Hi

My children have 2 male pet rats, which we keep in separate cages, as they have become territorial and seem to fight when they get together.

I recently separated them from fighting and the attacking rat turned on me and bit me. Once he had bitten me he turned his back on me when I tried to pick him up to put him back in his cage, and would not let me pick him up. I had to get oven gloves to pick him up and put him back for fear of him biting me again, as the bite was quite deep and I was bleeding quite a bit.

Is this normal of male rats? Should I rather find a home for one and only keep one to prevent this from happening again?

Hi Carla
I have kept two males with no problems. It is possible you have a personality clash, believe it or not!
However, before you re-home one of the boys, please make sure they are each getting enough food, because a food shortage (famine in their opinion) will cause aggression in any animal, more especially your two lads.
You see, they’ll eliminate the competition by fighting and killing their rivals in order to survive themselves. And the trick here, is to feed enough for 3 or even 4 rats … and it must be their favourite food as well - anything else simply won’t go down well!
And of course these pets (as with all pets) must be handled gently and with respect every single day to keep them human friendly - also you might just keep an eye on the kids while you’re about it.
Oh, and the oven gloves are an excellent idea - keep them handy.
Take care
Glynne