Just wanted a little input here from the other rat breeders. I've had something occur today I've never seen in our rat colony.

I had a pair of female rats, both have had one litter previously, in with one of my big male breeder rats since yesterday afternoon. He's a very nice male, as are all our males. If a male is overly aggressive to the females or with me, he's culled. Anyways, I walked in to feed this morning and their tub was literally splattered with blood and quite a bit of it on the bedding. Poor Fabio (the beige self male) has a very big bite on his shoulder/lower neck area on the side.

We've pulled him to a recovery tank by himself, treated his wound and expect he'll survive this but what I'm wondering about is what in the world set these two females off? I've never had a female rat go after a male like this! Of the two females, one is rather nervous, has never been a female I could handle much and quite honestly more than once I've almost fed her off as she's just so hyper to deal with. The other female is much quieter and I did observe her actually cuddling with poor Fabio. I suspect it was the more nervous female who nailed him (she's also a very good sized female that could administer a bite that major).

So now what? Should I feed off the big female rat that I suspect was the instigator? Should I give it a couple of days and try introducing another male in with these two? I don't want to see another of my nice big male rats chewed up like this but I can't let this pair of females sit around not producing either. Neither of these females showed any problem with the previous male they breed with during their first breeding cycles.

I'm going to give Fabio a week to recover then put a nice quiet young male in with him for company as he finishes healing. Poor fellow, he looks rather pitiful...beat up by a girl! (considering how big Fabio is, that female rat is lucky he didn't fight back)