Are You Ready To Rumble???????

Well i woke up in hte middle of the night to take my dog outside. when i came back in i went and laided down. i herd a weird noise in the rat cage and i shinned a light on them and they where like fighting and or wrestiling. so when i shinned the light they stopped. thewn 5 minutes later i herd the noise again and shinned a light on them again and be hold they where wrestling but, did not stop when i shinned the light on them. they are both females. i will have a male in about 17 day so i can the factory going. do you think they where fighting or just playing around. this was the first time this happend.

Well, if it seems like it was a violent type of wrestling, you now may see blood or bite marks on either one,if so, it was fighting. If not, they were playing. More often than not though, I have seen females fight and it is usually a noisy afair, playing is not. Going on the assumption that they were fighting, they may or may not stop, one may end up killing the other... it depends on if they can work thier differences out. Generally, females work thier problems out rather quickly, rats have a social pecking order, males are the ones I have seen kill eachother more often than not or maim the other. I would watch them carefully, if it continues, I would separate them. Also, females will fight amongst themselves if they feel there is not enough room, not enough food, etc.

i think the problem was the food because they are piggies and at it all except a little and i filled it back up and they are fine

how long have the two female been in the same enclosure?

I sure hope you're not feeding them that pet store mix(Nutriphase, etc.). It is not adequate nutrition for any animal except for mice. If you are wanting to breed rats, and produce healthy, big babies and have large litters, then you are going to need to find a better food source. Lab blocks work well(18%+ for females that are pregnant/lactating and 14% for males), and you can also make your own mix out of food you can get at a grocery store. Here is the recipe I use, and it lasts quite awhile, although I do have 9 rats to feed...

Old Fashioned Slow cooking oatmeal(1/3-1/2 container per batch)
Two bags of tri-colored pasta
High quality dog food such as Nutro, Science Diet, etc. Get a a Senior dog food which will be lower in protein and fat, and have more roughage. Use a small amount in the mix or you will end up with protein-sensitivity(scabbies on their bodies)
A bag of puffed wheat(plain)
bag of puffed rice(plain)
Box of Total or other multigrain cereal(half a box)
Kashi GoLean(1-2 boxes)
Any other fruit and nut mix cereals without any added sugar
A bag of fruit/nut trail mix(use 1/2 of the bag)
1-2 bags of unsalted, unshelled peanuts(use 1 bag per batch)
Brown rice(the real, flat kind) Use 1/4 bag per batch
Anything else you feel that they will like:Black oil sunflower seeds, any other grains, etc.
You can also give them fruit and veggies every so often. NO dried corn, period. It can contain a mold that will make them very sick. Frozen corn, corn on the cob, canned corn(no salt) are all fine though. Don't give them lettuce as it will produce very runny, smelly stools. Also, no citrus fruits like pineapple, oranges, lemons, limes, etc. It causes kidney failure in male rats.

When you start breeding the females, you can leave them together right up until they are ready to have their babies. If you leave them together, one mom may take over completely and not have enough milk to provide for 20+ babies, or they may fight over the babies causing injuries/deaths, or they may just get stressed. It is best for them to each have their own 10-gallon tank for this purpose so that you know the babies will be provided with enough nutrition and there will be a much lesser chance babies will get injured or die.

I think that's about it. If you have any other questions, just ask.

We need to put your rat food recipe on a sticky or something! That's good info to have! :D

they have been together for i would say about 3 days. do you think they are showing who is going to be the dominant female or what.

I don't know about rats, but with mice....when new females are added the 'fight for dominance' usually lasts about a week. After then it calms down :)

You should do that Becky. That part about not going to heavy on the protein is bang on. Since I cut back on the dry dog food in my own homemade rat mix LeRoy looks MUCH better (well for a senior citizen ratty ole rat he does LOL).

My females tussled a bit when the new one was introduced and still do very occasionally but it's not hard fighting and no bites I've ever seen. I just clap my hands at them and holler to stop messing about!!! They get the point and knock it off pretty fast LOL. They are actually great buds and constantly cuddle and groom each other.

Oh btw Becky (not to thread steal here but...) I don't think either of my girlie rats is preggers. I think they are just new candidates for Jenny Craig for Rodents! If they don't pop out babies in the next few days, it's a no go :confused:


~~Jo~~

I house my females seperately, and rotate the male into each of their cages for mating purposes. I have had females kill one another; it never works for me unless they're sisters and have been 2gether since birth.