I'm having some serious rat problems here !
Please let me explain a little bit of my rat history.
The first rats I got were 2 baby sister, Nymeria and Shinobi.
The same day I also rescued a loving gentle adult rat that had lived by itself its whole life - her name was Snuggle rat.
She used to let the babies ride her all day and snuggled up to them and was generally super lovely.
Snuggle rat sadly died of old age when the babies were about 4-5 months old
We found 13 wild rats in our garden bed and took them home to fatten them up before taking them to a park.
Nymeria slept on them at night, and Shinobi mothered them and watched over them and calmed them down when they were scared and was very attached to them.
After we took them away (they were waaaay too crazy to keep so many!) Shinobi was depressed for weeks.
She would just sit in the fetal position in the cage, waiting for them to come back. She was never the same again.
I think their wildness was like the wildness in Shinobi - so they bonded so much.
Nymeria then took to jumping out the window and running under the house for days... =\
The window is really high, so we didn't think she would jump...
Shinobi would be depressed while Nymeria was gone.. when she came back (she always comes back... She is like a teenage girl going out for benders) Shinobi would watch over her and guard her in her box while she is recovering.
She is a loyal, and faithful rat - greater than so many people I know.
After the wild ratties left, we thought if we got a new rattie friend it would make them feel a little better.
So we rescued Vesu from some fat girls who kept her by herself..
She was much bigger and fatter than our girls and fought a lot with them.
Vesu is also a jerk rat.
She has developed no social skills.
She ripped Nymerias ear almost completely off..
Now she has a floppy ear with a big tear in the middle of it.
Vesu also attacked Shinobi, she bit the end of her tail down to the bone. Shinobi got an infection, a high fever and died a slow, painful, suffering death on my partners belly.
Since Shinobis death, Vesu has started attacking Nymeria in such a fierce and endless way, Nymeria will become weary of the onslaught, and go into a box for refuge.. Vesu will come behind the box and shove it off the 2nd level of the cage, then run down and attack Nymeria when she pokes her head out to see what happens..
I recently got a single adult Scaredy rat off a girl who wanted her to go to a better home because it was living in fear with its current mates and two beautiful baby rats.
The result has been madness and carnage.
Vesu is literally trying to kill them. In a psychotic twisted way.
The babies have a box that only they can enter, Vesu sits on top the box and waits for them to poke their heads out and then mauls and bites their little faces and tries to claw their eyes out.
Nymeria has learnt this jerk behaviour, if the baby rats walk past her she bites the back of their necks, flails them from side to side then flings them against walls - off platforms then chases them and bites their tails.
I understand pecking order needs to be established.
But this shouldn't happen with babies?
Biting is not ok or normal, but not sure what to do.
They have been fighting non-stop - but it is brutal and nightmarish- not the normal wrestling.
Vesu started biting us when we first got her, and we taught her very quickly not to - so she is capable of learning.
I am thinking of taking the babies somewhere else... but now that they have been exposed to this behaviour I am worried they will spread it, like some horrible disease !!
Please help !!
Please let me explain a little bit of my rat history.
The first rats I got were 2 baby sister, Nymeria and Shinobi.
The same day I also rescued a loving gentle adult rat that had lived by itself its whole life - her name was Snuggle rat.
She used to let the babies ride her all day and snuggled up to them and was generally super lovely.
Snuggle rat sadly died of old age when the babies were about 4-5 months old
We found 13 wild rats in our garden bed and took them home to fatten them up before taking them to a park.
Nymeria slept on them at night, and Shinobi mothered them and watched over them and calmed them down when they were scared and was very attached to them.
After we took them away (they were waaaay too crazy to keep so many!) Shinobi was depressed for weeks.
She would just sit in the fetal position in the cage, waiting for them to come back. She was never the same again.
I think their wildness was like the wildness in Shinobi - so they bonded so much.
Nymeria then took to jumping out the window and running under the house for days... =\
The window is really high, so we didn't think she would jump...
Shinobi would be depressed while Nymeria was gone.. when she came back (she always comes back... She is like a teenage girl going out for benders) Shinobi would watch over her and guard her in her box while she is recovering.
She is a loyal, and faithful rat - greater than so many people I know.
After the wild ratties left, we thought if we got a new rattie friend it would make them feel a little better.
So we rescued Vesu from some fat girls who kept her by herself..
She was much bigger and fatter than our girls and fought a lot with them.
Vesu is also a jerk rat.
She has developed no social skills.
She ripped Nymerias ear almost completely off..
Now she has a floppy ear with a big tear in the middle of it.
Vesu also attacked Shinobi, she bit the end of her tail down to the bone. Shinobi got an infection, a high fever and died a slow, painful, suffering death on my partners belly.
Since Shinobis death, Vesu has started attacking Nymeria in such a fierce and endless way, Nymeria will become weary of the onslaught, and go into a box for refuge.. Vesu will come behind the box and shove it off the 2nd level of the cage, then run down and attack Nymeria when she pokes her head out to see what happens..
I recently got a single adult Scaredy rat off a girl who wanted her to go to a better home because it was living in fear with its current mates and two beautiful baby rats.
The result has been madness and carnage.
Vesu is literally trying to kill them. In a psychotic twisted way.
The babies have a box that only they can enter, Vesu sits on top the box and waits for them to poke their heads out and then mauls and bites their little faces and tries to claw their eyes out.
Nymeria has learnt this jerk behaviour, if the baby rats walk past her she bites the back of their necks, flails them from side to side then flings them against walls - off platforms then chases them and bites their tails.
I understand pecking order needs to be established.
But this shouldn't happen with babies?
Biting is not ok or normal, but not sure what to do.
They have been fighting non-stop - but it is brutal and nightmarish- not the normal wrestling.
Vesu started biting us when we first got her, and we taught her very quickly not to - so she is capable of learning.
I am thinking of taking the babies somewhere else... but now that they have been exposed to this behaviour I am worried they will spread it, like some horrible disease !!
Please help !!
