# I've had baby girl with 2 boys since she was 5 weeks. Now they are bullying her. why?



## new_rattie_mommy (Aug 24, 2014)

When I put my new girl Rose in with my 2 resident boys she was 5 weeks old. I put her in with them so young because I had no possible way to do quarantine in my situation and intros went perfectly. My boys accepted her and loved her to death. It was like they knew she was a little baby and they had to tolerate everything she did, even though she's annoying and sassy. She could steal food from their mouth, and they wouldn't care. Rose is now 12 weeks old and the boys have been bullying her on and off for about 2 or maybe 3 weeks. There are days where they are constantly having dominance fights with her and won't leave her alone at all. Why is this suddenly happening now? Is it because she is bigger that she is becoming a threat now and they feel they have to assert their dominance? I thought it was weird it never happened when I first did intros. But she was little so I was glad they left her alone. Otherwise the other question I have as a possibility is that could this be happening from Rose going into heat? This seems to only be an issue on certain days. Like every few days and i heard that females go into heat every 3-5 days. And when they chase her they often put their head under her butt, not like he's sniffing her or anything but almost like he's just trying to be annoying lol. That makes me wonder if it has something to do with her being in heat. What do you think? Do you think the issue will resolve itself soon or is it a problem keeping males and females together? I was hoping it would be fine cuz my boys are neutered.

Also, tonight The dominance fighting escalated between Rose and my more laid back boy who usually doesn't even bug her. It turned into a real fight. She is a very squeaky girl and squeaks bloody murder every time someone comes near her but her squeaks turned into a danger cry so I went to break up the fight and was surprised to find it was actually between my other boy. Nobody was bleeding but my boy was very upset and retired to the cage afterward for a nap and wouldn't even allow me to touch him. But i forced him to have cuddles and let me check him over. I have never had a fight between any of my rats, the boys or the boys and girl and i am going out of town tomorrow for the weekend and leaving them on their own. Is it safe to leave them in the cage together or should I separate them in case there's another fight? Sorry it's so long but I'm so worried with going out of town and this happening right before...


----------



## cvieira (Feb 25, 2014)

I can't say for sure, but I would imagine it could certainly be hormonal. I have never mixed unfixed male and female rats so I can't say for sure, but my girls go crazy and fight with each other significantly more when one is in heat.

Are the boys fixed?


----------



## nanashi7 (Jun 5, 2013)

It's because she's in heat. It'll decrease with time. I wouldn't separate.


----------



## Isamurat (Jul 27, 2012)

I'd agree with the heat thing. Neutered boys can retain a real interest in the opposite sex and have quite an active relationship in some cases. She is probably annoyed by this because she doesnt see them as potential suitors or they try it when shes not fully in heat yet (it can take a few hours from them starting to come on heat to not attempting to beat up any male they see). I'd be tempted to go back to basics with them a little. If youve got the option put them in a smaller bare cage for a week or two and see if that resolves it. The boys will learn when to keep there distance and she will learn them trying to mate with her isnt going to hurt her. It will proabbly work out that she either encourages them during heat or they learn to keep there difference. Doing it in a smaller space means theres less chance of things escalating into a large scale fight whilst they work things out.


----------



## new_rattie_mommy (Aug 24, 2014)

Ok I was kind of thinking it was when she is in heat because it only happens every few days. Does anybody know how long it lasts for them being in heat? Is it only like a day? Cuz that's what the pattern seems to be. It hasn't been going on for all too long for mto be absolutely sure but that would be my guess so far. Were they not doing this to her before because she was so young and small? She would go into heat even when she was 5 weeks old right?
Nanashi7- Why will it decrease in time? Is it because they get used to being with each other or what?
Isamurat- Right now they are quarantined to the top half of their ferret nation cage because rose can fit through the bars. Is that small enough of a cage or do you think I should put them into my baby cage? 

Btw after they had gotten into the actual fight the other night I had put them to bed later that night and the two of them were cuddling...with the baby laying on top of him. I was like well they sure got over that fast.


----------



## Isamurat (Jul 27, 2012)

Its roughly half a day, typically they go into heat in the early evening and are out of heat by the morning. There first heat comes in at around 6 weeks old and is normally quite extreme behaviour (they get very jumpy and squeaky sometimes)

I would move them into your baby cage until things settle a bit, see if it helps settle them down again


----------



## nanashi7 (Jun 5, 2013)

The neutered boys will get used to it. My boyos did it to the girls at first but it eventually stopped - they gathered equipment wasn't working or something!


----------



## new_rattie_mommy (Aug 24, 2014)

Ok isamurat, I am going home for thanksgiving for about 5 days and my large cage is not exactly transferrable so they will be in the baby cage for that. I will probably wait until next week to do that since they'll be trapped in the baby cage anyways. For now I'll just deal with it since it only happens every few days. Today it didn't happen at all so that was very nice! And it makes sense for when you say they go into heat because their playtime is around 10-11 at night until like 2 in the morning because i work night shift so would be right at that prime time lol.

and nanashi7- you would think they would notice they don't exactly have the right equiptment anymore! lol so hopefully they'll figure it out eventually. I have heard that sometimes even when boys are neutered they can still get girls pregnant. Is this true? And i know there are two ways to neuter and in one way they don't actually remove the balls, they just snip something I think. I am guessing if the vet does the surgery that way it might make it more likely that it fails and they get someone pregnant but do you think they could get someone pregnant if they are literally missing their balls? lol Honestly someday I'd like to get her pregnant and experience that and keep one of the babies and find homes for the rest but not right now!


----------



## Isamurat (Jul 27, 2012)

if the vet has fully removed the balls and its over 2 weeks since the neuter girls shouldnt be able to get pregnant at all. I have however met a rat a vet supposedly neutered with one very prominant testicle left lol so make sure you check. It would be very unlikley a vet would jsut snip and tie off the tubes in a rat


----------



## new_rattie_mommy (Aug 24, 2014)

Ok that's good. They were neutered for a good few months before I got my girl and the balls were definitely fully removed lol I had just heard talk on here before about getting pregnant even after being neutered so i have wondered about it.


----------

