# [Behavior] Rat killing other rats?



## Unconventional

I have two female rats. They will both turn 2 around January 5th. 

My Dumbo girl, Cricket, is very sociable but my standard blue girl, Sterling, is not. Neither like to be held, but Cricket tolerates it, and enjoys her belly and ear rubs.

I was at PetCo getting them some new toys and saw the most adorable little blazed face staring back at me. She was an Owner Surrender at the store, and was all alone. She came to me when I called and would just nuzzle up against my hand. She even settled herself under my ear and boggled while I rubbed her neck. 

The associate there told me she was surrendered because "she ate the other rat". But we weren't told the circumstances. Were they not fed enough. Was the other one sick? Perhaps the other had already passed away and she was just nibbling on her, as rats do in the wild. 

I would really love to bring this little girl home and introduce her to my girls. I think she could benefit Cricket, who wants to play, whereas Sterling isn't as interested. And it would make me happy having a girly who wants to cuddle with me.

She's a young rat. Maybe 3 months old. 

What are your opinions? Have you had this happen before? Is she worth a try or one that should be kept as a single rat? I am pet sitting elsewhere until the weekend, so I don't intend on doing anything until then, just because I won't be home to offer proper introductions and to keep an eye on her during her quarantine.


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## Isamurat

Rats can eat other rats, however this is a really rare event and most often caused by them cleaning up a dead cage mate. This is perfectly natural for rats, and actually a good instinct for them as it helps prevent the spread of disease and the chances of predictors being attracted. It can be traumatic as a human though. I wouldn't let this put you off the little one. She sounds wonderful.


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## JudeWriley

When people say that one pet rat ate another, what has really happened is that the cage mate died _first _for some reason, and the rat was merely eating the remains after the fact. Rats don't attack each other for food unless the situation is so dire and bad already that it would amount to their owner commiting animal cruelty. 

So yeah, give her a chance.


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## Rat Daddy

All right, I'll play devil's advocate. Rats do sometimes kill each other. The wounds can be rather severe. And the colorful expression that the subject rat ate its roommate might be used to describe what happened without too much secondhand exaggeration.

Sometimes, rats that were raised alone and are most human friendly can have a difficult time accepting a new ratty roommate.

Unfortunately, there's no way of telling what really happened. And no matter how you look at it, the story the sales clerk gave you fall substantially short of a ringing endorsement. Rather, I would take it as a warning.

Whenever you adopt an adult rat it comes with certain luggage. Most likely, it's basic personality is already developed. But, that's not to say that whatever happened was the rat's fault. For all we know, this ratties former owner forgot to feed it for a week. Perhaps they went on vacation. Perhaps the other rat was the aggressor. And as others suggested, the other rat might have already been dead.

Personally, I would very much appreciate the warning offered by the store employee. I can't say for certain that this rats back story would necessarily prevent me from buying it and taking it home. But it would certainly weigh heavily in my decision-making process. When we adopted our most recent rat Amelia, as an adult the fact that she played nicely with her roommate at her former home and was well rat socialized, even if she was neglected by her humans, was something we thought was a real bonus. In our case, we were very concerned about getting a gentle friend for our aging shoulder rat. Fuzzy Rat was clearly too old to defend yourself properly against the young agile and healthy adult roommate. In our case, we traded human sociability for good rat socialization. But, we handled Amelia and introduced her to Fuzzy Rat before we brought her home and we were satisfied by chances of everyone getting along both rat and human were good.

Although Amelia's personality was pretty well developed by the time she was seven months old and we brought her home she has undergone a lot of changes. She went from a flowerpot I could put on my desk and leave there unattended to a very agile little Explorer. She still doesn't do hugs and cuddles and she is still fearful of strangers, but she is very friendly with her family and her roommate and she has certainly evolved beyond where we got her.

So, the rat you're considering adopting is going to come with a pretty much fully developed personality, given the same situation that she was in before she's more than likely to do the same thing. On the other hand, if you change your situation you're likely to have a different outcome. Even in the worst-case scenario and she is a rat that killed another rat and ate it, through careful introductions and proper re-socialization it might never happen again.

Knowing the risks, and having met the new rat, adopting her is a judgment call. Most likely, I personally wouldn't leave her alone with my precious elderly shoulder rat. Waking up one morning to find Fuzzy Rat murdered and eaten would be devastating. It would be far too horrible to even consider taking a chance. But this is your call not mine. Even knowing what you know, things can still work out wonderfully. The only advice I could give you is to be very careful about introductions and watch closely for signs of aggression. I definitely wouldn't leave her alone with your to current rats until I was very satisfied that they were getting along and even then I would keep a close eye on her.

There's no such thing as a perfect rat, or perfect world. There are certain risks that you have to take with every new rat. There's obviously something you find desirable about the rat your intent thinking about adopting. In the end, it can always work out other way and knowing the risks, it's your call.


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## dashielle89

I would not consider a 3 mo old rat to be an adult. Personally I have never seen a rat that young get into any serious fights, especially not kill another. Usually if my rats were going to be aggressive it didn't start until 6 mo to a year old once they were more mature, but I guess anythings possible. If the person was willing to drop off their rat at a petco they probably were not the best owner, the other rat could have easily been sick and died. They didn't even say she killed a rat, just that she ate it. So I would go for it, if she is going to be aggressive you will see it when you introduce them and you can separate, I doubt they will get along fine and all the sudden she will try to kill them, but she should be quite a bit smaller where the older ones could defend themselves.

If you do decide to get her and you really think she's that young it might be worth it to get another younger rat as well, at least once you know she will accept others. She may have a lot more energy than the older ones, they might slow down in the coming months as they age and she will be a pest to them without a younger friend to play with.


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## Rat Daddy

Pet shop rats age reciprocal inverse hyperbolically. They seem to all stop aging at around 4 months old. Unless you have evidence to back up the 3 month age don't base your purchase decision on what a pet shop employee tells you about the rat's age.

And I wholeheartedly agree that rats very rarely kill one another. But I've heard enough stories of it happening to believe that it sometimes does. It even happens with dogs, and I once had an otherwise very friendly female mouse go homicidal on it's cagemates. It's hard to tell what actually happened, but I wouldn't rule anything out.


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## HelloIJustComment

What are your opinions? Have you had this happen before? Is she worth a try or one that should be kept as a single rat? I am pet sitting elsewhere until the weekend, so I don't intend on doing anything until then, just because I won't be home to offer proper introductions and to keep an eye on her during her quarantine.
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I've had to remove my rats before that have killed my other rats. Yes, I've had this happened before. My females and males have done it before to new rats and their old, passed away friends. Not that long ago, I got a new younger rat and I checked on them every 5 minutes and they bite the baby in his head, causing him to bleed out. I tried my best to make sure they were okay, but just one quick bite killed him. I was crying. I didn't do anything wrong to make them like that, and they were fed.


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