Biting other rats tails? - questions about 2 sisters

[whirlytwirly]

Yesterday I discovered my rat Cordelia had gone mental and attacked the tails of her cage mates.

Cordelia has always been a happy outgoing rat. She seemed very happy to be living with the girls she was in with and has never shown any signs of aggression or anything. She seemed a little put out when her sis went off to have her babies but I don't know if rats will fret for one another? I really though her and Persephone were ok but obviously they weren't. I know it was Cordelia because last night I caught her with Allyrat's tail in her mouth and she only let go when I intervened and gave her a tap of her rump. I hadn't heard any commotion previously to this.

Allyrat got the last 3 inches chewed to bits. the last inch has gone black and will eventually fall off. Sara, Hermione, Pippa, Mischief and Jade all got bitten. Cookie had the last one inch of her tail bitten off completely and I found the bit in the tray of their cage!

All the above rats have received care for their tails and are already this morning are showing good signs of healing. Thankfully I expect them all to make a full recovery.

What the heck is wrong with her? She's been put in a cage on her own. I really can't trust her with anyone else if this is what she's going to do to them. Also how come the rats just seem to let her do this to them? If someone had a hold of part of me with their teeth you can bet I'd be whacking them or something to get them to let go!

Could she be fretting for her sister? Her sister Persephone was paired with my boy Little Rat and had a litter of six babies. She died yesterday morning after rapid weight loss and no sign of recovery despite being put on medication. I had the feeling she had been fretting and had only said to her the day before that she was almost done and then she could go back to her sister for good (I wish they could understand!).

I feel so upset.

(On a side note I'll just explain...I live in Australia and show rats. I'm a registered breeder with a club and currently only breed one litter a year if I have enough space/people for all the babies to go to the best of homes. Most of my rats are rescues.)

 

[jorats]

What I'm guessing is happening to her is that she needs to have an alpha present at all times and I bet that's her sister. So you removed the alpha and Cordelia went nuts. You might need to restart intros with her and her colony. Are you breeding these rats? I certainly wouldn't breed Cordelia or anyone else from her bloodline. She's neurotic and that can be passed down through genes.

 

[whirlytwirly]

Thanks for the advice. I honestly thought Allyrat was the Alpha but I could have been wrong I guess. And between the two, Cordelia always seemed more dominant over Percy. Would giving them very closely supervised playtime possibly help? I have other colonies of girls that I could try intros with but I'd never forgive myself if she did it to another group of girls

I was also thinking today about the behaviour of the group....the only other "major" change recently was I gave them a new toy. It was one of those rope covered perches which they all seemed to take great delight in pulling apart and stashing in their igloo. Could Cordelia be getting tails mixed up with the long threads of cotton from the toy? I took it all off them a couple of days ago as I was worried about them getting tangled up in it.

Yes I bred her sister but this was some 8 weeks ago before any of this behaviour started. There was nothing like this in her pedigree that I know of and I waited til as late as possibly so I could monitor the pair myself before going ahead. I guess I got it way wrong . Needless to say I'll be monitoring the babies very carefully and won't be continuing the line any further.

 

[jorats]

No, Cordelia knows a tail from a thread. She's out to get them. You could continue with supervised play time. She might realized that she needs to be nice if she's to have her buddies again. Sometimes just being alone in the cage will snap them out of this behaviour.
Keep working with her because she's the one that his highly stressed out and needs your help at this time.