Are seemingly random "I'm going to kill you" fights normal?

[rhapsody]

This is starting to become a weird once-a-month dealio.

Rufus and Odin have been together since May and both are neutered. 99% of the time they get along just fine, then out of the blue, BAM! I'll hear Rufus screaming bloody murder, and I'll rush to the cage to find him pinned under a very puffy Odin. Rufus will have a couple superficial wounds, but Odin would be completely covered in blood - nothing too serious, but there will be a couple deep bite wounds on his shoulder.

Well, it happened again tonight, and I'm starting to get a bit concerned. I've never caught what instigates this, only the bloody aftermath. Only these two rats are involved, but everyone gets into a bit of a tizzy afterwards - Sophie wouldn't let me pet her without squealing her head off.

Yes, I've been in the middle of intros with a senior girl (over 2 years, so maybe no longer in heat?) for the past couple of weeks, but since this random fighting has occurred before, I'm hesitant to think that she has any impact on this.

What on earth is going on with my crew?

 

[hopefloats]

Rats seem to do that. I know when i do intros, the fact that there is another rat in the house, causes havoc with all my rats. Even the ones not involved in it. My boys do that same thing. It seems they will test the alpha every few months, the alpha has to get them back under control and then they move on.

I never had blood draw from groups that were together though. I know it could be a wrong move on the one but does the puffy one feel ok? any pain or anything that could cause him to act up?

The worse fights i seen was when my girls were having problems. The pain equaled rat fights like mad.

You had any deaths recently? mine just stopped fighting from tobys death in June.

 

[jorats]

The fact that the rest of the cage is "upset" then this is more serious. You must have a sense of who's the bad guy between these two. Go with your gut and put him in a time out cage each time it happens. Keep him in the the out cage for about 15 minutes. Make sure the time out cage has nothing in it. Not even bedding. Nothing.

 

[*Rebel_Angel*]

Oh thankx hopefloats, I was wondering y Aili and Kaina...who lived together all their life suddenly fought violently enough to make Kaina scream. No blood just pinning and stuff, but as they say "no blood no foul"