# bully rat



## kthissucks (Jul 12, 2009)

i have 2 rats (buddy and smokey) buddy is fat and smokey is almost underweight.. and thats not because of me i feed them twice a day(if im suppose to feed them more sorry i will someone tell me) but when i put food in there bowl buddy will actually bully smokeys food away(even the food he runs off with) and run him away from the food bowl. is there anything i can do to help my little smokey other than taking him away from buddy at feeding time? thats really the only time the fight.


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## Jaguar (Nov 15, 2009)

Give them an endless supply of rat/lab blocks. "Dieting" or limiting their access to food usually does more damage than good. They have very high metabolisms and need to eat constantly throughout the day, or they will get hungry and hoard food from one another.


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## Little_Vixen (Feb 4, 2009)

Seraphina used to do that to Isis a lot, try to steal her treats after gulping her own one down. We figured it was a play for dominance and Seraphina was quite obviously the dominant rat. A lot of the time when they'd play if it got too rough Isis would roll onto her back and wait until Seraphina moved away before getting up. 
Seraphina was a pretty big(fat) rat, while Isis was almost underweight from getting run around by Seraphina and getting her treats and food stolen. I'd actually gone in once and had a tug-o-war with Seraphina to get a bit of hershy kiss from her that she'd stolen from Isis (we gave them chocolate to help prevent resp. problems) and took Isis out to feed it to her. 

Maybe it's that? I definately could be wrong but that sounds a bit like what problems we were having?


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## digitalangel (Apr 16, 2009)

Not to nick pick, but the Theophylline found in chocolate doesn't have preventative measures, its more of a stop gap if your rat is having breathing problems and you don't have anything else you can do for it. The amount of Theophylline found in milk chocolate would be tiny, it needs to be a quality dark chocolate because the Theophylline is found in the cocoa. With the amount of sugars and fat found in most chocolate you would be better off finding your rat a healthier treat such as cherrios or baby puffs. 

Other then that, I agree with Jaguar to free feed your rats and always have food available for them. Bullying is normal in a rat cage and as long as there is no blood or rats being hurt there isn't a lot you can do. If one rat was really underweight and the food was always being given then you could take out the bullied rat and let them eat baby food or a liquid meal replacement product to help build up some bulk.


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## Little_Vixen (Feb 4, 2009)

I don't have my ratties anymore. I moved to TN last June and was forced to give them a new home via Judy, who was the owner of Seraphina and taking care of them while we were trying to find a home or a way to get them from WA to TN. 

And the chocolate kisses we gave them were dark. We didn't give it to them on a daily basis or anything, maybe once a week to less depending. More so we gave them banana chips and raisins and such


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## lee (Aug 3, 2009)

just learn to laugh at the fact that rats will never know how to share.


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