Post by Renegade on Mar 28, 2009 20:09:31 GMT -5
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Starmark-Johansson's Rat Aggression Scale
INTRODUCTION:
Abnormal aggression in rats are a large problem in the fancy rat world, both for breeders and pet owners. These rats cause damage to their cage mates and their owners, and it is likely that they also feel miserable themselves. Since the degree of aggression is a heritable trait, it is important to note a rat's behaviour when deciding whether or not to use it for breeding. This scale should be regarded as a guideline to the various levels of aggressive behavior in the fancy rat.
Note that this rat scale is only applicable to rats that know each other and live together.
DEFINITIONS:
Normal social behavior: The normal social behavior for two rats who are pack mates are to live together without quarreling or arguing, raising hackles, etc. They should be willing to sleep together in a "rat pile" and to gently groom each other. Although they may engage in so-called "rough-and-tumble"-play (i.e. wrestling) it should be apparent that it is play and not serious, and that there are no hard feelings either during play or once the play is over.
Cage mates: Rats who have spent a significant amount of time (i.e. months) living peacefully in the same cage as the rat in question. Young rat babies (i.e. less than three months old) living in the same cage are also included in this definition.
Rat mates: Rats that live together and clearly shows signs of being friends, ie, showing normal social behaviour towards each other.
Aggression: Although aggression is normally defined as between members of the same species, we have found from our own experience that pet rats spend so much time with humans that aggression also should apply to rat-human interaction. (If the rat has spent a lot of time with the family dog, it is reasonable in some cases to count that animal as a "human" for the purpose of this scale.)
SCALE
Rank 1: The rat will not defend itself unless actively attacked, and will prefer to flee if possible. It is easy to introduce to new rats and shows normal social behavior towards cage mates. This rat shows no particular desire to become pack leader, and shows obvious signs of being a good rat mate.
Rank 2: As rank 1 rats, except it is eager to become pack leader, and will attempt to gain this position in play.
Rank 3: If this rat is provoked, it will answer by clawing, but will not bite. Small amounts of blood may be shed, but no serious wounds will result. If introduced to new rats, it may be edgy and somewhat suspicious, but will in time show normal social behavior towards cage mates. If this rat lives in a cage with many rats it is not uncommon that this rat is a good rat mate to only some of the other rats in the cage. Generally speaking this rat, when adult, does not like to move into a new cage with a new pack of rats, and it is a good idea to avoid that situation. If you need to rehome this rat you should always try to let it have its closest friend with it and maybe let them live in a cage by themselves henceforth.
Rank 4: As a rank 3 rat, but may answer by biting if provoked by a cage mate. This rat does not show normal social behavior towards pack mates. Rather, it will continue to try to provoke other rats in the cage and generally bully the other rats.
Rank 5: This rat defends food from other pack mates, often by biting, so that the other rats may be underfed if not several bowls of food is provided. This is a strong sign of abnormal behavior and the rat will in all probability become more aggressive as time goes on.
Rank 6: This rat will attack and bite humans without provocation. This is the rat that commonly is named a "biter" and often is the main cause of problem from the pet owner's point of view. It is important to know that such a rat may be a good friend to its cage mates.
Rank 7: Will attack and bite pack mates without provocation, causing wounds that bleed. This rat should be removed from the cage as soon as possible. Keeping it together with other rats is nothing less than cruelty to the other rats. It is important to know that this rat may be a perfect pet when outside of the cage! Note that these rats do not always exhibit rank 6 behaviour.
GUIDELINES TO USING THE SCALE:
The aim of the scale is that it should be applicable to all rats. Problems with aggression are most obvious in male rats and generally surface between 4 and 13 months of age (average 7 months). Regardless of when the rat begins showing an abnormal behavior, it should be classified according to the worst score it has reached (e.g., a rat who defends food but otherwise shows normal behavior is still a rank 5 rat and should be closely watched). Also note that the earlier the rat begins to show aggressive behavior, the worse it will probably become in time. This is not an absolute rule, but it is a good rule-of-thumb.
Although the development of husky rat aggression is different from the aggression that other rats show it should not deviate from the pattern above. When breeding husky rats, extreme caution should be taken to ensure that only the nicest rats are bred from.
It is important to know that severe stress for an extended period of time (for example forced to share a cage together with truly aggressive rats) can cause a rat to "adapt" by becoming more aggressive. If this rat is placed with nice rats for a while, the behavioral disturbances may normalize. A rat which has been under such stress should be given a certain amount of time (2-3 months) before being rated, to give it a chance to revert to normal behavior. A rank 1 rat always normalize its behaviour in such cases.
Sometimes you hear of rats that will bite but only when the owner (or anyone else) put their hand inside the cage. Such a rat is defending its cage, and the bite in question does not necessarily draw blood. The solution to this problem for the pet owner is to lift off the top of the cage before cleaning the cage or giving food and so on. This behaviour is to be considered rank 3, since the rat is provoked, but only some rats show this behaviour. Be careful not to misdiagnose this behaviour: some owners give the rats treats through the bars, and thus train the rats to bite (after food) through the bars of the cage. Such wrongly trained rats cannot be considered aggressive at all, this is the owner's fault.
Pregnant females commonly act a bit bossy towards the cagemates, especially towards the end of the pregnancy. Also, some females protect her newborn babies in the nest, and might even give you small bite (sometimes even drawing a drop of blood) if you try to take one of her newborns from the nest when she is there. This behaviour usually stops when the babies are a few days old. In the wild about half of all the females protect their newborn babies like this against all rats for a few days, even close friends, and the other half do not. Therefore this behaviour must generally be considered to be normal. Note that even if the female does not show this behaviour she will most likely rise in status in her last few days of pregnancy and this raised status will gradually drop. It should be gone no later than at weaning time.
Most rat breeders try to breed out this beviour altogether. The reason for this is that more and more females show an abnormal protective behaviour when pregnant and having babies. We have heard of pregnant or lactating females that turn aggressive as soon as an unknown person enters the room, and tend to bite deep and hard, sometimes even when her babies are several weeks old. Some females even keep this bossiness and protective behaviour for good, or long after the babies are weaned, or develop a severely aggressive behaviour as soon as they become pregnant. Never breed from any rats with relatives showing this behaviour.
A sure sign of a fast developing aggression problem in young males is that the young males act a bit like they are trying to mate with each other. This kind of behaviour can develop as early as at the age of 5 to 6 weeks. Never buy such rats, they will only give you problem.
BREEDING:
As mentioned in the introduction, the scale should primarily be used as a guideline for breeding rats. Only so-called rank 1 rats should enter the breeding program, and the rat in questions should not have any siblings or parents of rank 2 or higher. If this rule-of-thumb is not followed, problems with aggressive rats will turn up in the line sooner or later. Also, do not think that two rank 1 rats show identical behavior - they will not. When choosing between two rank 1 rats, you should always breed from the meeker of the two rats, unless there are pressing reasons not to (age, disease, etc.) The mating of a rank 1 and a rank 2 rat may often produce a few rank 3 rats in the litter, or worse. You can usually predict the outcome if you know the rank of the relatives.
As a breeder of rats it is of utmost importance to keep books of all the rats and all the matings. If one of the rats show signs of unwanted behaviour after being used for breeding, its descendants can be easily be removed from the breeding program. This is very important to ensure that no aggressive behaviour takes recidence in the population.
Colour-Breeding: Many rat-breeders breed for type and color, without taking proper care to ensure that their rats are non-aggressive. However, since it is very difficult to weed out aggression in a rat population, we feel that this prioritization is short-sighted. It is better to start with ensuring that your rats are nice to each other, and then begin selecting for color, since selecting for color is so much easier than selecting for behaviour.
Written by Anders Starmark & Eva Johansson.
Many thanks to Agnete in Denmark for taking time to write very helpful comments.
Copyright Eva Johansson.
Last update: 10th of Juli 2006.
Starmark-Johansson's Rat Aggression Scale
INTRODUCTION:
Abnormal aggression in rats are a large problem in the fancy rat world, both for breeders and pet owners. These rats cause damage to their cage mates and their owners, and it is likely that they also feel miserable themselves. Since the degree of aggression is a heritable trait, it is important to note a rat's behaviour when deciding whether or not to use it for breeding. This scale should be regarded as a guideline to the various levels of aggressive behavior in the fancy rat.
Note that this rat scale is only applicable to rats that know each other and live together.
DEFINITIONS:
Normal social behavior: The normal social behavior for two rats who are pack mates are to live together without quarreling or arguing, raising hackles, etc. They should be willing to sleep together in a "rat pile" and to gently groom each other. Although they may engage in so-called "rough-and-tumble"-play (i.e. wrestling) it should be apparent that it is play and not serious, and that there are no hard feelings either during play or once the play is over.
Cage mates: Rats who have spent a significant amount of time (i.e. months) living peacefully in the same cage as the rat in question. Young rat babies (i.e. less than three months old) living in the same cage are also included in this definition.
Rat mates: Rats that live together and clearly shows signs of being friends, ie, showing normal social behaviour towards each other.
Aggression: Although aggression is normally defined as between members of the same species, we have found from our own experience that pet rats spend so much time with humans that aggression also should apply to rat-human interaction. (If the rat has spent a lot of time with the family dog, it is reasonable in some cases to count that animal as a "human" for the purpose of this scale.)
SCALE
Rank 1: The rat will not defend itself unless actively attacked, and will prefer to flee if possible. It is easy to introduce to new rats and shows normal social behavior towards cage mates. This rat shows no particular desire to become pack leader, and shows obvious signs of being a good rat mate.
Rank 2: As rank 1 rats, except it is eager to become pack leader, and will attempt to gain this position in play.
Rank 3: If this rat is provoked, it will answer by clawing, but will not bite. Small amounts of blood may be shed, but no serious wounds will result. If introduced to new rats, it may be edgy and somewhat suspicious, but will in time show normal social behavior towards cage mates. If this rat lives in a cage with many rats it is not uncommon that this rat is a good rat mate to only some of the other rats in the cage. Generally speaking this rat, when adult, does not like to move into a new cage with a new pack of rats, and it is a good idea to avoid that situation. If you need to rehome this rat you should always try to let it have its closest friend with it and maybe let them live in a cage by themselves henceforth.
Rank 4: As a rank 3 rat, but may answer by biting if provoked by a cage mate. This rat does not show normal social behavior towards pack mates. Rather, it will continue to try to provoke other rats in the cage and generally bully the other rats.
Rank 5: This rat defends food from other pack mates, often by biting, so that the other rats may be underfed if not several bowls of food is provided. This is a strong sign of abnormal behavior and the rat will in all probability become more aggressive as time goes on.
Rank 6: This rat will attack and bite humans without provocation. This is the rat that commonly is named a "biter" and often is the main cause of problem from the pet owner's point of view. It is important to know that such a rat may be a good friend to its cage mates.
Rank 7: Will attack and bite pack mates without provocation, causing wounds that bleed. This rat should be removed from the cage as soon as possible. Keeping it together with other rats is nothing less than cruelty to the other rats. It is important to know that this rat may be a perfect pet when outside of the cage! Note that these rats do not always exhibit rank 6 behaviour.
GUIDELINES TO USING THE SCALE:
The aim of the scale is that it should be applicable to all rats. Problems with aggression are most obvious in male rats and generally surface between 4 and 13 months of age (average 7 months). Regardless of when the rat begins showing an abnormal behavior, it should be classified according to the worst score it has reached (e.g., a rat who defends food but otherwise shows normal behavior is still a rank 5 rat and should be closely watched). Also note that the earlier the rat begins to show aggressive behavior, the worse it will probably become in time. This is not an absolute rule, but it is a good rule-of-thumb.
Although the development of husky rat aggression is different from the aggression that other rats show it should not deviate from the pattern above. When breeding husky rats, extreme caution should be taken to ensure that only the nicest rats are bred from.
It is important to know that severe stress for an extended period of time (for example forced to share a cage together with truly aggressive rats) can cause a rat to "adapt" by becoming more aggressive. If this rat is placed with nice rats for a while, the behavioral disturbances may normalize. A rat which has been under such stress should be given a certain amount of time (2-3 months) before being rated, to give it a chance to revert to normal behavior. A rank 1 rat always normalize its behaviour in such cases.
Sometimes you hear of rats that will bite but only when the owner (or anyone else) put their hand inside the cage. Such a rat is defending its cage, and the bite in question does not necessarily draw blood. The solution to this problem for the pet owner is to lift off the top of the cage before cleaning the cage or giving food and so on. This behaviour is to be considered rank 3, since the rat is provoked, but only some rats show this behaviour. Be careful not to misdiagnose this behaviour: some owners give the rats treats through the bars, and thus train the rats to bite (after food) through the bars of the cage. Such wrongly trained rats cannot be considered aggressive at all, this is the owner's fault.
Pregnant females commonly act a bit bossy towards the cagemates, especially towards the end of the pregnancy. Also, some females protect her newborn babies in the nest, and might even give you small bite (sometimes even drawing a drop of blood) if you try to take one of her newborns from the nest when she is there. This behaviour usually stops when the babies are a few days old. In the wild about half of all the females protect their newborn babies like this against all rats for a few days, even close friends, and the other half do not. Therefore this behaviour must generally be considered to be normal. Note that even if the female does not show this behaviour she will most likely rise in status in her last few days of pregnancy and this raised status will gradually drop. It should be gone no later than at weaning time.
Most rat breeders try to breed out this beviour altogether. The reason for this is that more and more females show an abnormal protective behaviour when pregnant and having babies. We have heard of pregnant or lactating females that turn aggressive as soon as an unknown person enters the room, and tend to bite deep and hard, sometimes even when her babies are several weeks old. Some females even keep this bossiness and protective behaviour for good, or long after the babies are weaned, or develop a severely aggressive behaviour as soon as they become pregnant. Never breed from any rats with relatives showing this behaviour.
A sure sign of a fast developing aggression problem in young males is that the young males act a bit like they are trying to mate with each other. This kind of behaviour can develop as early as at the age of 5 to 6 weeks. Never buy such rats, they will only give you problem.
BREEDING:
As mentioned in the introduction, the scale should primarily be used as a guideline for breeding rats. Only so-called rank 1 rats should enter the breeding program, and the rat in questions should not have any siblings or parents of rank 2 or higher. If this rule-of-thumb is not followed, problems with aggressive rats will turn up in the line sooner or later. Also, do not think that two rank 1 rats show identical behavior - they will not. When choosing between two rank 1 rats, you should always breed from the meeker of the two rats, unless there are pressing reasons not to (age, disease, etc.) The mating of a rank 1 and a rank 2 rat may often produce a few rank 3 rats in the litter, or worse. You can usually predict the outcome if you know the rank of the relatives.
As a breeder of rats it is of utmost importance to keep books of all the rats and all the matings. If one of the rats show signs of unwanted behaviour after being used for breeding, its descendants can be easily be removed from the breeding program. This is very important to ensure that no aggressive behaviour takes recidence in the population.
Colour-Breeding: Many rat-breeders breed for type and color, without taking proper care to ensure that their rats are non-aggressive. However, since it is very difficult to weed out aggression in a rat population, we feel that this prioritization is short-sighted. It is better to start with ensuring that your rats are nice to each other, and then begin selecting for color, since selecting for color is so much easier than selecting for behaviour.
Written by Anders Starmark & Eva Johansson.
Many thanks to Agnete in Denmark for taking time to write very helpful comments.
Copyright Eva Johansson.
Last update: 10th of Juli 2006.