# Food Aggressive Rat HELP:P



## Salt & Pepper (Apr 24, 2017)

Hi! We just adopted a younger Rat named Magic so Salt could have a friend. (Her last pal Pepper passed away ) Magic is around 2 months old, and Salt is 7 Months. Before we got Magic, Salt and Pepper were always really quick to get food and eat it, so it never caused any issues. But Magic is more laid back. So when ever I fill the bowl up with some food, Salt will come running over, stuffing as much as she can in her mouth, and hoards most of it in their Den. (They have a Den on the first level, and a tube on the second level) Then she runs back up and either makes another trip to the den, or gets a triangle and eats, and she eats FAST. (Magic eats much slower) Sometimes, if Magic has time to grab a chip, Salt takes it from her. I've started taking Salt away so Magic has time to eat in peace. I've also tried just filling the bowl up for the day, but Salt just hoarded it all, and ate some of it in no time. Other than food, they get along really well, sometimes i find them cuddling in there tube. Any ideas?


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## Shadow <3 (Jan 25, 2017)

I'd just free-feed them. It's fine if they horde it, the other rat can smell the food and will find it. One of my girls occasionally hordes food, and just about all of my girls will grab 3-5 pieces of Oxbow (I joke that they want to be hamsters ) in their mouths and run off to eat it. That's pretty much a normal rat behavior.

Seriously, I wouldn't worry. Rats eat fast in general, and for them a true choke is very unlikely. Most of my girls LOVE food, and they all eat it quite quickly and steal from each other. It's just the ratty way









It's not actually food aggression unless Salt is attacking Magic when she gets near her while eating. Salt just sounds like a more "foody" rat than Magic. Honestly, all but 1 of my 7 girls has stolen food from other rats (and that one was just super submissive), so it's pretty normal. Nothing to worry about


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## Shadow <3 (Jan 25, 2017)

Just wanted to add a funny story about food hoarding:

Okay, so my rat Latte absolutely LOVES doing tricks for treats. She understands that if she sits next to me while eating, she'll get more treats for ever successful trick. So she does trick after trick for treat after treat, and eats them all. But when she gets full, she stops eating the treats and starts stashing them in one box. She'll run to me, do a trick, stash the food in her mouth, do another trick, stash another treat in her mouth, and so on until her mouth is full. Then she runs off to stash the treats in a box. But her sister Blackberry figured out where she stashes the treats, so she follows her into the box and begins to eat what Latte stashed! She just sits there and eats while Latte brings her the treats! When I clean up my free-range area, I remove the treats from the box. But Latte doesnt know that, so when I set out her stashing box the next day, she looks for treats in it! When she realizes they're gone, she goes back to me and we start the process all over again. She's such a silly girl! 

Rats are silly creatures, and stashing is a normal behavior for them. Latte stashes food, balls, pen caps, paint brushes, and anything she can get her mouth around!


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## Coffeebean (Jan 6, 2017)

All rats like to steal food regardless of age, sex, or status. I found that it helps to always have food in the cage available so that they don't feel stressed about if they have enough food. It's natural for rats to hoard and stash food because they're wired to prepare for lean times in more natural environments where there may not always be food available.


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