# Fights every five minutes



## treblyk (Sep 24, 2010)

So I have three rats, Mata (year old unspayed female) and Ama and Ana (six months old? unspayed females). They all live together in a large cage. I got Ama and Ana a few months ago, and they introduced really well. They've been good together with Mata since I intro'd them. They sleep in big ratty piles, play etc. That is until the last week or two. 

Mata is becoming super aggressive for what I can tell no reason. She walks around the cage and will attack whichever other rat gets too close. There has been blood drawn on numerous occasions, but no serious wounding. (Mainly scratches on noses) She has become even more aggressive towards the husband and I, biting and nipping. She is hoarding food like crazy, not letting them near it, etc. 

What the heck. They have been -fine- until now. Are Ama and Ana just sexually mature now, so Mata is having a fit? We take them out and play with them everyday, but Mata is being left alone more and more now because she just doesnt want to leave the cage. We take her out and she beelines right back for it. 

I know I need to separate them, but a mouse is living in my tank, and we don't have the money to get a whole other cage, and I feel weird about having her be on her own again, since the whole point in getting Ama and Ana was to be company for Mata after her sister died. :-\ 

Are there any good, cheap, cage alternatives? Is this a hormonal issue? I see responses to aggression issues in males being treated with neutering, but would spaying work?


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## treblyk (Sep 24, 2010)

Welp. Husband says we defiantly can't get a new cage. Barely enough for rent this month. Could let the mouse go, but he is still a baby and don't know if he would do well on his own. 

I go to the vet tomorrow for one of my cats. He does rats too, so I can ask him if he has any ideas. =/


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## 1a1a (May 6, 2011)

Can't shed any light on Mata's increased aggression but can offer suggestion about getting her out of the cage... I have a rat like that and I used to put her on the floor inside her cage so she could walk in and out of it as she liked, sometimes, she'd still refuse to come out and I would resort to luring her out with yogurt. More recently, I've been using a tiny travel cage as a bed in the main cage, when it's time to free range, I bring the rat and the travel cage, Paris tends to sit quietly in the travel cage bed for a bit, then build up the courage to explore.

Other than that, I'm in a similar position with one old rat and two recently matured youngsters. I don't think the old rat particularly likes the young ones but they do sleep together which I take as a good sign. The general rule of thumb with rats seems to be no blood no foul (I guess this does not necessarily extend to scratches). Do Ama and Ana seem to be afraid of Mata?


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## treblyk (Sep 24, 2010)

Going to let the mouse go so we can stick Mata in the 10 gallon tank. Theyre fighting so violently they are shaking the cage and the younger rats are too terrified to leave the fleece tunnel I made them. I wish I could hand her over to a rescue but the only one I can find is Huron Valley Rat Rescue and they arent accepting surrenders. I could try the local humane society that I volunteer for, but she might be euthanized for being aggressive. I can't afford another cage, and I live in a tiny tiny tiny home and I dont have room for another. It seems to cruel to leave her in a 10 gallon tank for the rest of her life (shes a year, year and a half), plus shes so violent towards us, I can't interact with her. 

I dont know what to do. I just dont. ???


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## ratjes (Mar 26, 2011)

It will be cruel to let her live in a small tank like that. If money is so tight why would you add more pets? They cost. If you rehome an aggressive rat she will run a good chance of being subjected to abuse, and isolation and fed to snakes. I would give back the youngsters or find a good home for them. That way you keep the pets that you already had before you bought the youngsters. And wait with new pets until you have the money to maintain them.
This advice is maybe not what you were looking for but it is my honest opinion to help you.


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## treblyk (Sep 24, 2010)

I added the younger rats back in April when there was no money issue. But since then, this month, my car has died and I need to somehow buy another one. I just spent almost 200 on one cat getting a skin infection and allergy cleared up. Another 150 on the other two cats because they both got bladder infections. I have three orphaned emergency placement four week old foster kittens whose mother and siblings were hit by a car and I opted to take them and raise them instead of having them euthanized by the shelter. I have to buy all of their food and KMR because my shelter is struggling desperately. I have spent hundreds on these rats and thousands on my cats in the last two years alone. And I have done it willingly and with the support of my husband. I got Ana and Ama because Mata's sister died and she was going crazy with loneliness. Yes it was accepting a financial burden but I couldn't stand to see her withdraw and be miserable because she was alone, no matter how much time I spent with her. And for the last few months it has been great. She was being more friendly with us, she and Ana/Ama did nothing but play, and sleep in big ratty piles. There was no food aggression, no problems AT ALL. 

And now she attacks the cage if we get too close. 
She hunts down her cagemates. 
She viciously attacks them, bites them, scratches at them. 
She lunges at us and tries to bite us when we feed them.
She takes all of the food and hordes it, attacking the younger rats if they get too close. 

All in the span of a few weeks. It's not right and it's not something that either my vet or the breeder I got Ana and Ama from thinks can be fixed. The words brain tumor, brain lesion, are now being introduced. I have done everything I can for my pets. I love them. And now I'm looking at instead of having to just find another cage for Mata, having to probably put her down. So I'm sorry if this came off as a rant, but that last comment left me a little raw.


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## ratjes (Mar 26, 2011)

treblyk said:


> So I'm sorry if this came off as a rant, but that last comment left me a little raw.


It sounded like that without the additonal background info from you. I work in a shelter and people just dump their animals because they cannot afford them.


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## treblyk (Sep 24, 2010)

Okay so I figured I would update everyone. Last week Mata suddenly seemed to go back to normal. She and Ama/Ana went back to cuddling and playing as if nothing had ever happened. She started to cuddle with me again, stopped biting etc. It gave me hope that it was in fact a freak couple of weeks and not a brain lesion like the vet told me it probably was. Denial, I know. Two days ago she wasnt as eager to eat like she normally is, and seemed a little sleepy. Yesterday I came home from work and she had made herself a little nest in an exercise ball I keep in there (as a sleeping area) and died. Ana and Ama were curled up at the entrance to the ball, and after my husband and I removed her and cleaned the cage, they spent the next several hours seemingly trying to find her, and then just curled up where she died. 

Moral of the story, I just wanted to thank you guys for your input and everything, despite the ultimate outcome.


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## Frodowisebrandytook (Mar 26, 2011)

So sorry to hear about Mata! It sounds like a brain problem was indeed the culprut. The only time I have observed an extreme change in an animals behavior there were hormones or brain altering maladies involved. Since she was not male, hormones were more than likely not the problem. The sudden death seems to confirm the brain issue.
Again, I am so sorry.


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