# Food hoarding - is she hiding food from her sister?



## demiiguise (Aug 22, 2015)

Hi,

We have recently bought our little girl ratties a new, bigger cage. This morning, when I gave them a small bowl of dried breakfast cereal, I noticed that Rin (the smaller of the two girls) took a piece in her mouth from the dish on the top layer and zoomed down to the very bottom layer and hit it in the corner under some paper. She did this several more times until the bowl was empty. I've seen her make a stash of treats when she's been out playing but this is the first time I've ever seen her really do it in the cage - she probably has more places to hide things now her home is bigger. My other rat, Luna, is the bigger of the two and does love eating but I've never seen her stop Rin from taking food from the bowl. I have read on other threads that hoarding is perfectly normal for rats but I was wondering is Rin doing this to hide the food from her sister? Or is there no real motive behind it other than"I'm going to eat all this later!" I'd feel sad if I thought poor Luna was going without because her sister had hidden all the food and eaten it before she could find it! They have plenty of dried food in their cage so I know Luna won't starve - she might just miss out on the extra tasty bits! What are your experiences of this? Thanks!


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## mimsy (Jun 8, 2014)

Mine, with their regular food leave it in the bowl. I have one girl, Buttercup who does like to bury it with her toys though.

Treats which they find especially tasty they hide. I have 7 girls. If someone takes all of it and it's an especially prized tasty they will go get them, maybe even chase each other around and trying to steal it from each other.

It's all normal. Rats like to stockpile food, in case of winter coming, having to hide in the burrow from a predator for a few days ect. It's not really to hide from their fellow mischief. The stealing you will sometimes see back and forth between two is really how rats share. No it doesn't look like sharing, but it is. 

If someone is really being a turd to another rat it's obvious. They will then not be ok with any stealing, you will see fighting, guarding the food hoard they have and not allowing others to get to it in a more meaningful manner than say turning their back and eating really quick the goodie.


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## demiiguise (Aug 22, 2015)

Aw OK, I'm glad it's nothing to worry about! I just gave them a small bowl of banana chips and when I went back a few minutes later, they were all gone and had been moved into the bed which they share - right next to where I set down their bowl! Funny little creatures, they do make me laugh!


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## doctorowl (Sep 2, 2015)

My rats always do this. They never sit down properly like civilized people and eat next to the bowl. They always grab pieces, run off and hide somewhere and eat, and often leave pieces stashed around. Mimsy is right, it's totally natural. They want to stash things for later since they do forage naturally in the wild. They also sometimes feel a bit uncomfortable eating out in the "open" I think because they expect a predator to come snap them up when they're busy eating, so they want to go hide somewhere safe while munching. They will also squabble and take food away from each other. This is pretty normal too. Unless it becomes obvious the one rat is bullying the other- really preventing him/her from eating at all. That would be an issue. But the dominant rat will always try to take food from the others. That's just the pecking order. Sometimes I will give both my rats a treat, and the dominant one drops her own, and tries to steal her sister's. Like really, you brat?! I already gave you one! Don't steal your sister's LOL!

Let me tell you something funny about one of my boys, Domino. He thought he was smarter than me. Whenever I would give him a cheerio, he would immediately ask for more. He still had the cheerio IN his mouth. I could see it. If I cooperated, he would end up stuffing 3-4 whole cheerios in his mouth at once before he felt satisfied. Then he would run off, spit them all out, and eat them one at a time. Eventually I decided I didn't want to overfeed treats anymore, so I would say "NO, buddy, you only get one!" He figured out something new... He would take his one measly cheerio, spit it out, and then immediately ask for another. "HAH, see Mommy, I don't have one anymore! I get another one right?!" Nice try Mister, but no. When that didn't work, he went to the next step... He would take his one cheerio, run off and stash it somewhere hidden... then come back and ask for another! This time he really fooled me. I honestly thought he WAS eating them really fast because he can scarf a cheerio in about 3 seconds anyway... Until I found his stash and realized he had been tricking me. I was his human vending machine. Smart rat!


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## demiiguise (Aug 22, 2015)

Aww that's such a cute story about your boy Domino, they're so smart and cheeky! I gave my girls peas last night and Luna stuffed 3 into her mouth and scampered away to her bed to spit them out and eat them at her leisure! Sometimes when I go to give my girls yoghurt drops, if I go to give Luna hers first she'll grab her treat, stuff in in her mouth, then grab my fingers and try to eat the second treat before I can move my hand over to give it to Rin! She's so quick and it's hilarious - she's almost succeeded a few times in wrestling the treat from me! I now try to remember to give Rin hers first!!


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## Rat Daddy (Sep 25, 2011)

When we would eat dinner with Fluffy our part wild rat and Fuzzy Rat, Fuzzy Rat would try and steal the food and run off with it to eat it behind something on the table then come back for more... This lead to the infamous incident where she dragged a pork chop across my wife's new table cloth... and I glass covered the kitchen table. But Fluffy was different, she was part wild and had a vicious streak that ran to the core... nobody, rat nor human was stupid enough to take her food away... not if they valued their blood. She would sit comfortably right on the rim of the plate and peacefully munch her food, or rather our food, occasionally sneering at the fork that was stealing some of it away.

As a part wild rat, I would have thought she would be the biggest food thief and hoarder, but oddly even though she spent 5 months outside on her own, she always stood her ground. And if that was just bravado and a trick... it worked a treat.


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