Story: my restive the rat Pumpkin has been single since his bro Tommen died of cancer back in November. Last month, I decided on a whim to call the pet store and ask if they had any male rats. They had these two guys, Iggy on the right and Diego on the left, who had been living there for two months after they previous owner had to move away and couldn't take them with them. I tried everything I could to socialize them with Pumpkin, but they constantly fought. I took them all to the vet last week, but the vet said it was too risky to neuter them and it probably wouldn't even help with their hierarchy problems. Today while I was trying to play with them, Iggy hurt Pumpkin's nose and made him bleed pretty badly. That was a sign to me that these boys are incompatible and there was no way they could be cage mates. I just don't have the time or energy to be able to take care of two colonies, so I'm very sad to say that I'm going to keep my first love Pumpkin and give Iggy and Diego back to the pet store. It's a small, independent pet store and I know the people who work there care very much for all the pets who live there, so I know they will be ok. But I will miss these little goofballs so much. I'll go visit them often and hope they can find a good family. I'm happy they at least have each other.