# Rats and Cockatiels



## 750XL (Oct 3, 2011)

Hello all,

Not sure if this is posted in the right section but here goes.

I have two female rats (around 6-7months old) and I also have 2 cockatiels. All 4 of them live in my bedroom. 

The two cockatiels are rarely locked up in their cage, only when I've been working shifts when I'll cover them in a blanket so I can get some sleep. I can rarely let my rats out of their cage these days as the first thing they do is hide and it takes me hours to catch them back.

My first cockatiel has always reacted strangely to the rats when they are out and crawling around his cage. He'll sit on the bottom of his cage hissing and swaying side to side, but other than that he doesn't do much. When I brought my second one home for the first time the other month I left him to settle down for a few days. I got the rats out one day completely forgetting about the new cockatiel. The rats crawled all over their cage as usual, but caused the 2nd cockatiel to start flapping his wings, resulting in a broken blood feather turning my bedroom into what looked like a murder scene. Since then I'm always very careful when I let the rats out incase they scare him again.

However, the two birds have an unhealthy obsession with flying into the rats cage and climbing up and down the bars. Usually, they'll fly on then the rats will come to sniff them and they'll fly off scared. However, I'm a little scared that one day the rats will get hold of the birds. I've noticed the rats try to grab hold of their tail feathers. If a rat was to bite one / get hold of one and pull it out, what 'damage' would this do to the cockatiel? Would it bleed? Also, do any of you know what the chances of the rat biting one of the cockatiels toes are?

Thanks


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## Kiko (Sep 18, 2009)

You can NOT let them interact. We had a member post not that long ago about their parakeet literally being eaten alive by their pet rats. I am sure similar damage could be done to a cockatiel.
Birds also have sensitive immune systems the stress of the rats could lead to more serious things since birds are easily psychologically damaged. In addition to the stress, the bacteria froma rat bite which may be pretty harmless to usmay NOT be to a sensitive bird. 

Rats can and do sometimes get along with other animals, however I think it is very BAD idea to find out when one of the animals could be potentially badly harmed. In this case the birds.


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## 750XL (Oct 3, 2011)

Thanks for the reply.

I won't ever let them interact fully in regards of out of cage time, but I can not always stop my cockatiels flying onto the rat cage for 10 seconds or so before I can jump up and pull them off, which is what I was more afraid of.


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## Kiko (Sep 18, 2009)

If they free fly in the same room there is really nothing you can do except maybe rest something solid on op of the rat cage, not a towel or they will eat it.


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## Critter Aficionado (Jan 30, 2011)

I never let my rats interact with our cockatiels, but the mentioning of a rat eating a parakeet alive is horrifying. I thought rats were supposed to be granivores and prey animals, and while I expected that behavior from ferrets, it really surprises me hearing that about rats. Yikes.


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## Kinsey (Jun 14, 2009)

DO NOT let your birds out in the room with the rats in there, even if the rats are in a cage. My starling landed on my rat cage and my doe was on her in an instant, even as I was sprinting over there to get Angel off of the cage. Rosebud grabbed her by the leg and hunched down, pulling like a dog playing tug of war with a meat bone. Angel was too large to fit in the bars or I would have lost her. I pried her away from Rosebud. I'm lucky she lived, and so thankful she is still with me. Rosebud would have killed her. Angel could have lost a leg like -that-. Don't trust your rats, because no matter how sweet they are they will always be predators and your birds will always be food.

If your birds loose a tail feather they will be okay, it should just fall out and not bleed. If one breaks and it bleeds you must remove what is left, because a broken feather can cause a bird to bleed to death, same with things like broken toe-nails.

Your rats will enjoy chasing a molted feather if you have one, they can make fun toys, but there is no way for there to be any semblance of safety while the two are in the same room and not caged.


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## Kinsey (Jun 14, 2009)

DO NOT let your birds out in the room with the rats in there, even if the rats are in a cage. My starling landed on my rat cage and my doe was on her in an instant, even as I was sprinting over there to get Angel off of the cage. Rosebud grabbed her by the leg and hunched down, pulling like a dog playing tug of war with a meat bone. Angel was too large to fit in the bars or I would have lost her. I pried her away from Rosebud. I'm lucky she lived, and so thankful she is still with me. Rosebud would have killed her. Angel could have lost a leg like -that-. Don't trust your rats, because no matter how sweet they are they will always be predators and your birds will always be food.

If your birds loose a tail feather they will be okay, it should just fall out and not bleed. If one breaks and it bleeds you must remove what is left, because a broken feather can cause a bird to bleed to death, same with things like broken toe-nails.

Your rats will enjoy chasing a molted feather if you have one, they can make fun toys, but there is no way for there to be any semblance of safety while the two are in the same room and not caged. (both caged!)


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## A.ngelF.eathers (Jul 6, 2011)

Agreed. 
I had no idea how much rats enjoyed destroying feathered things. I was lucky enough to find this out with an inanimate object. My boys, who rarely play with any sort of toys, found a feathered cat toy, and it actually scared me how intent they were on just ripping the feathers to bits. 

It would be best to move the rats out of the room while the birds are having free time and vice-versa


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## Kinsey (Jun 14, 2009)

Oh, my, I forgot. This site is good for bird related stuff-

birdboard.com

They know more about cockatiels than I ever will. My thing is starlings. (however, a rat will kill any bird.)


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