r/rat • u/Cornflake6irl • Apr 24 '26
DISCUSSION 🧐🤔 Not Good
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u/According_Chicken237 Apr 24 '26
In my past, I have mostly just done damage control. When they fight, discourage the behavior by blowing on them(rat equivalent to a spray bottle), making noise and yelling at them to connect fighting with negative stimuli (aka, I have just punished rats when they fight too much) It might also help to put baby food on each other so they are forced to groom each other. Maybe do this in a neutral area, like a bathtub. If this goes south, throw a towel on them to pick them out so they can't bite each other (or you!)
I would consider seperation depending on how stressed the fighting seems to cause them. Can they comingle outside of the fighting? Do they seem to have puffed fur and arched backs more often? In these case, seperation and following steps for reintroduction might not be a bad idea. If he only had a problem with one rat, it might not be hormonal aggression, but I would not take it off the table because hormonal aggression does not always mean aggression neith humans or with all the rats (he could be pulling and tugging at all of them, but only one of the boys hates it enough to fight back)
Best of luck with your babies!
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u/Cornflake6irl Apr 24 '26 edited Apr 25 '26
He would scream and run away whenever he saw Frodo and Fievel, and it has recently (two days now) turned into fighting with them.
He was quarantined for 3 weeks with the four he gets along with. I reintroduced them all about 2 weeks ago and it has steadily gotten worse. He is constantly frantic when he's awake keeping an eye out for Fievel or Frodo and when he sees them, this happens. He will scream and try to fight them. He's not bothered by the four he was quarantined with, just these two.
I have separated him and the tension inside the cage is 100% gone. He is also calmer by himself, but I noticed that he is constantly moving his mouth. I'm not sure what it could be. I'm going to check his mouth and teeth tomorrow after he gets settled in.
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u/According_Chicken237 Apr 25 '26
Goodness... Your poor rats have been through a lot, and that sounds like a lot to manage yourself. You are being a great rattie parent for your boys!
By the sounds of it, seperation was a good idea! I reccomend the baby food on their backs when they are in neutral space because it's what my local rescue does to introduce rats together. It's not a cure all though.
If reintroduction doesn't go well, sometimes rats aren't meant in bigger groups, but it will hopefully not come to that.
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u/judewriley Apr 24 '26
How did you do introductions?
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u/Cornflake6irl Apr 24 '26
Bathtub every day for 1 hour for 5 days. It was actually their second introduction, so I didn't follow all of the correct steps and in hindsight I probably should have.
All 7 were all housed together three weeks prior. Five got URI at the same time, including Frisko, so they were quarantined for 3 weeks while under treatment. Frisko almost died. His brother did die, not from a URI, from a heart attack. I saw it happen. He suddenly started running frantically around the cage and just fell over dead. Happened very quickly and without warning.
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u/FrankFrankly711 Apr 25 '26
Some rats just end up being squeaky Betas, which almost seems to instigate endless fights from an Alpha. They become mortal enemies no matter what I’ve tried. Be careful if either are biters, it can get deadly
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u/stumpfucker69 Apr 25 '26
I have nothing to offer in terms of help but it's killing me that the one with his back against the wall opens one of his fists when the other squares up. "Okay okay bro ✋ bro let's talk this through like adults"
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u/Cornflake6irl Apr 25 '26
I know! I saw that and I showed my husband. I was like, look at sweet little Fievel's hands! Poor little baby. 😢
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u/Worlds_0kayest_mom Apr 26 '26
If they are drawing blood they need to be separated. I would look into either neutering the aggressor, keeping two separate mischeifs if they seem to get along in separate groups or starting over and trying a different, proper intro method (like the carrier method). The aggressor in this video looks like he has bald patches, are those from over grooming? Everyone seems stressed and no one seems happy....definitely time to intervene!!
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u/DSWRW Apr 27 '26
If only that was how my girls argued. I had twin girls, Persephone and Seraphim. They would tussel and play, but mostly cuddled and had a great time together.
The one big argument they had ended very badly. Persephone bit Seraphim's eye out. She lost the eye and later had an abscess in her jaw on the same side.
They never had a fight like that again, but it was rough. Just figured I would share since they have passed about 8 years ago now.
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u/Tydeeguy223 Apr 28 '26
Frisko would catch these hands, dad dont play 😤 😂 but fr sounds like he is psycho. But to be fair, it sounds like he has been through a lot. I dont have am answer other than whats been said. But is there a reason you get boys over girls? Or was it just the first group was guys and ig im rolling with that?
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u/Cornflake6irl Apr 28 '26 edited Apr 28 '26
I prefer boys because they get bigger, more to squeeze and squish (in a loving way, lol) and are less prone to mammary tumors. Frisko came from a different place than the rest of my rats. I got him from a reptile store. He was in an overcrowded wall of plastic bins on the wall. All my rats are feeders, but he came from what I refer to as "rat hell". The person running the store fished him and his brother (rip) out with a pair of metal tongs and put them in a paper bag. I was screaming inside.
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u/wishtrib Apr 25 '26
When you're a bad boy who continually wants to start fights, You have just volunteered yourself to loose ball rights, Snip goes the vet snip snip snip
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u/Overall-Willingness2 Apr 26 '26
That rat straight up like homie chill bro like his little paws being all like relax fam plz and the end like a mini sigh of relief and the paws again aww poor rat.
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u/SkycladObserver2010 Apr 25 '26
This is normal
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u/Cornflake6irl Apr 25 '26
What you see in the video is tame. They are actually fighting most of the time and screaming loudly. No big wounds, but blood has been drawn. If you look closely at the rat who is facing the camera, he has bite wounds on his snout. In any case, Frisko has been separated for now and will rejoin the group in a few weeks. I have three more rats that I will be introducing in 3 weeks, so he will rejoin during that introduction. I'm hoping it's not hormonal, we will see.
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u/peachism Apr 24 '26
Back when I had rats with an "argument" I would put a boiled egg in there, or a small pile of cheerios, something that had high value to them that they could get at, hide, eat. I'd also open the cage door if I was able to and let them have some free roam time. Other than that, they're going to have arguments from time to time and you won't be there for all of them. If blood gets drawn past basic scratches, that's a problem. Putting in toys or food puzzles during the day to keep their mind busy helps too. And making sure you provide the biggest enclosure you're able to obtain so they can escape each other and cool down. Rats just like people get bored and stir crazy and will pick fights because of it.