# Rat biting cage mate



## Nokepo70 (May 3, 2013)

Hi! We have two rats - Monkey we got in Aug 2012 and Dotty in Feb 2013. Dotty tends to groom Monkey and occasionally Monkey will return the favor. Recently the grooming seems to be more intense and Monkey will squeal. Today we watched as Dotty was cleaning Monkey and then bit down on Monkey's neck and pulled her over. This happened several times and then she held Monkey down while holding onto the scruff of her neck. No blood was drawn, but Monkey would squeal. Is this typical rat behavior? Monkey does not seem to retaliate. Dotty is also the one who will chew on the bars of the cage. Any advice or suggestions? I feel bad for Monkey.  Thanks!!


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## Rat Daddy (Sep 25, 2011)

Yes, discourage this behavior with a stern NO! If it doesn't stop get hands on.

The girls have been indoors for over a week now. Fuzzy Rat is pretty much finished and Amelia is more of an indoor rat anyway so tensions have been building. Yesterday Fuzzy Rat snapped at Amelia to defend the food dish she took all morning to get to. Amelia just went ballistic, she's got a long fuse but a nasty temper and that snap was the straw that broke the camels back. I shouted NO! And she just looked up and gave the the "I'm busy' look. So I popped open the door and tried to pull her off and she actually hung on to Fuzzy Rat. Normally they are best friends, but I had to hold Amelia for quite a while to get her to calm down. I took the rats to the park after than for a few hours and Amelia did a little exploring and Fuzzy Rat stretched out in a patch of clovers and napped and both rats seem a lot more relaxed today.

Some times rats just get on each other's nerves, you always have to cut in to make sure they know you are the only alpha and sometimes you have to give them something interesting to do so they don't wind up getting petty.

Imagine how few of us would survive a month locked in a small room with our spouses, siblings or otherwise loved ones.


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## PurpleGirl (Oct 12, 2012)

Perhaps Dotty is feeling a bit bored and is acting out against poor Monkey; you could introduce some new toys and interesting things to the cage or rearrange everything in there, or step up the amount of out-of-cage time they have. When my alpha girl November gets a bit fed up of her current toys every now and then, she doesn't chew the bars but she starts moving all the cage bedding and attacks her friends if they get in the way, giving her new things or extra attention usually chills her out. Since rats are so clever, they need constant stimulation to prevent boredom, be that in the form of playing with you or having new things to mess around with in the cage; sometimes all it takes is another hour in your lap or a nice new bit of rope to climb.

There's also the possibility that Dotty is just being a bit too rough to remind Monkey that she's alpha, or maybe Monkey is currently the alpha and Dotty is challenging her; as Rat Daddy says, I would say a loud firm 'NO!' to the offending rat and I flip them on their back and hold them for a few seconds so they know they've done wrong. They usually take the hint that they're misbehaving. Don't hurt Dotty obviously but a telling off for continued bad behaviour won't go amiss.


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## Nokepo70 (May 3, 2013)

*Thanks!*

Thanks so much for the suggestions!! We have been trying to give them more time out of the cage and time apart while out. We had also added another wood chew play toy. We will also keep a close eye out so that we can stop further altercations. They are actually sleeping together right now, while for the last week or so they have been sleeping on different levels. Maybe things are working out.  Thanks so much for the advice!!


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## Rat Daddy (Sep 25, 2011)

Shoulder rats don't do toys, it's sort of sad. They dig in stuff, shred stuff and steal stuff but it's always something valuable or otherwise important. Why play with a chew block when you can shred a paycheck to build a nest behind a file cabinet, steal a bag of snickers or strip an extension cord or dig a den under a big rock outdoors? My girls are currently working their way though Chaucer's Canterbury Tales. Yup... The wife left two rolls and a bag of chips on the floor last night and that gave one of my rats something to do after we went to sleep and there's the question of where my wife's memory stick with all of her classroom notes went (same night)... Who needs toys with a whole house to destroy?

I so wish my girls would just for once play with a toy... any toy... that would keep them out of trouble.


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