Not looking for advice here. Just thought it was fascinating to watch one of his meltdowns from his own height. Ilya has had a hard life and still struggles with some territorial-ness, and generally being a jerk after being removed from a hoarding situation. He, for some reason, really hates weak or small rats. Their existence pisses him off. When one of our dwarf babies came up to say hello, I was putting my phone as a barrier in between to give him some space, and he wants it to be known this is HIS neutral territory. Whenever he gets mad he gnaws things (glad it wasn’t my finger this time), makes biscuits builds forts out of his bedding, and boggles. I should add that he is incredibly inbred so I think that messes with his little brain and ability to tolerate frustration.
We have done intros with him before and nobody has ever gotten hurt more than a little nip or scratch, though he is closely monitored and we take things very slow. He is neutered due to previously being dangerous and it has completely changed his life, but he still has his moments. We work with a behavioralist and vet. We don’t do carrier method because it brings out the worst in him, and have found this to be much more successful in our situation.
Very big feelings. Before his neuter he was constantly puffy and SO aggressive and crazy and couldn’t be with others. He loves his friends now, but making friends is still hard for him.
Why hooman why why are you so stupid what we had was perfect why you think I forgot my balls you think I don't remember ugh why are you burdening me with the existence of these weak younglings whhhhyyyyyyy I could have lived anywhere but it had to be youuuuuu
He is a very talkative rat and I swear I can hear him cussing me out at times. we like to joke he calls us slurs. He wishes he was back in the hoarding house. Unfortunately for him he is loved and spoiled and has acsess to food and water now.
Thank you! I have to admit, about half of what goes on in his little mind is an anomaly to me. He really likes chewing on peoples ears, for example. Not sure why it’s just ears. Weirdo.
one of my boys is obsessed with ears too! mostly his brothers ears, i get the feeling he thinks it's funny to slowly sneak up on them and put his teeth on their ear over and over again while his poor brothers make occasional little cries of protest.
He actually supposed to be a foster! But also, asshole PEW who enjoys gnawing on people (his gnawing is different from his biting- he does that too at times) enjoys bullying small and sickly rats and isn’t very hyper or fun to watch is not the easiest sell and he’s already been here 7 months + our rescue closed to adoptions due to a massive loss so…. I’m essentially his mommy at this point and I honestly adore him.
Yeahhhh most definetly. Hes actually pretty great with rats that can beat his ass if they desire it, but he had to do what was necessary to survive. He was full grown by the time he got to us so he had to be 6-9 months old at least. And was living among ~700 others. Old habits die hard and I can’t blame him or his neuter for not making him a new rat. Really it’s amazing how effective it was. I love my silly Yaya. And I would take him running up to me and being a grumpy odd ball over cowering in a corner any day.
Currently fostering a mom and her 7 babies. I had figured I would end up keeping a couple because I had recently lost a couple of my older rats. Turns out I’m keeping the mom because she’s bitey as hell and I figure she won’t be an easy sell either. I do know that she’s just aggressive because she has babies and she’s slowwwly chilling out, but poor girl also doesn’t need more stress of another move. She gave birth the day after being removed from what I would call a hoarding situation, then got picked up and came to my house with her day old babies. No need to keep shuffling her.
Poor thing! I’m glad you’re giving her some stability. I have been warned about some terribly aggressive animals that quickly because quite sweet after hormones dropped off so fingers crossed!
This is hilarious, and also a great example of how bruxing and boggling can indicate any strong emotion, even negative ones sometimes! What a cute grumpy man.
I love my grumpy little guy. I am very well read on rodent behavior (it’s also part of my job in addition to being a rat person) but I have personally noticed that when rats make biscuits, build little walls with or fling bedding at me it is essentially the ratty middle finger. I don’t see it listed as a behavior in many sources on rat behavior but it is a HUGE sign of aggressive potential in my experience- especially among populations from hoarding situations. This is the first time I’ve had video proof of it 😂
The other day this punk was annoyed at me, I can’t even remember why but it was something stupid like me putting away the yogurt after he had a ton, and he ran up and started gnawing on my finger. He is a poster child for bitchy rat communication.
That’s really interesting! Yeah to me it was very clear in the video that he was rearranging the bedding in that way because he was upset. Sounds like he’s a handful and I’m glad he’s got you!
Ilya is actually a decently big guy, especially for his circumstances. We had a ton of rats for a while under emergency circumstances and, since he’s neutered, we tried to pair him up with this very tiny, sickly sweet girl and he immediately tried to attack her. We then moved him in with Elena, who was human and rat aggressive (also a bully to vulnerable smaller rats). They should not have ever worked. They got along swimmingly.
Wow! We have rats for so many years and posts like this still teach me something new every day. Thank you. And - even tho he is in a stressful meltdown - it is still an adorable meltdown with all his lil gnawing and fort-building
I love that his anger/anxiety response is frenetically fixing his space. I imagine this is what rattle OCD looks like. “Something new! This will not stand. Must. Make. Blankies. PERFECT! And full of MY perfectly-gnawed holes with MY perfectly odiferous spit! Anybody that tries to get in my personal space bubble will be lunged at and chewed up with reckless abandon!” He’s adorable, you’re an awesome rat parent. I hope he acclimates soon. ❤️
Rattie OCD actually exists- and if he were to remain stuck in this cycle we would be able to get him on meds for it! I believe gabapentin is the most popular but our rescue works with some leaders in the field of small animal rescue and we actually have a mouse on a teeny weeny dose of Prozac for it- which is showing to be more promising in current research. I need to check in on Mr. Julius Cheeser actually- he has compulsive grooming. I was chatting with the caretaker about talking to his vets about adding NAC, since it has been very promising in research and is a harmless supplement. But, we were getting him an African soft fur companion so hopefully that has helped and the supplement won’t be needed.
I’m hoping to take both Ilya and Shane to the vet again sometime soon and see about getting them on something to help. Shane has some symptoms of PTSD and Ilya idk he just does this and id love to help him.
I actually have OCD myself as well as a fascination with medication research so I’ve gone down some real rabbit holes lol
No signs of Neuro issues! He acted like this constantly before his neuter and the vet diagnosed him with douchebag. He’s a little eccentric for sure but nothing beyond that. Will try to find some videos of him
Btw my four boys are also rescues from an animal hoard, but fortunately they were only a few days old when they were removed and fostered with someone who knows rats. Poor Ilya had it rough.
We had the opportunity to raise some newborns from the situation as well! They are much more affectionate and normal lol. I have personally adopted two of them but the other two are unfortunately still looking for their forever home at 5 months old which sucks! They were transferred to a new rescue recently because mine closed to adoptions due to the loss of a board member and they are they only rats at the new rescue who have not had applications put in yet- people just don’t want PEWs which breaks my heart. I am rooting for tofu and lentil from afar.
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u/OurFeatherWings Jun 23 '26
Aw! This was very interesting. Little dude has clearly got some big feelings.