are still as active as they have always been.  Is their any medicine I can buy to treat them at home?  My local pet store offered some to me once before but they have went out of business.
Thank You
Samantha

ANSWER: Lets start with the sneezing first. If they did not sneeze before and now they are, this means something is up. I would get them checked. Before you know it, they may have a full blown respiratory infection caused by mycoplasmosis and it becomes chronic once this happens.

There are only a few types of antibiotics that work on myco and they can only be obtained by a vet. These medications are made to destroy the cell rather than the cell wall since the myco bacteria contains no cell wall. The drug of choice is baytril and doxycycline used as a booster to the  baytril.  They should be given for 30 full days to avoid relapse and should they relapse, vets are now finding that putting the rat on lifelong baytril dosing once daily prevents chronic lung disease.


Read more about myco on my website:
http://www.freewebs.com/crittercity/mycoplasmosispage.htm

Also, if you need a vet I would be happy to give you some names, no obligation of course.


Next, the biting:  It sounds like your rats are using their teeth to communicate with you.  They seem to do it when they want attention. Rats do not really understand "no" too much because they tend to only respond to positive responses.  If you can first understand what they are trying to get out of biting rather than worry it is a behavior problem, you many notice this is a way of communication.  Watch carefully and note when they bite and what the situation is when they bite you.  As for toes, forget that one. Rats LOVE toes and also love love and I do mean LOVE feet with socks on.  Its just one of those things most rat owners will agree on: their rats go for the feet and toes!

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

QUESTION: Thank you very much for your response.  Could i bother you with one more question?  When i bring the boys out all they do is fight with each other.  They do get serious at least once or twice during their time out side the cage.  Is that normal? Should i separate them?  Is their anyway to discipline a rat?

Answer
Your no bother at all....that is why I am here!

Boys fight, esp babies.  When they are around 8 months their hormones are going nuts as they go through puberty to adulthood.  Keep them busy, let them play in a rat safe designated area and let them run off steam.  Give them toys to play with during play time.  Do they hurt each other and cause bite marks or make each other bleed?

There is NO way to discipline a rat.  They dont understand "no" nor do they know right from wrong. In fact, if they pick up on negative energy this leads to more aggression.

If it gets super serious, you can neuter the more aggressive rat, but usually they work it out. I have always had male rats and as long as the colony is small (no more than 3 to 4 males in one mischief) and the cage is big and they get plenty of exercise plus the right diet, males do fine with each other.