Female Rat Aggression Issue

Just wanted a little input here from the other rat breeders. I've had something occur today I've never seen in our rat colony.

I had a pair of female rats, both have had one litter previously, in with one of my big male breeder rats since yesterday afternoon. He's a very nice male, as are all our males. If a male is overly aggressive to the females or with me, he's culled. Anyways, I walked in to feed this morning and their tub was literally splattered with blood and quite a bit of it on the bedding. Poor Fabio (the beige self male) has a very big bite on his shoulder/lower neck area on the side.

We've pulled him to a recovery tank by himself, treated his wound and expect he'll survive this but what I'm wondering about is what in the world set these two females off? I've never had a female rat go after a male like this! Of the two females, one is rather nervous, has never been a female I could handle much and quite honestly more than once I've almost fed her off as she's just so hyper to deal with. The other female is much quieter and I did observe her actually cuddling with poor Fabio. I suspect it was the more nervous female who nailed him (she's also a very good sized female that could administer a bite that major).

So now what? Should I feed off the big female rat that I suspect was the instigator? Should I give it a couple of days and try introducing another male in with these two? I don't want to see another of my nice big male rats chewed up like this but I can't let this pair of females sit around not producing either. Neither of these females showed any problem with the previous male they breed with during their first breeding cycles.

I'm going to give Fabio a week to recover then put a nice quiet young male in with him for company as he finishes healing. Poor fellow, he looks rather pitiful...beat up by a girl! (considering how big Fabio is, that female rat is lucky he didn't fight back)

Jo...I am so sorry to hear this. The only time I have seen something similar was when one of my girls was sick (she had cancer). She ended up appearing nervous and scared all the time. There was only 1 other female she would allow in the tub with her...everyone else (males and females) she attacked. At the time I didn't know something was wrong with her and had made the decision to euthanize her...when I got her out to do it I noticed the lump (it was in her neck and head so I assumed this is what caused her change).


You might give her a once over and see if her mannerisms have changed or if something appears different and wrong...other than this I am at a loss.

I had a very quick once over on both females Sean to see if Fabio had fought back and bite them or perhaps had been overly aggressive in his breeding attempts and was bit in defense. They both are unmarked so I doubt they had reason to go after him.

This female, as I said, had always been what I'd call an unfriendly rat. If you pick her up to move her while cleaning, she basically screams rat curses at you, she never stands to greet me as most of my adults breeders do and tends to be flightly and nervous. I'm thinking this is a poor temperment issue and it may be safest to just cull her and be done with it. I have a really strict breeding policy with the rats that feeder or not, I don't breed bad tempered rats. This particular female has come close once or twice before with being culled for temperment though I'd never seen her viciously attack another rat like this. She's a good sized female too, just slightly smaller than my big males and bigger than my small males. If she wants to do damge, she's got the size to back it up.

I hate culling a producing female like this but darn it, I hate seeing one of my other rats covered in blood. :mad:

I've seen varying amounts of aggression in my colony. Some of it starts as playing and gets considerably more rough. Sometimes the females are fighting back because the males are overly "attentive" for lack of a better word. The way my rotation works each week, females are rotated through males until they are ready to pop and then separated. I find that each week after the cleaning and rotation, there is some fighting/wrestling but it seems to calm down. Last week I had a big male get his toenail ripped off during a fight (or maybe it was just rough playing). He bled for a while but he was fine. The only male I have ever had to put down due to aggression was sweet to people but with the wrong girl he would be set off and he couldnt co-exist with males. What started it with him is I accidentally put him in with a female and her babies that were from another male. In a matter of minutes he killed 6 or 7 babies and killed the mother. After that he was never the same. I watch the rats closely and any aggression is solved by moving the female to another tub (whether she is the one being picked on or doing the picking on). I have some big Albino males that nobody messes with and they are non aggressive so it works out. Hope that all makes sense. I would give them some time with other rats to see if it continues.

Good ideas there Jamie. I just went and pulled the other female that was in with the one that I suspect did this bite (it's not a play bite or a simple dominance tussle...darn thing must be the size of a nickle or better...she really chewed on him but good!) I don't want to have any issue with her turning on the smaller female, a bite that large would likely kill her.

I'm going to give her the day alone to settle down then try putting another male in with her tomorrow - one on one. SuperNova's our alpha male rat these days and I don't think he'll put up with this stuff from her. I'll monitor them closely though and if she goes after him....that's it for her.

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Originally Posted by frankykeno

Good ideas there Jamie. I just went and pulled the other female that was in with the one that I suspect did this bite (it's not a play bite or a simple dominance tussle...darn thing must be the size of a nickle or better...she really chewed on him but good!) I don't want to have any issue with her turning on this smaller female, a bite that large would likely kill her.

I'm going to give her the day alone to settle down then try putting another male in with her tomorrow - one on one. SuperNova's our alpha male rat these days and I don't think he'll put up with this stuff from her. I'll monitor them closely though and if she goes after him....that's it for her.

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Sounds like a good plan!

I think if she's aggressive with you or just neurotic with people, it's not something you would want to pass on in your colony. It is inheritable to a degree and I personally would put her down immediately if she attacked my males for no reason, but that's how I roll. :/

She's not aggressive with me, just very nervous and squeals if you handle her. I don't expect all the adult rats to be totally hand tamed so I've cut her a lot of slack that way but I am concerned her temperment may be getting worse.

We'll try one attempt with the other male I mentioned in a couple of days. If anything goes wrong, she's done. I just won't have an unstable rat in a colony that I've worked so hard on and I won't have the other rats injured this way.

Fabio is doing well in his hospital cage, resting and seems to be fine. I'm amazed at just how resiliant these creatures are. I know when Casanova was attacked last year by another adult male I truly didn't believe he could survive his multiple deep bite wounds but today you'd never know the old fellow ever had a bad thing happen to him. :) We did much the same with him as we're planning with Fabio - good wound care, a week alone to rest quietly and then a couple more weeks just with one gentle male rat for company before he went back into the general male group.

I know it may seem silly to some of you but I just can't help but get attached to our breeder group. Fabio as well is a great male, very nice tempered and tends to father nice large litters with all the ladies. I'd hate to lose him.

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Originally Posted by littleindiangirl

I think if she's aggressive with you or just neurotic with people, it's not something you would want to pass on in your colony. It is inheritable to a degree and I personally would put her down immediately if she attacked my males for no reason, but that's how I roll. :/

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yep, ditto