Need advice, my pet rats are fighting?

Question

I have had 2 female rats for almost a year now. They are in a large cage and have always gotten along with each other. One is very friendly and the other has always been very shy. Recently, within the past 2 days they have begun fighting. The shy one will jump on the other and she will start squeaking like crazy. If it only happened once a day I would be ok with it, but it seems like she never lets her have a moments peace. And I can hear the squeaking all the way in the other room. I took the one out to hold her tonight and I noticed her ears are all scratched up and a little bloody. No big wounds, but still.... Right after I put her back the other jumped on her again. So I dug out an aquarium for the night and put the troublemaker in it. Will I be able to put them back together or is she always going to be mean? They both seemed stressed when I seperated them, but I figured it was for the best. Has anyone been through this before? Thanks.

Answer 1

1. Rats playfight all the time, but usually not resulting in blood or scratches of any kind. That indicated a little more than playing

2. If they were put together from a very young age, it could be just now that they are establishing between eachother who is going to be the boss....if this has persisted for longer than three days I would say your chances are that they are not going to get along.

3. Rats that sleep together, STAY together. Even if they are scrapping the odd time here and there, if you notice that they cuddle up to sleep together sometimes, they are completely fine. That is the best indicator of a bond. However, still do not hesitate to seperate them if you really feel that one is being bullied.

4. Think outside the box when determining if you are really providing enough food and 'hiding places' to play and sleep. They will fight over both. Even if YOU think that you are giving them ample food, they can tell if they are over hungry or not and if there is enough food supply for the both of them....and as much as humans have learned to share, if there is a nice cozy hiding spot inside their cage, they are bound to fight over it and determined to try and claim it. This can be and ongoing bloody battle.....provide two or three for two rats.

Best of luck with your ratters!!

Answer 2

Your cage might be too small for the rats. Males can get very large and need enough space or they get upset. Also make sure they get at least an hour out of the cage a day, that they all have a hidey place, and that they have plenty of toys. Also 6-8 months is when boys tend to fight more A few scabs and things are pretty normal. If they aren't literally trying to kill each other, they should be fine. Boys go through periods where they are extra aggressive, but things settle down once they establish their pecking order. This process tends to repeat itself over time. As for the wound, if it isn't deep, it should be fine. Just leave it alone, or put a little neosporin on it.(though this draws the attention of other rats who will want to lick it) If it looks serious or starts to look infected (leaking, turning colors, etc), go to a vet. The pooping and peeing all over the place is a territorial thing.

Answer 3

It's likely a dominance thing, rats are pack animals and there is always going to be one that is the leader and others the lessers. I wouldn't worry too much about it unless they start biting off toes or tails (have seen that happen). I'm not sure there is much you can do about it other then let them work it out for themselves and watch for serious damage happening.

wikipedia says "Rats love to fight each other, and are not bothered by cuts and scrapes, as they are tough little creatures, so an owner's main worry should be stopping infection, as long as they are only play fighting."

hope that helps

Answer 4

Have you ever considered that the rat being bullied might be sick? This often happens when an animal sees a weakness in another animal they will try to "kill it off". It's instinctive, they see a sick animal as a waste of resources. This recently happened with piglets I was looking after, all seemed well except one was being attacked constantly and then when he grew a few weeks older he began developing tumors all over his body. Just something you might want to consider as tumours are common in rats.

Answer 5

Well, they're about a year old now, and they might just be getting tired of one another. I would suggest separating them, but then you say that they get stressed. So, when they're alone, I would put them in two seperate WIRE cages, right next to each other, so that they can still "be" with each other. When you're watching them, you could do so very carefully, and be there to separate them if anything serious happens.

Answer 6

I have short hair for the first time since I actually was 10 years old and I really like it but I skip my long curly locks so I am growing it back out!

Answer 7

It's all simply a matter of personal preference. We have short hair and guys such as it. And i prefer a man with short hair over a guy with long hair because long curly hair tends to make guys look too girly.

Answer 8

my bros hamsters did that and it was territory but your rats one might be sick but try putting them in two different glass cages and putting the cages up together if the trouble maker starts trying to attack the other go take them both to the vet. but with the hams one got murdered

Answer 9

actually i have - only with hamsters. that situation didn't improve unfortunetely and we also had to end up seperating them - although rats are more social then hamsters... have you changed anything in their environment that would cause this personality shift - food/placement of the cage... maybe if you got them some toys to play with and chew on they'd leave eachother alone??

Answer 10

Well i am no exbert they are either playing or they dont want to be together (fighting for tarritory) but i dont know good luck