# Aggressive since friend died



## Meko102 (Oct 1, 2012)

Hello. I hope someone can help I've looked online and on this site and cant seem to find anything relating. My female rat Pandora has become quite aggressive and withdrawn since my other rat died about 6 weeks ago. She doesn't like being handled or touched and when I go near her she bites me, so far she hasn't drawn any blood but its still quite a hard bite. I've tried not touching her, just talking to her and giving her food by hand that didn't work. I've tried picking her up and playing with her to see whether she just needs to get used to being handled again but non of those have worked and I really don't know what to do anymore. Any help is greatly appreciated! Thank you  


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## LightningWolf (Jun 8, 2012)

Don't want to be a hit and run but I'm stumped, and usually I'm usually an expert on this.

It could be her way of grieving, she could be confused or think that another colony killed her. Rats act differently when a cage mate dies, most either get depressed (Don't want to play, lay around, ect) or don't care, but they usually don't get aggressive.

I would try to wait and see, it can take a while for a rat to calm down after a friend dies, even longer then 6 weeks but rarer. I would say introduce her to a new cage, but with her being aggressive I would be very worried.

you can try trust training her again, but she could stay like this for a while longer. Hope she calms down though eventually


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## Meko102 (Oct 1, 2012)

Thank you for the reply. I've never had a rat act like this After a cage mates death so it's new to me too  I did get her a new cage mate called Electo and she didn't seem interested in her until Electo tried to play with her and Pandora got a bit aggressive so I bought another rat who I called Ecko to keep Electo company thinking I could then try and put the two in with Pandora but again to my surprise Pandora took a more aggressive attitude to Ecko and bit her. I think I'll have to continue with the trust training and maybe keep the two cages within each others views so Pandora can see the newbies. Other than that she may have to be alone permanently.  


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## LightningWolf (Jun 8, 2012)

She may have to. It is Very rare but some rats after a cage mate die will not bond to other rats, it's typically heard more in mice and sometimes gerbils but it happens in rats well. I'm not quite sure the cause though.

I've never had this happen either. When Einstein died, Charles was super depressed (he slept on his wheel 24/7) in till he got introduced to Soda and Storm. when Charles died Storm was depressed, I'm sure Soda was depressed but if so he didn't show it as well. So it is unusual.

Nice names though, Electo and Ecko. Love the spelling for Ecko as well


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## RatFanatic245 (Nov 17, 2012)

if you do put the cages next to each other so they can get used to each other, try switching out the tanks ex) putting pandora in the newcomers cage and the newcomers in her cage. this will make sure they are used to each other smell. i did this with my rat and my brothers rat before. what happened was my brothers rat got bitten and it got a very very small infection, when we went to put her back with mine, mine was agressive, so, we put my brothers in a cage next to the other one and every morning and every night i would switch them with each other. after about 1 month i felt confident that they would not fight and kept them in the same cage, worked wonders.


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## LightningWolf (Jun 8, 2012)

Actually that will stress them out a lot more and make things worse, even freak them out.

it's best to put them in a confined area (like a tank or cat carrier) together. that will get them used to each other.


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## Meko102 (Oct 1, 2012)

Thank you for all your help guys, ill keep trying with Pandora, i hate thinking of her living alone  thank u!!! 


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