When to seperate...

[Dark_Rogue]

I have 6 male rats of varying ages. My youngest is about 7 months old (Grima) and my oldest is over 2 (Duncan). The problem is with the middle child, D'Artagnan. He's an extremely lovable rat and is very playful, but he has been picking on everybody, lately. He's somewhere around a year and a half old, I imagine.

My oldest, Duncan, had an abcess near his privates a week ago that has since cleared up, but I wonder if that was fight related. Today, I picked up my poor skittish Grima and he has a 1/2 inch gash to his back leg. I've cleaned it thoroughly, but I'm thinking about separating my guys. Would it be much of a stress on them? Would I still be able to let them all out at the same time as they only have injured themselves, in the cage, it seems. They do play dominance games outside the cage, but I've never seen any real damage come from them. I just feel bad splitting them up when they usually are just fine, till quite recently. Grima always seems to be taking the brunt of it and he is almost always hiding from D'Artagnan. Poor guy.

My idea of separation is this:
Top of ferret nation:
Duncan, Methos, Nibbles and Grima (These guys always get along)

Bottom of Ferret Nation:
Roo and D'Artagnan (They're both about the same age)

Does anybody have any other advice?

[Dazydaizee]

First, I suggest neutering the aggressor. I had great success with the boy I just neutered.. in fact it's only been about 3 weeks and already my formerly overly dominant boy who had begun terrorizing everyone and causing injuries has settled down completely. I have only seen about 2 scuffles that didn't result in any injuries since the neuter. In fact, for the first time in the almost 8 months I've had this trio, I saw them all sleeping together outside of the cage. They're getting along so much better. (these are three rats that have spent almost their entire lives together.) I've had success in the past with neutering more aggressive rats as well and they tend to fit in with everyone and everything settles down.

If neutering is not an option, you can try separating them, of course it's best if every rat has at least one friend, which seems to be your plan, however I would worry that the aggressive rat, if kept with only one other, may start to bully his buddy.