# Separating Rats For The Night



## Perocore (Jan 6, 2014)

Hello.

So every night for about the past month, my boys have been fighting. Mostly it's Styles (10 months old) beating up the other two, and he's especially been picking on Sasha, my 4 month old boy. They never actually hurt each other, just shove each other around and squeal unhappily. So this normally wouldn't be a problem, except that they're in my room, which means that they're fighting and screaming while I'm trying to sleep, which isn't good since I have to be up at 5am anyways. 

Since my double critter nation can separate into two cages, I've decided to separate them for the night. Styles on his own, Isaac and Sasha (who are bonded) together. So my concern is what happens in the morning, when I put the ramp down so they're all together again. Will Isaac and Sahsa decide Styles is no longer their family member, and attack him? Or should they all recognize each other and be alright?

Basically, is separating them for the night okay? Or should I just try to ignore the squealing and keep all three together? They're all fine with each other during the day, it's just at night when they get hyper that they're bickering.


----------



## nanashi7 (Jun 5, 2013)

Have you tried other solutions?

It's not fair to the rat. Imagine being confined to solitary during your waking hours. Boy, you don't have to sleep alone but forget those eight hours.


----------



## Perocore (Jan 6, 2014)

I'm not sure what other solutions to try, at this point. At this point, I am getting out of bed every 15 minutes to reprimand Styles. 

It seems the main source of fighting is over food. I can't take food away, though, since Styles will seize if he's not eating every 3 hours (and I know rats have fast metabolisms). 

When it was warmer out I could just take Styles for a walk outdoors, and he would be tired enough that he didn't want to fight. But now it's cooling down, so I can't take him out anymore. 

They can't go anywhere besides my room, so moving the cage isn't an option, either.

I'm just kind of at a loss :/


----------



## DustyRat (Jul 9, 2012)

Maybe try it in the short term and see what results.


----------



## Korra (Dec 11, 2011)

Is he neutered?


----------



## Phantom (Apr 4, 2012)

I have a weird method for introducing new rats or seperating rats that are in the hormone stage. I usually put the offender or the new rat in a carrier (with food, water, and toys) for the night, and I put the carrier in the cage. This allows the rats to smell one another and sleep next to each other and no one gets hurt. =P


----------



## Perocore (Jan 6, 2014)

I ended up reconnecting the cages, since I know Styles isn't fond of other rats but does like to have company to some extent, and immediately had him beating up his brother. So I took him out and just cleared a space in my room for him to run for about an hour. After that he seemed alright, so he went back in and I had no more fights.

So I guess it's just pent up energy, and possibly something to do with Sasha coming into his "teenage phase," he's been rather domineering lately. Isaac doesn't care, he's pretty happy with Sasha no matter what, but Styles does not accept the little challenger so well, and responds pretty nastily. So that can't be helped.

They've not been getting as much time outside of the cage since the weather turned and I started school. The only really safe room we have is the bathroom, or our basement. The issue with the basement is that it's way, way too dusty. The problem with the bathroom is that by the time I am able to let them out, my family is taking over the bathroom to shower and such before bed. I'm pretty much stuck cutting about two-three hours out of my sleep, no matter what, it would seem.

And no, Korra, he's not neutered. He would be, but we can't afford the $300 surgery right now, since we just had a pretty nasty vet bill for a rabbit </3

Phantom, I've tried such a method, but confining a rat with that much energy isn't good, and was a bit cruel of me to ask it of Styles, so that didn't work.

Mmng. I love my boys, but they drive me crazy!


----------



## Kitterpuss (May 9, 2014)

Hopefully he will grow out of the behaviour. 
I've had some similar issues with my boys and I found a combination of tiring them out during free range, distraction techniques during fights (having them chase a cat toy on a string instead of each other) and a bit of a telling off when they fight helped. Now if they start fighting I can tell them 'No fighting' in a firm voice and they will break it up and give me apology licks. 
It might be worth looking into rat proofing your bedroom or someplace else so you can let them really blow off some steam. I was loath to rat proof my living room at first, but it was worth the effort, and the boys love racing about the place now! It makes life easier for me too as it means I can relax, eat dinner and watch tv while I play with the boys rather than being stuck supervising them on the floor of the bathroom or hall


----------



## AznDonutBoy (Jul 10, 2014)

If they fight over food. Multiple food bowls with food will help the issue. You can also let them out more which'll help control his energy level which might make him stop pestering the others too.


----------



## ksaxton (Apr 20, 2014)

Oh man, I have the exact same issue! My boys lately have been going at each other a lot, just last night in the middle of the night I heard loud screeching and thrashing. I just turn over and go back to sleep  eventually they give up. Maybe you could make the cage smaller at night so there's less room to fight?


----------



## Korra (Dec 11, 2011)

The beat all solution will probably mean neutering. I personally have seen and owned 5 severely aggressive males and all 5 now show almost no aggression thanks to the neuter. It is not a guarantee, but like I said, I have yet to see it not work.
Start saving a little bit monthly, and hopefully soon you will have enough to help him. Because if it is hormonal aggression, it is not that likely to just go away. 
My friend had one male that would not allow his cage mate to eat bc he had gotten so aggressive. The submissive male ended up with a part of his tail bit off and a slice down his side from his friend before they were taken to surgery. They lived the rest of their lives happily together after the neuters


----------



## Perocore (Jan 6, 2014)

If I can afford to have him neutered at some point, then I will probably go with it since he's the only one who's ever had aggression issues. 

If I get very, very angry with him, then he usually gets the hint and will settle down for the night, but it takes an awful lot of sleep deprivation on my part for me to even be remotely angry with my boys XD

Well, I have to go through and thoroughly rabbit-proof my room tomorrow, so I may as well take the extra step to rat proof, as well.


----------

