# Aggressive Female Rat: Should I Permanently Separate Her From Cage Mates?



## Ligeia (Nov 14, 2015)

Hi everyone,

I have recently posted a few threads on this forum regarding different issues and once again I need your help... I have some very unhappy rats at the moment and I really don't know what to do anymore. I used to have three bonded brothers that lived with a spayed female (Machida), only one of the brothers is now left and he shares the big cage with her. Machida is always been quite aggressive towards all of them but they managed to "coexist" as they all submitted to her, unfortunately my boy has no longer his buddies and he started looking very depressed; Machida will rarely groom him and spends most of the time in the top shelves while Kit is always at the bottom. My boy is over two years old and doesn't deserve to be so miserable, today I saw a couple of scratches on his back that Machida must have inflicted on him while he was trying to eat (she always steals his treats). Machida is a horrible alpha and has zero respect for her cage mates, she will enjoy the occasional cuddle from my boy but never gives one back. 

I could no longer see my boy in a corner all alone staring at the bars, so I decided to buy him a little baby male... well, they bonded straight away and the little boy always grooms his head (it's adorable). Of course Machida did not like the baby at all, she puffed up and attacked him by slamming him on his back and pulling his fur out viciously. I had to postpone the introductions, the baby is now 7 weeks old and he is just to small to be able to cope with the evil monster.

NOW THIS IS WHERE I NEED THE ADVICE: The two boys are now living together in a smaller cage while Machida lives in the huge one by herself, it's only been one day and she no longer accepts Kit in the cage because he smells like the baby. Should I bathe him and put him back with Machida before it is too late and she will never accept him again? Or should I give the big cage to Kit and the baby and move Machida permanently in the medium size one and keep her alone? I don't want anyone to be miserable, I feel so sad having to deprive Machida of that occasional cuddle that she gets from Kit (which she really enjoys), on the other hand my boy seems much happier with the baby, he gets attentions and no scratches.

What would you do in this situation?


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## JAnimal (Jul 23, 2014)

I would keep the boys alone in their own cage and get the girl another friend. Females sometimes like to pick on/attack new baby rats.


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## Ligeia (Nov 14, 2015)

I see... the fact though is that Machida is aggressive towards the adults too, she bullies them continuously, steals their food, pushes them sideways out of the shelves and occasionally bites/scratches them. She won against my biggest alpha male, I really doubt she would tolerate another female rat. The only rat that she remotely gets along with is Kit but as I said before she makes him miserable. Machida is a very traumatised rat that used to live in a overcrowded situation where she had to fight in order to survive. I tried to work with her but she remains an unbearable cage mate.


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## JAnimal (Jul 23, 2014)

If you have enough time on your hands to spend with her 6 plus hours a day then maybe you could just house her alone. You could let her free range if had no other pets that way she could be with you for some time every day.


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## Ligeia (Nov 14, 2015)

I am a full time student with a part-time job... I spend a LOT of time with my rats but 6 hours everyday is just not possible. I could give her 2 hours at max and that's why I like to keep at least 3-4 rats together to keep each other company. I am really concerned about Machida, maybe I should try and introduce them all together as soon as the baby is old enough, how old do you think the baby should be in order to be able to cope with an aggressive female rat? Would 3-4 months be an ok age?


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## JAnimal (Jul 23, 2014)

After 2 and a half months then they should be fine. You could also try a neutered male. And its almost impossible to spend over 4 hours with rats. I didn't think that you would be able to.


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## lilspaz68 (Feb 24, 2007)

How old is your girl?

Honestly this is a tricky situation, and there is no easy answer that will make everyone happy, but this is MY advice.

1) Move her into the medium cage, keep the 2 boys happily together.
2) Have her out as much as you can.
3) Sometimes a rat will mellow out and you can try re-intro's when baby is much bigger and can take more than right now.

Watch her carefully for any signs of depression, or even grieving and we'll revisit the plan but having 2 out of 3 happy rats is better than none happy.


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## Gribouilli (Dec 25, 2015)

If you can afford it, I would leave the female in the cage she used to and but a bigger cage for the 2 males.

I had to deal with a similar situation. I wanted to add a neutered male to my mischief of intact females. Long story short, the females will always attack him. My females stayed in their DCN and I bought a single critter nation for the male rat. He will have two neutered friends in about 6 weeks.

Introductions can be tricky and sometimes it just doesn't work out despite our best efforts. As for your lonely female, you could ask a breeder if she would be willing to work with you to find her a friend, and if doesn't work out if she would take the rat(s) back.


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## Ligeia (Nov 14, 2015)

My girl is 10 months old, so I'd say she is still very young... I think I will do as you advised, I have the feeling that when the baby is a bit older maybe they could all live together. Machida did live with three big boys and even though she bullied them they weren't so unhappy because they had each other, also she wouldn't focus on one as there were three. Luckily she isn't very big, about half of the side of a full grown male so hopefully the baby will soon be bigger than her. I actually never had babies before and I wanted to ask you, how long do you think I should wait before I can try and introduce them again? JAnimal and I were saying 2-3 more months from now, would that be enough time in your experience? I also noticed that the baby keeps peeing on my big male and nowhere else... is this behaviour normal? It is kind of gross because every time I pick Kit up he is socked wet lol


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## Ligeia (Nov 14, 2015)

That message was meant for lilspaz68, sorry I am still new to this forum...

Thank you for all the answers, I would like to specify that I do not intend to get any more female rats and this is why I wouldn't want to attempt another introduction with a new girl... from now on I will stick with boys and rescues so that I can work with the shelter in order to find good matches that get along well. Unfortunately it is my own fault if my rats are fighting, I got Machida from a very dodgy breeder and I shouldn't have contributed to her business as she is selling highly aggressive rats. I won't be making the same mistake again. I would like to put the boys in the big cage because Kit lived there before anyone else did, the medium cage that I mentioned is pretty big and suited to one rat, the ratty corner calculator says that I can house 2-3 rats in it. The big cage has a capacity of 12 rats so as you can imagine it is massive and I could not fit another one in my apartment nor I would be able to clean 2 of them as I am usually very busy with University. This is also why I wouldn't want to buy anymore rats, I am certain that Machida would be hard to introduce no matter to who... well, we all agree that I should postpone the introductions at least until the boy is bigger so I won't attempt to reunite them just yet.


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