# First time owner



## Fatt (Apr 20, 2011)

Hey, first time owning rats, well, there technically my sisters but she always forgets she has them, so i told her to just leave them and ill feed them etc from now on. Im usually up quite late and ive read that this is there peak time activity wise and ive noticed a few things that makes me want to spilt them up, but then i think that it might just be their nature, well id like to find out from people with more experience looking after them. So any info you can give me would be great thats not related to my concerns.

First of all i have a blue rat (male) and dumbo rat (female) in the same cage, which is reasonably sized i think, well my sister sorts out all the buying etc as she works in a pet shop, but every time i ask her about the rats i don't get the impression that she knows for sure what shes on about. Anyway, i always notice the blue rat forcing himself on her, pushing her around and always initiating scraps, obviously i know whats happening but since the dumbo rat is constantly running away when he does it kinda makes me think she doesn't like it, its also been squeaking a lot while its happening, whether its pain/pleasure or something else i don't know.

Also, the blue rat is quite anti social and timid where as the dumbo rat is the complete opposite, which obviously probably doesn't help in the way im explaining this as im heavily on the dumbo's rat side , wonder if this is usual behavior or not, although over the past few weeks the blue rat has started to become less timid with me atleast, and hes alright with my sister who bought him but anyone else and he goes skitz.

Just a couple of other questions, are rats personality unique and individual or are they collective, as in are all blue rats going to be timid and all dumbos social?, also any tips on treats, i just feed them rat food every day as im not completely sure what they enjoy.


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## Jaguar (Nov 15, 2009)

um... i sure hope one of them is altered, or you're going to wind up with 10 rats instead of 2.

as long as there's no serious injuries or blood being drawn, they're fine. fights are going to happen every once in a while, especially if he's trying to mate with her :-\

you are going to need to socialize him extensively to get him used to being handled by you. there's a sticky about it at the top if this section. it's not related to marking, color, or ear type, but how he was handled when he was younger, temperament history in his lines, hormonal levels, and so on, are determining factors.

there are a ton of food and nutrition threads in the health section... be sure to give those a read.


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## Fatt (Apr 20, 2011)

thanks for the response, and yeah the girl is


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## renegaderob18 (Apr 7, 2011)

All rats have there own personality. I have 3 girl rats and they are all tame. Two are really outgoing while the other is still shy but the shy one has come along way in a few weeks since I hold her daily and feed her by hand at times. The more you handle rats and play with them the better they get. As far as the fighting, I agree that it will happen as the male is not fixed and I'm sure his engine is revved up so to speak.


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## Fatt (Apr 20, 2011)

Hey again, posting again as i think that the girl rat wasn't actually altered, or atleast my sister seems to think she is pregnant, i kinda agree with her, first off some info on what to do if she actually is and secondly it seems she has red bite marks on her stomach, quite a few which is worrying and im pretty sure there from the male rat, i read up online that when rats are together for the first few weeks it is simply because one of the rats is asserting there dominance and it should stop, would like any confirmation on that if possible.

Cheers


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## renegaderob18 (Apr 7, 2011)

Is it red bite marks from looks to be blood or like bug bite red marks?


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## Fatt (Apr 20, 2011)

well, the male rat hasn't got any marks on him at all, so i don't think its bug marks, but i don't think theres been any blood so ???


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