# My rats killed one of my other rats and ate her (PLEASE RESPOND!)



## deadmooncalifornia

So this happened last night, I was going to the bathroom and when I came out did my usually ratty treat and check. I looked at the cage and saw a split open bloody rat body. Immediately I screamed in terror and confusion. I looked over to my partner in the other room and yelled "babe". He came out and then just kind of put his head down and his hand over his eyes. We then took her out, cleaned up the cage, and gave her a proper burial in the front yard. Now if this was the only thing that happened it would stop here, but the story continues. This morning we wake up, take the dogs out potty and then once again do our morning ratty check. This time is was only my partner that did it as I was still taking leashes off the pups. Then I hear him go "what the #$%&?" and reluctantly I asked him what had happened. He said that Zemlya (our other fancy rat) had died. We are now working on taking her out of the cage and conducting another burial. Will somebody please tell me what in the #$%& is going on?! I am very upset and scared for my other two. Are they sick? Did they get sick from eating Twyla? Somebody help. 



P.S. I have (had) 4 girl ratties and now have 2. 2 of them are dumbos and the other 2 were fancy or standard. They have food and water fresh everyday. ???


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## Rumy91989

It is likely there's a sickness going around--have they been acting strangely? Tired? Anything?
It is highly unlikely your first girl was killed by the other girls--this is very, very rare. it's far more likely she died of natural causes and they were eating her in an attempt to keep the cage clean from a rotting body, etc. This happens often when a dead rat is left in the cage for any extended period of time. If you hadn't found your other girl more quickly it's likely she'd be partially eaten by now as well. It's gross and scary but it's natural behavior for them since a rotting body is not something they want int heir small living space.
I would do a serious deep clean of your cage and take your other girls to the vet to see if they might have something like pneumonia which can take a ratty out very quickly. It certainly seems as though they could be in danger, so I'd do everything you can ASAP. I am so, so sorry for your losses.


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## Isamurat

It sounds like something has happened which has killed your two girls, it could be a conincidence, or an infection that has made them both very ill in a short space of time (where there any symptoms you noticed before). It may also be that they both suffered from the heat (i know its hot over here right now) and this could have combined with something sudden like a stroke to kill them. If the girls are related then this happening at a similar time to both of them is possible and its also not unusueal for rats that were good friends to be badly affected by anothers loss and to appear to give up and die.

In terms of them eating the body, this is actually pretty natural behaviour, especially in hot weather. It does only happen rarely with pet rats but its a natural response, they need to get rid of the body before it attracts preditors or becomes rotten and makes them ill. Its shocking and horrifying to a human, but to rats its part of facing and dealing with their horrible loss.


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## deadmooncalifornia

Hello thank you for you're quick responses. I do know that heat is not the issue, we live in the bay area of northern California and our hottest day is a mild 80 with a cool breeze, and our hottest days have already passed. I didn't notice any change in behavior (besides the cannibalism) they all seemed perfectly fine. They were playful and alert. Even Zemlya last night was trying climb around the outside of the cage as I was giving them fresh food and water. I am going to look into a rat friendly vet in my area as I only know of one that was in my home town about an hour and a half from where I currently live. Thank you again, and keep the responses coming please!


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## Brieanna

deadmooncalifornia said:


> Hello thank you for you're quick responses. I do know that heat is not the issue, we live in the bay area of northern California and our hottest day is a mild 80 with a cool breeze, and our hottest days have already passed. I didn't notice any change in behavior (besides the cannibalism) they all seemed perfectly fine. They were playful and alert. Even Zemlya last night was trying climb around the outside of the cage as I was giving them fresh food and water. I am going to look into a rat friendly vet in my area as I only know of one that was in my home town about an hour and a half from where I currently live. Thank you again, and keep the responses coming please!


So i’ve had a similar experience but my dad kept buying more tryna figure out. i was 6 LMAO, but anyways at first we assumed she was lonely so we got her a friend, and we did the normal making sure they get along typa thing, then we put them together bc they were fine. now she had a big cage right, and a little pink home she goes into to sleep, (like an upsidown bowl) and i remember i woke up to squealing and i got my dad and the rat was dead, and my rat ratty patty was eating him. so my dad googled and told me that rats tend to eat other rats when it’s sick or already dead, so i was like okay can we get another one then? same thing happened. and then my dad was thinking it was the bowl so he washed it and we got a new rat, a smaller one hoping it would take on mother like instincts. so we put them in a box and she was being pretty motherly like, even w the lil house bowl in there with them. so we let them in the cage together and same thing, dead by morning. So we’ve come to a conclusion that’s it could be either stress, or territorial, or maybe insanity? lmao idk. but i’ve has the same thing happen to me and i understand how u felt, so i suggest separating them until u can find out further.


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