Living alone

[lilspaz68]

Also, I never had a female like Moth who despised all rats.
I can't remember Shelagh, is she spayed? Sometimes a late spay may not do much good though. Have you tried a neutered male? I think you did, with Pippens or Seb and still no go?

Moth was never spayed, I hadn't gotten around to my spaying phase at that point. I had tried her with Seb and definitely a no-go. She was just one of "those" rats, few and far between.

She was from a definite "line" of petstore rats. :roll: She came from PJ's at Yorkdale (pre-rescue forum days and needed baby for Luna from the THS). When I adopted Maya and Tikal from THS, they also were from Yorkdale (the girl who gave them up worked there and told me) and Maya had the same body type and some of the same mannerisms as Mothra. I am sure that there's a "breeder" out there, and its possible their "lines" have some genetically aggressive rats in it. Probably similar to the aggressive males you were getting up in your neck of the woods.

 

[Dahlas]

I have a girl named Sydney who I finally had to put in a cage by herself......she was a real bully in the cage...Pushing the old girls off the shelves....guarding the food bowls, yes all of them. She is a sweetheart with people and seemed to enjoy getting out with the other rats for playtime each day but she just didn't want to live with them.My cage was plenty big enough and had lots of beds, hammocks etc.......
My other girls where alot older then her and I didn't want them to have to deal with the stress of living with a bully. I am hopefully soon adopting three younger girls and I am going to try everything I can to get my Sydney to live with them. She is older now.....22 months...so I am hoping that she has mellowed a bit...LOL
But if not I am not going to worry about it....she looks like one very happy little rat.

 

[Godmother]

Moth puffing up at a water bottle???? Wow, and I thought Stella was bad.

fftopic: My little Stella, previously so sweet, got aggressive only after she was spayed. She is a very protective alpha. Perhaps she sees me as a competitor or something; she snorts at me through the bars, tries to nip me every chance she gets. She doesn't do that to my husband.

If I am very careful not to smell of other rats, or if I am giving her something really tasty, she will be civil to me.