# female rat aggressive towards other rats



## ledzepgirl16 (Oct 29, 2007)

Hi all...this is Matoska; she is a little insane... :wink: 










Anyways, I got her from a pet store (wasn't intending to get her, but there she was, as it often happens). Not a great petstore, to be generous. Anyhow, she came with her sister - we assume them to be sisters, of course the pet store workers knew nothing about that - who is below:










I think they're stunning, and Bianca fit right into the group of girls we have. But Matoska is just flat out aggressive towards all the rats, including Bianca. We actually began finding serious cuts on the other girls, so we removed her from the cage; and now, all the rats get along. No more cuts on anyone. 

Unfortunately, this means she is alone (she was even aggressive towards Bianca, her former cagemate from the store, when we tried to keep just the two of them together). 

The only person who can handle her is me; she seems to hate everyone else, and lets them know by biting them, huffing, hissing, etc...I've actually gotten really attached to her mean self, and she seems to like me fine...hasn't bitten me or anything.

But I _hate_ for her to be alone. (Even though she is easier to handle and more relaxed since she started living on her own...which makes NO sense). I just don't feel right about it, so I was wondering...what type of rat (I mean personality-wise) would she most likely to get along with, in your opinion? 

She is the meanest towards the more submissive ones, so that's not an option. I just can't have her biting them all and leaving cuts all over them. The only rat she remotely gets along with is Brad's Eleanor, who was and is the "alpha" of the females' cage. But she is a much, much more laid-back type of alpha. So would a more dominant female be a good idea, or do you think this would lead to some very serious aggression? Or should I leave her alone and let her have her own cage (I'm strongly leaning away from this, as I truly don't think she is a rat who should be on her own. While there are sometimes rats like this - I just don't think she is one). Let me know what you all think. And I apologize for the length of this! :wink:


----------



## lilspaz68 (Feb 24, 2007)

Have you thought of spaying her? Sometimes aggressive females are excessively hormonal and spaying them takes away that problem.


----------



## ledzepgirl16 (Oct 29, 2007)

I have, actually...but I was considering it so that I could put her in with the boys. However, the idea that she is overly hormonal seems completely logical to me. :wink: The reason I didn't was because of her (possible) age. She seems to be more on the 1 and 1/2 year old end of the spectrum, and I felt it might be too risky.


----------



## lilspaz68 (Feb 24, 2007)

ledzepgirl16 said:


> I have, actually...but I was considering it so that I could put her in with the boys. However, the idea that she is overly hormonal seems completely logical to me. :wink: The reason I didn't was because of her (possible) age. She seems to be more on the 1 and 1/2 year old end of the spectrum, and I felt it might be too risky.


Not at all, if she's healthy.  Jorats has spayed girls over 2 years old, and I have neutered boys around 2, so its the health of the rat, plus how skilled your vet is that matters most. If you spay her, you will have 2 options of companions which is wonderful


----------

