Miss Maverick--Biter, fighter, hoarder... HELP!!

[Willow Bean]

What happened to little Isla? Her and Maverick had a little scuffle? That would have upset me to know end......I'm sure it upset you.

We have been keeping an eye on Maverick recently... She is becoming more and more aggressive. She was a pet store rat from a store that "specializes" in "pets" but I think that I may have been misinformed after seeing some things there recently (tanks full of "feeders" full of mamas with babies. I was told that they didn't do that there but I guess I was lied to or maybe they needed money or something... people suck). When we got Maverick we had been to the shop several times previously to look at her but couldn't justify bringing another into our already huge colony. She was always alone but a girl I knew who worked there said that it was just because her cagemate had been sold and they hadn't gotten any more rats in. She was in a tiny hampster cage with bird seed to live on the day Asa surprised me with her and he had wanted to get her out of there. The other times we had been there she had veggies and rat "seed mix" (probably Kaytee or some such nonsense) ---ANYHOW--- Long story short, I think she was bred at the shop from exhausted parents who were used as breeders, that she was fed poorly and wasn't used to other rats and, while she did fine with the older girls, I think she is food agressive and doesn't know how to play nicely. She hoards food and is snippy at anyone who comes near her food nest and when she plays, she gets really rough and there is a LOT of squealing going on. Baby Girl is the same way so we tried her with Maverick but they are both too strong-willed. Baby Girl doesn't like other rats AT ALL and bites through the bars of her cage of anyone ventures near. I don't want her to live alone the rest of her life but no one will accept her and she won't accept anyone. A totally different matter though.... So what can I do about Maverick?

We have talked about a spay but it would be a while before we will have the money for that... we talked about her living alone... but that's not fair to her. We already have one lone rat and don't want to have another. We really can't have her nipping at the other girls or attacking the babies when they want to play. When she gets mad she attacks anyone and anything that gets in her way. She pounced Emma the other day and ended up attacking Brenna, the litter box and Maddie. She didn't leave any marks on Maddie but Maddie sure did yell about it. (I gave Maddie, brenna and Emma cuddles afterward and checked them over but I drew the line at the litter box... I was pretty sure it was fine, LOL!)

 

[Dahlas]

I can't really offer any advice but I know there are people on here who can.......I would be so upset to see one of my babies bitten.......I'm not sure what I would do........Make sure there is lots of food and water stations and lots of beds so that the little ones can avoid the cranky girl.......How old is Maverick? Just curious

 

[SQ]

I don't know the specifics so what I say may not apply but :
Hopefully they are in a huge cage so tons of space.
A food dish and water bottle on every level.

A spay asap .... would your vet do a spay and let you make monthly payments to pay it off?

or, her own large cage but play time with the others until you can get her spayed.

 

[jorats]

Females can get extremely moody but the fact that she hasn't ripped anyone open yet might mean she's all bark and no bite.

It is very natural for rats to attack anyone climbing their cage, it's a territory thing. If I had a stranger climbing the side of my house, I'd probably do the same.
If a spay is not doable right now, I'd try her again with baby girl. Two lone rats is really not the way to go. Intros can take time... and one day it seems like it doesn't work when a month later might be the right time for the two of them.

 

[Willow Bean]

Vets here require payment in full at the time of the visit unfortunately.

The girls (all 11 of them minus Baby Girl) share a FN 2 level with food dishes on both levels and 3 water bottles throughout. There are plenty of beds (hiding places, baskets, exercise balls zip tied, etc.) and TONS of hammocks and other things to do as well in addition to their Silent Spinner sheel. She's only food aggressive about the HT blocks... treats aren't an issue, neither are baby cereal, mash, fruits or veggies. I'm really hoping to not have to put her by herself and I'm also hoping that once some of the babies are gone she will calm down again. She was fine before I put the babies in there... I think they get her too worked up and energetic >.< She definately loves them and I always fine babies piled on top of her so I know they love her too... it's just when she gets too much energy or HT blocks... >.< Maverick is about 5 months old.

 

[jorats]

My Simon was food aggressive so each time I fed the colony, I had to take Simon, with his share of his food and put him in a quieter place in the cage.

She's now living with all the rats.. I'd give her more time. We all get bitchy once in a while. Ok, so I get bitchy a lot but hey, you can call me Maverick. LOL My Nessie is like that but the rats all got used to her and get out of her way when she is on a rampage.

 

[Willow Bean]

Jo, I'll keep trying with baby Girl... The first couple of intros were no problem at all, then they got a little worse and a little worse each intro until I had fighting, screaming rat ball one night. I've done wet intros, I've done neutral territory intros, I've done mash intros, I even did the dreaded bathe then add vanilla intro... As always, the vanilla wore off and I had three very unhappy rats on my hands >.< (I added Emma a couple of times to see if she could help calm anyone down)

so... If nothing else works would you suggest just taking her out at HT feeding times?

 

[jorats]

I think we posted at the same time. See my other post.

 

[Willow Bean]

:thumbup:

 

[Moon]

Everyone who's pushing for a spay, I'm sorry but I think the chances of that really helping are pretty slim. I know it's POSSIBLE, but it's just not a general fix like it can be for boys.

Hopefully she settles for you soon.

 

[Willow Bean]

That's kinda of how I feel about it too, moon... I would love to have her spayed and say that it will fix everything but most girls don't do a total turn-around like that >.< I have almost enough money for a spay in my emergency fund after what happened with Brenna but I would hate to spend it all on a spay, get no results and then have another emergency come up... I'm going to do what jo said and just seperate her for HT-feeding time and see if that helps calm her down... besides being hyper at play, she's good when there isn't food around.