Questions about my girls

[hopefloats]

So I have been looking through the forum to see about problems with females rats. Not health issues but fighting. Luna passed away a few weeks back, Every since then our girl mallymkun has been getting the beatings. It is to the point I am thinking about removing her from the cage and starting intros again. I read the post where they thought it was something wrong with her rat. I forgot who posted it. but ended up their rat was healthy. which is good. Let me start my when we brought them home. Luna was first, we had her for months, then came bindi, about a week later, we brought Isis and Skittles home, maybe a two months or more, in came Mally. She was a baby, very tiny so she lived on her own for a while. Every thing seemed to go fine. About a month ago, we ended up with Pika because someone's daughter had her and was not caring for her, me being the sucker brought her home. well Lately poor mally has been biting me like crazy. I know why, she is getting beat up so bad that if you grab her from behind she bites, she thinks it is one of the girls getting her. I totally understand where it is coming from, but what I am not sure of is how to fix it. She is fine if i scoop her up, but if i try to come from behind, she gets me, not enough to break the skin but enough to let me know she is not playing right now.

For some reason our always mild Isis, who has never had a problem with other rats, seems to fight with her most. they were the two who were closest previously Isis goes up to her and will just start a fight. I grabbed mally which was stupid on my part and boy did she ever bite me hard. I have also seen mally fighting with pika, which pika is a PITA, she is always playing and constantly hyper.

I have even tried to get isis away when I see her start to act like a bully.

We did a really slow intro with mally. IT took us weeks to let her in with the other girls. I do believe we may have had little scuffs here and there, but nothing like lately. We also did a slow one with pika as well.

My question is who is the problem? Pika? mally or isis? I am considering redoing their intros to see if that helps. Mally is the a petite rat. She is very dainty, adorable. She is thinner than the rest, but she is healthy. I really do not want to wait until blood shed and the fights appear to get getting more. I waited with the new cage, which we got a few weeks ago, to see if they would settle down, but I would assume by now their rolls are already there.

They are in a feisty ferret cage. I would split it for a little bit to separate the girls and allow for healing with mally. Or I can find another cage to house mally in for a bit but I am unsure who i need to remove. I really think it is Isis, mally fights will go on with anyone that comes near her when isis attacks. so if the other girls come around, then she instantly starts biting them.

any suggestions or ideas how I can fix this? does doing intros at a later date help?

 

[jorats]

Mally is your problem child. The fact that she is biting you, she is being dominate which could explain why the others "need" to pick on her. She is sending out the wrong signals and they need to set her straight and keep her in line. I would do lots of one on one socializing with Mally. I suspect the loss you had in the cage might have been the alpha and now the position is up for grabs and Mally wants it. Was Mally in the colony when Luna passed away? How long ago was that and how old is Mally now?

 

[hopefloats]

Awesome, I love this place.

Mally is 5-6 months old. Luna passed away last month. And we had all of them except pika. Mally came here around april so we had them for a while. Pika we got about 2 days after luna passed. There was never an issue when luna was here and she never had to show her dominance to them. IT was just kinda known that Luna was it. It was peaceful lol. Luna and Isis seemed to pair up. They were closest i think. Isis was so tiny, she would go lay with luna constantly. luna was over 2 1/2 years old when we lost her.She was the most mild rat ever, she had no issues with other coming around her.

I have been working with her, I may just have to step it up a notch with her. I can do the same things i am doing with the other boys.

Should i take her out of the cage for a while? while I work with her?

 

[jorats]

Ya, that's exactly what's going on. Mally is at the right age to be going for alpha. Luna must have been one special girl to be able to keep the peace. Those kinds of alpha's are truly a hard find.
Another thing... boys and girls are intact correct? Are the boys in the same room as the girls? If so, that can definitely set off the girls and the boys.
I wouldn't remove Mally from the colony. But, I would keep a small cage nearby and put her in it each time there's a scuffle in the cage. Keep the "time out" cage empty, no toys, no boxes, nothing. Keep her in there for 10 minutes each time.

 

[hopefloats]

Yes they are on opposite sides of the room, they were sharing a split cage which I figured was the problem so I went and got the girls a ff and the boys a double fn lol I am trying really hard but these two are really trying to test me. Luna was really awsome. We didn't have these problems and they never fought with her. I have an extra cage ik can put up for her time out really glad I have so many cages now lol te boys are going to be slowly fixed starting with who needs it first which right now toby.

 

[jorats]

That's good and I bet a lot of the girl issues will be solved once an alpha takes over or all the boys are neutered.

 

[hopefloats]

So isis has been running around biting the two, mally, who is tiny compared to the other girls, and pika who is the youngest but the problem child. Bindi is mild, she doesnt start fights and I think she could care less about being alpha, pika is picking on her like crazy, I feel bad for bindi, Mally has been fine, but she gets nervous when the other girls get near her, last night Isis who was the one running around being the bully now it is pika with bindi.

Isis, mally and pka are a problem, I am not sure how to make this right, I am thinking about splitting the cage, maybe

Skittles bindi, mally

isis and pika?

I dont know i am at a loss

Pika is a pain to everyone she is extremely hyper constantly
I have watched Isis follow mally around even when mally wasnt doing anything. and just go after her.

I can move the boys out or the girls, but they will still smell each other on my desk, that is their play area, so i am unsure how to fix this.

I love my camera phone LOL and youtube......
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=okkfHusPih4

 

[jorats]

I'll watch the video tomorrow but I'm thinking, could the girls be playing? Are any drawing blood? Some rats are more rough especially during their heat.

 

[jorats]

I was able to watch the video with my rinkydink mobile stick.
Those girls are playing and loving each other.

 

[hopefloats]

wow, because sometimes bindi makes so awful noises, they don't get hurt but I don't want it to get to that point either. Isis gets hard still, and pika does that to everyone LOL She a total nut

I am still unsure of isis and mally, I will post some videos when I can catch it. maybe then it will make more sense.

 

[jorats]

I love videos.

 

[hopefloats]

so do i, my youtube is getting full of rat videos lol

 

[hopefloats]

so pika was at it again, she was actually a little puffed up, and was kinda side standing, then actually rubbed her side on the cage, I didnt think females did that like males. You can see the craziness i deal with when they are out. The movement is constant. So much that when i am doing homework, i cannot have pika out, she is to hyper, it is constant watch her and keep an eye on her. The Feisty ferret box at the end of the table is soley so she dont jump at the boys cage, or off the end of the table. The box and book against the wall and the cage, is to keep her hyper butt from climbing down the cage and onto the floor. She will literally just follow the dog around.

This video, pika is playing, but right before it she puffed, Isis does not like it at all, she will tolerate it for a while then she seems to take it out on mally

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vxEP3VBXnuc

THis one was right before the other one, she was puffed up on her neck and kinda side standing her, then you can see her rubbing her side againist the cage.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v_YYE0n-od8

I would love to say pika is a sweetheart but i have only seen her hyper side, no sweet side as of yet. She spends her whole time trying to escape and trying to chase the dog LOL

 

[jorats]

Is Pika younger?
Pika is a bug but not too bad. She's not mean or aggressive, she just wants to play play play. If you see the other girls around her, they don't care. They let Pika do her thing. If Pika was a real bada$$ the other rats would run when they see her coming.
The rubbing and puffing is probably due to the boys being in the same room and she wants them badly.

 

[hopefloats]

She is younger, We brought her home about a month ago , a woman at the pet store was begging the manager to take her because her daughter bought her and was not taking care of her. I am guess she is about 4 months old, around that age. SHe is extremely hyper. Some deal with her, but like isis, she tolerates her then gets mad lol. I let her do what she does I only interfere when it sounds to bad.

That is the problem I am having. They all play on my desk and the table next to it, at separate times of course. So i am not sure how to stop it. The play area no matter if it is in here or the living room on the floor, will be the same, I am just unsure how to make them stop acting like it is new to them. I put the girls in the living room last night to sleep, and left the boys in the dining room. I clean my area daily with vinegar and water, and I switch out the blanket on the table often.

I tried doing a little intro with the older boys and the girls on the living room floor it went ok, but I do not want any accidental litters so i am not to fond of doing that. I would of thought by now, they would be use to the smell but i guess they never get used to it.

 

[jorats]

If your boys are intact and the girls are intact, don't let them meet ever! It only takes seconds.
Ya, unfortunately, the rats will never settle down when in close proximity to each other like that.

 

[Moon]

Too many hormones flinging around for them to ever settle, especially a species like rats who are going into heat and feeling randy all the time.

 

[hopefloats]

wow Isis can tame pika! last night we had a quite a bit of arguing between Isis and Pika, Pika was really side stepping on her, running after her, then isis had enough. Isis and her were doing the standing stare thing, it never ends up in a lot of meanness but I was shocked to see Isis get her to stop and power groom her and pika just sat there. You have seen my lil pika LOL she doesn't stop for anything.


It really shocks me, I never would have thought Isis would be the alpha, but she obviously is. She was closes with Luna, our oldest girl that we lost last month, it just really shocks me. I totally thought skittles would be the one, she is more outgoing than Isis, Isis tends to sit back and sway a lot to focus. she doesn't run around a lot, she doesn't do a whole lot lol the others are more outgoing, but i guess it is the quiet ones you have to watch out for. I am hoping this is the start of pika understanding Isis wont let her be alpha lol and she will just play with them and stop trying to fight them for it.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O7j9wytYAis

 

[jorats]

hehehe.... good for Isis! Pika should settle now that Isis is stepping up for the job.

 

[hopefloats]

I hope so, I never seen her give in before, that was the first time, i love that i got it on video, usually they keep fighting till one walks away, but she never sat there and said ok, you win. It is hard for me to sit there and let them do it, i know i am not doing them any favors by breaking up the fights so i am getting better at letting them go.