If your rats are fighting, you can start by trying to distract them. Keep a few items on hand in case your rats start to fight. First, keep a spray bottle full of water to hand. A spray of water on the pair of rats will separate them without risk of hurting the rat or yourself.
Additionally, keep a washcloth or soft rag on hand to cover the more aggressive rat with when they start to fight. Sometimes, just a moment of being unable to see each other can stop a fight from happening before it even begins.
If the fighting is repetitive, it may be time to separate your rats. If you have the ability to get another cage or separate the levels, sometimes this can be best for both rats involved.
You do not need to do this for occasional fighting, but it can be best for consistent problems. If the rats are that aggressive towards each other you might need to keep them in separate rooms, bear in mind this is in extreme circumstances. The gender of the rats does typically affect the cause of the fight and the solution.
For example, if the more aggressive rat is a male, sometimes all you need to do is get the rat neutered, and the problem will be solved.
Male rats can also be more likely to have problems submitting to another rat. Another thing to keep in mind when considering the correlation between rat genders and fighting is that if you have two males and one female, the two males may get territorial over the female, especially if she is not spayed. When you buy two males and one female rat, you may decide only to get the males neutered because that is enough to ensure there will be no rat pups, but there is a problem with this.
The female rat will still release hormones that have a scent designed to attract male rats for mating. If both male rats are attracted to one female rat, fighting could develop. Finally, while fights can be started between two female rats, male rats tend to be more territorial and aggressive, so you may find that getting two female rats will result in less fighting. It is important to introduce new rats slowly so they can become part of the group safely, without fighting, and without injury.
Step One: Quarantine your rat. For a week or two after you get your new rats, you should keep them in quarantine. This means keeping it in a separate cage, in a sperate room, away from any other rats you have. During this time period, you should, of course, still play and interact with your rats, but you should be sure to wash your hands between touching the new rats and your current rat s.
This period is to ensure any diseases your new rats may have are not spread. During this time period, watch for any signs of disease such as lack of energy, discharge from the eyes and nose, not eating or drinking, sneezing, excess scratching, and easy breathing.
Step Two: Swap the rat cages. Step Three: Introduce them in neutral territory. Introducing them in a neutral territory prevents either rat from getting territorial and a fight from ensuing. A neutral territory does not simply mean not in the cage, but rather a place that neither rat has spent much time. If you let your rats play on the floor a lot when out of the cage, the floor is not neutral territory. One of the most common neutral territories is a bathtub, just make sure to close the drain.
During this time, you should keep a cloth, paper towel roll, or thick glove on hand so you can separate them safely in case they do start to get violent. Step Four: Introduce them in familiar territory. Once your rats prove that they can get along in a neutral territory, you can start to introduce them in a familiar territory. This still does not mean the cage.
Pick a place such as a floor where the rats play some times. Here, you can watch to see how they react to each other in a place where they may feel territorial.
If you find that the play dates on familiar territory lead to a lot of fighting, go back to the neutral territory for a while before progressing. Step Five: Cage them together. Could he have gotten his foot caught on something such as the wires of his cage?
Usually getting it caught will cause it to swell up much more than a bite would. In any case, I hope he has healed up well and has recovered as best he could. I apologize tremendously for not being able to respond right away. I had 2 very sick rats, then an 8 day power outage and then another sick rat.
You may have already made the decision on what type of living arrangement is now best for Vlad. From my perspective, I can think of at least 2 scenarios that could work out well for him. Vlad may have stopped being aggressive and belligerent after his surgery.
If these circumstances are both true, they could be good matches for living together. My heart goes out to you. I know how hard it is and how bad it feels when one of our rats gets injured. This was a helpful article but I still have a question. Wolfie and Moonlight are brothers and are 4 months old.
Wolfie likes to pounce on Moonlight and they tussle but there has never been any puffy fur or sidling or anything like that. I thought they were just playing but last week I noticed a small scabbed over bite on Moonlight and found another one today.
I apologize for my delay in responding. In any case, are you still finding bites on Moonlight? Have you actually seen Wolfie bite Moonlight or are you just seeing the scabs? Your vet should be able to let you know if the scabs are actually from bite wounds or from an internal parasite.
And then does Moonlight submit and lay there on his back? I will respond faster next time! She bites her so much that poor Cheese currently has gashes all down her back.
I can hear Apple dominant pinning her and nipping her and poor Cheese is squeaking at her. Why is she being such a bully? Cheese has always been small, Apple is big and fat. We also have a neutered male rat who is in his own cage and is very friendly.
He is about months old. Sometimes all 3 play together in common areas. We also moved house 3 weeks ago, and Apple was stressed from this, hogging the food so much that Cheese lost weight and become quiet poorly. Apple has also always barbered Cheese. Any ideas for me? First of all, my apologies for taking so long in which to respond. My own 2 rats have been very sick and have required treatments and medications several times a day. I also work full-time. Then, we had an ice storm during which our power and internet were out for 8 days!
After that one of my rats got another abscess on his face and needs extra care again. I really appreciate your patience and understanding.
Have things improved since you posted here? That would be the best way to know if it was the move that affected here. Another possible cause can sometimes be illness. This way, if Cheese still has wounds the vet can take a look at them and see if Cheese needs medical attention including possible antibiotics because of the wounds. Or, if Cheese is getting sick, Apple may know that Cheese is compromised and be attacking her for that reason.
Have you tried having all 3 of them living together? Do let me know if you still need help. Hopefully things have been improved by now. We have two rats that we purchased together in May as babies. The last couple of days they seem to be fighting. They have a fairly big cage and plenty of food and water.
One does seem dominant and has for some time. I just noticed the less dominant rat was on her hind legs and the other rat was trying to get to her. The less dominant rat ran up the ramp to get away and the other rat chased her. What could be happening?
From what you wrote it sounds like, since she was on her hind legs, your less dominant rat was trying to challenge your dominant rat. It would help to have more information such as: Is your less dominant rat standing up on her hind legs and facing your dominant rat on a frequent basis?
Every day? Several times a day? Or, was this just a one-time occurrence? Also, did your dominant rat stand up on her hind legs as well? It would also be helpful to know whether or not you have 2 females or if you have 1 female and 1 male. Feel free to provide additional information. That way I could give you a more detailed and specific response. Hey, thank you for the post! I currently have three male rats, of which two are almost 10 weeks old Arty and Kira and one is 12 weeks old Scraps.
It seems that the older one is not interested much in the younger ones, sometimes all of them cuddle together but mostly the two younger ones are cuddling. This usually doesn't last long. Rats may suffer if they cannot escape from others they don't like. When unfamiliar adult rats are housed together there will be a period of high aggression, however, if they establish a stable relationship the levels of aggression should drop.
You can help reduce aggression if you:. Having multiple levels in their home cage can also help act as barriers to aggression. Make sure that shelters have multiple exits to avoid particular rats stopping other cage mates from leaving the shelter. If you see increased aggression in a group of usually stable rats, this could indicate that there is a problem, check the health of your rats and that something has not changed in their environment.
Monitor your rats carefully. If you are concerned seek advice from your vet. Aggressive grooming indicates social stress in groups of rats, as does strong vocalisation during an aggressive encounter. If levels of aggression remain high between newly introduced rats, especially if it results in injury, this may indicate that those rats are unable to reach a stable dominance relationship and so should not be housed together.
Consider separating your rats if one is hurt or frightened by the other and the problem lasts for more than a few days. Rats in pain can also show aggression towards their cage mates. Mask the sounds, sights and smells of animals they may be afraid of such as cats, dogs, ferrets and birds of prey. Rats are a prey species and these animals can cause stress to them.
Rats can build close relationships with owners and be successfully trained. Start by having regular gentle and calm contact with your rat to slowly allow a bond to develop. Allow them to investigate your hands in their own time and reward with treats to help them enjoy your company.
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