# How to tell who is alpha?



## MimiSkye (Feb 3, 2014)

I have always sturggled to tell which one of my girls is alpha...I think its olive but tell me what you think:

Penelope is the oldest, I got her and Olive at the same time. She is very mellow and is sometimes found sleeping by herself instead of with the others. She is closest with me out of the 4. When introducing a new rat, she has always been the most aggressive. She will try to avoid them as much as possible and then will pick fights if they come near her. She warms up after a bit though. Shes not spayed.

Olive is the second oldest. Shes spayed. She is the biggest female in the cage. She is VERY lazy and can usually be found sleeping in the hammock with a pig pile of ratties on top of her. She has a very skittish personality. She will sit very still and stare at me, then bolt at the tiniest noise. She was very welcoming to our 3rd rat lulu, she sort of protected her from Penelope in a way, but was pretty aggressive when I introduced our new boy Dewey. She was ok during intros, but there were a lot of stand offs when I first put him in her cage. They get along fine now. She just sort of seems like the big mama of the cage. Protective, but very sweet and kissy.

Lulu is just a lovebug. She is a dwarf. I don't think she has a dominant bone in her body. She is always jumping and crawling all over her cage mates and they will just kick her away. Shes the definition of the annoying baby sister. But shes such a sweetie. Always at the very top of the pig pile.

Dewey is the new guy. Hes neutered. And young. He is a lot like Olive personality wise. They get along fine but still occassionaly have dominance fights. I feel like maybe he is trying to fight Olive for dominance? Hes only a tiny bit bigger than Olive now, but still has a lot of growing to do. Still trying to feel his personality out.

Do you guys think Olive is the alpha? I always used to think it was Penelope since she was the most aggressive with new comers. But I just get the vibe from Olive. Idk...just curious!


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## Darling (Jul 13, 2014)

Olive can still be the mama of the cage without being the alpha. In my mischief, Charles is the dominant rat but is way more standoffish towards the others and less willing to quarrel since he already won the dominant fights. Arthur is the father figure, herding (gently, of course) the smaller boys to bed when it's bedtime and even moving their poops to the litter box.

The dominant rat will puff up the hair around their neck when you introduce a new rat. They will most likely be the first rat to approach the new rat and will probably sniff their butt area. You'll also probably see them flip the newer/smaller rat onto their back, steal treats from them and follow them around the cage for the first few days. The dominant rat may also become more attached to you because they see the new rat as a threat to your bond.

The dominant rat's personality is usually no-nonsense and quick tempered if another rat tempts them. Sometimes they'll sleep alone, at least as far as I've noticed. 

From what you've said, Penelope is the dominant.


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## ksaxton (Apr 20, 2014)

To me it sounds like Penelope is the alpha. Someone also told me when I asked about alphas that alphas are harder to easily determine/establish in smaller mischiefs. I have four too, and one of my girls is the alpha. She's moms favorite and she knows it. She's not overly dominant towards the others, but she's usually the one who leads the others. The boys try to groom her but she doesn't let them. 


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## nanashi7 (Jun 5, 2013)

Dewey will likely become the alpha, mix gender mischiefs are usually led by males. This doesn't mean you don't get aggressive, bratty, dominant females but those traits don't make an alpha. 

It sounds like, for now, Olive is in charge. 

Keep in mind rat alphas aren't like dogs or anything. They're very complex, almost not like hierarchies at all. Under 5/6, it's hard to tell what's actually goin on because of this. 


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## MimiSkye (Feb 3, 2014)

Neat!! I always thought she was the alpha just because she was the most aggressive towards new rats, but then I saw the way Olive was with Lulu and was second guessing. I thought maybe Penelope was just more insecure and thats why she picked the fights. Olive never really puffs her fur up during intros, but Penelope definitely does. 
Plus Penelope is so much smaller than Olive...I actually got her thinking she was a dwarf but she mustve just been a runt. Lulu is a true dwarf and is MUCH smaller than Penelope, but Penelope is probably only 2/3 the size of Olive...so either Olive is a really big female or Penelope is really small. I thought maybe Olive would use her size to her benefit. I guess Olive is as lazy as I thought she was haha. 

Its funny, you'd think the most calm and mellow one would be more submissive, but I guess not! Everything you guys said is right on poiint with Penelopes attitude. Shes always the first to check out a new cagemate and she ALWAYS would steal their treats! I thought she was just a fatty. 

Rat behavior is so funny. Learn something new every day!


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## MimiSkye (Feb 3, 2014)

nanashi7 said:


> Dewey will likely become the alpha, mix gender mischiefs are usually led by males. This doesn't mean you don't get aggressive, bratty, dominant females but those traits don't make an alpha.
> 
> It sounds like, for now, Olive is in charge.
> 
> ...


Yeah that makes sense. I have definitely gotten a better picture of their personalities now that I adopted 2 more. So you don't think Penelope is the alpha? From what they said it definitely seemed to describe her. Olive will stand up when she needs to, but when I'm introducing a new rat, Penelope is always the first to start trouble. 
I know its obviously not easy to tell by my quick descriptions. I can't picture Dewey becoming the alpha, he seems really shy and insecure. He was definitely a tough one to introduce, he would always stick up for himself and not give in like Lulu did. So maybe he's just coming out of his shell and theres actually a tough guy in there somewhere haha. He seems to cling to Olive a lot...follows her around and copies her behaviors...could this also be a hint to her being the matriarch?


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## nanashi7 (Jun 5, 2013)

It's not really personality that defines an alpha, it's interactions. A common problem with rat personalities is many tend toward all fluff and no teeth. Aka they're walking the walk and talking the talk, but it's a show. 

For example, several of mine hump the new girl, drag her around, pin her, puffed up in intros, even hissed. None of them are the alpha. The man in charge (or rat) is Remus, who is a neutered male, smaller than his sons, and second eldest rat in the cage. You wouldn't see him as an alpha because he's a big squish ball and rarely is pinning others, a true sweetie. 

However, when a rat is out of line or two rats are arguing her comes papa rat. Intros are easiest once Remus is on board, because he's in charge. He spends his days grooming or being groomed, cuddling or exploring. Also, even my most ferocious treat lovers will never ever steal his food and he never is kicked out of a hammock that's exceeding rat capacity. When his sons introd into the mischief they tried to take charge from him, not bothering any other rat like they did him. 


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