squealing rats

[bunny]

I have two male rats one called byson and one called baby. Byson is a big mature rat baby is not as big or as old as byson.When i went to feed them this morning i heard a loud repetitive skreaching noise when i looked at the cage i saw baby stairing at byson just skreaching his head off.last week baby got out and into a females cage could this be the problem.also what are male rats like when living together?.

[mysticwolf]

I got this from a website. I hope it helps. Male rats are very reluctant to accept newcomers, with one exception. If you introduce a 5-8 week old rat to an older male, the older one will adopt the younger as his son and will be very gentle with him. Later, after puberty hits, it is much harder for male rats to accept others. Even males that do get along will occasionally become so territorial at puberty that they will beat up their former friends. Males usually always fight to some extent and do a lot of boxing, power grooming and flipping of subordinate rats. Male rats seem to enjoy playing rough, but if one is getting picked on too much or is getting hurt or scared, it's better to separate them.

[partyqueen]

male rats will only live together happily if they have been introduced to each other when young, even better if they are brothers. having said that, a friend of mine had two males living together (they were brothers)that got on extremely well, but when she purchased a female (kept in a seperate cage)they began to fight viciously. this to me sounds as though the scent of a female will encourage the instinct of the males to fight for a mate, whether the female is accessible or not.

[Drumma_Triz]

as 'partyqueen' said, it is probably the scent of the female rats you own. If you move the females away and you continue to hear Sqealling and find Byson holdng Baby, they are just playing. I own two rats and at night i find them pining each other down and letting out quick and hearable sqeaks.