dominant behaviour

[beckalouise]

Hello,
I have 4 rats, that are from separate litters that we are trying to introduce to each other and two of them keep kind of fighting and I have no idea whether it is for dominance or whether they actually don't like each other lol. Any help please

 

[jorats]

Hi are they males or females and how old are they?

 

[beckalouise]

females, two are about 8 months and the other two are quite young, I'm not sure exactly how old cos we just got them but theyre still fairly small

 

[jorats]

Do you have them living in groups now, 2 older girls living together and 2 younger ones together?
How are you putting them together, on neutral ground or straight into the cage?

 

[beckalouise]

yeah, the two older ones we have had since April and then the other two we adopted about a week ago. I tried them in the bath a few times and they just ignored each other, and then I tried in the older ones cage and one of the older ones was fine with the babies but the other one started fighting with one of the new ones. They where up on their back legs and locked their front paws together and they started rolling around and squeaking and it looked like they were trying to bite each other but I'm not sure.

 

[jorats]

You'll need to do longer intros on neutral and familiar ground. Don't add them to the cage for a good week to two weeks of intros. And before adding to the cage, you must make sure to scrub the cage down really good, cleaning off all scent.
If the cage big enough for the 4 girls?

 

[beckalouise]

I've been told it is by my local pet shop, but I'm looking at getting them a really big cage anyway.

 

[Rachael]

How long have you been doing introductions for?

They are girls and still all young so if introduced properly shouldn't be too hard.

 

[beckalouise]

about a week, they seem to be ok, I'm just worried as to whether its normal behaviour what they're doing or whether they are about to kill each other

 

[Rachael]

There will be some fighting and it is just to work out who's "boss". Have they actually injured eachother, any blood/cuts?

 

[beckalouise]

no, one of the older ones is fine with the little ones but the other one doesn't like one of the little ones, they stand on their back legs and like lock front paws and then flip each other and it looks like they're trying to bite each other and there's a lot of squeaking but there hasn't been any blood.

 

[jorats]

It sounds like the one rat is dominating or trying to show the young one some rattie manners. Sounds ok so far.
But... Cage size is important. Can you give us the dimensions or the type of cage they have? I'm afraid most pet store employee really don't know what rats need.

 

[beckalouise]

yeah its 70 x 50 x 80cm

this is the actual cage
http://www.petsathome.com/shop/furet-pl ... last-15988

but I've changed all the inside and its got 4 levels and ropes and toys etc

 

[jorats]

That's not too small for 4 girls. So they might settle down once the young ones know their place in the cage.

 

[beckalouise]

ok thankyou,
so shall I wait another week and do more introductions before putting them in the same cage?

 

[jorats]

Yes, do intros everyday for one week, then scrub down the main cage and put them in and watch to see how that goes.

 

[beckalouise]

I will, thanks I'll let you know how it goes

 

[Moon]

but only do it if they are getting along outside of the cage. If you are experiencing fights don't move them forward to in-cage intros until they are ready.