# New rat concernes/How to get rid of buck grease



## Tegan Ford (Oct 30, 2016)

Hello, 
I went and collected a new rattie to join my group of two males yesterday and I just have a few concern's that i'd like to address.
1. He has been caged alone for the first 7 months of his life, because the person who owned him previously didn't realize his cage mate was a female ,since this is the first boy i'm introducing to my 2 boys i'm worried he might really struggle settling in with them, i'm just wondering if anyone has experienced anything similar and how they were when you introduced them plus hes got loads of buck grease on him-i'm worried the heightened testosterone could make him more aggressive to my existing babies.
2. I can't tell if he's really 7 months, my boys are roughly the same age but he is HUGE, like nearly double the size !His teeth are not in the best condition either, so i'm almost convinced he's older.
3.They had a hamster wheel in his cage, like a tiny one, i'm not sure if he could have any back problems from it or what I should be looking for.
4. As i said earlier he's covered in buck grease dandruff/grease- well what i presume is, i checked under a friends microscope in case it was parasitic and it certainly isn't ,plus hes pretty orange so any methods to reducing this without neutering would be really appreciated.

I've got him in quarantine and he's off to the vets for a general checkup in a couple of days but I understand its hard to understand my concerns if you don't interact with them regularly!
Thanks so much for any help!


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## CRL (Jan 3, 2012)

Intro them in aa neutral area. Don't rush introduction especially with bucks that age. 
As for the buck grease I'm afraid there isn't much you can do. You can bath him but it will come back. It is a normal thing.


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## CRL (Jan 3, 2012)

And pictures please


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## Tegan Ford (Oct 30, 2016)

Thanks for the help! I was planning on putting my dominant boy in the bath with him when I introduce them.

The buck grease is in the areas that I think he's struggling to get at when he's trying to groom himself since he had no companion to help the poor mite out so I've been helping him out a bit today with it and it's cleared up quite well!









This is the new boy ,he's called the fat controller(fatty for short)









These are my two boys Pancake on the bottom and Spatula on the top


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## CRL (Jan 3, 2012)

i wouldnt try a bath with water in, due to them not enjoying water. they tend to ignore others. if you do intro in the bath do it without water. when they go into a cage scrub it to reduce all smells of the rats, wash all the hammocks, and put the 3 rats into the cage with no toys, hammocks, etc in. needs to be empty of everything except food and water. unless the rats are fighting and drawing blood keep at the intro's.


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## Tomskrat (Aug 11, 2011)

Poor diet also seems to contribute to amount of buck grease. If he was previously fed a poor quality mix, coupled with a lack of cage mates to groom him it might be why he's greasey as well. 
I'd give him a mite/lice treatment anyways just as a precaution and also as a preventative treatment as intros can be a bit stressful.


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## Tegan Ford (Oct 30, 2016)

I was going to introduce them in the bath because it's no ones territory, I've got another cage just for doing introductions anyway, and whilst there in there i'll then give the big cage a really good scrub down.

I've acted as his grooming buddy since we have got him and his grease is really clearing up nicely! He's booked in for the vets tomorrow and I'm going to get him the lice treatment anyway since my other boys had it done last week. I wouldn't be suprised if he was fed on hamster food or something since he had a hamster wheel and a hamster size Sputnik in his cage with him. 

Thanks for the help!


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