Ok, the rat sisters are fighting again, this time it is serious!

[ballpythonluvr]

Well, I am posting about my two female rat sisters yet again. I have taken all the suggestions that have been made. I made sure they have food available 24/7 and fresh water. I even tried providing a box for them to hide in. They were totally freaked out by the box and just chewed it to pieces. Last night I awoke to the horrible sound of rats screaming. I turned the light on and there they were fighting and biting each other. I know that rats compete for dominance but this is just getting ridiculous. I don't know much history on these two girls. They were given to me for free. The approximate age of them is two years. The conditions that they were kept in previously was bad, a small dirty cage and they were eating a seed based diet. I have given them a bigger cage, I keep it clean, and I have them on Harland Teklad. They also get fresh fruits and veggies as treats. I am so sorry that I keep posting, but I am at the end of my rope with these ladies. I don't want them to end up hurting one another or even worse yet, kill one another.

[Annarose15]

Not to state the obvious, but separate them. They may have just been conditioned too much by their previous bad environment to realize that life is good now. Granted, this is the advice of someone who has never owned live rats, but has plenty of experience with many other mammals and rescue situations.

[carlson]

May need to seperate them :/ not many other choices if they wont stop. I have buddies with males they had to do it with. If your cage is big enough an you want them in same area still you can put a divider down the middle of the cage. Or get another cage an put them side by side.

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[aldebono]

Some females and males are like that. Will only get along with a select few and habitually bully and fight others. Its annoying and not tolerated in this house.
I have other rats that could care less about a new rat being introduced to the bin. The new kid might get a little upset over the sniffing, but in general I have eliminated that from my lines. I expect even my breeding males to get along if I put them in a bin together with no females.

In my mind, this is not normal for rats to do. So don't think you cant have a happy rat family, just not with those two.

[wolfy-hound]

I agree, separating them would be best.

Normally rats "fight" with some squeeling and posturing and some jumping. But I never really see blood, and there's no screaming. The squeeling can be kind of loud, but it's just noise with them standing near each other or touching even.

When I've had two rats tumbling over each other while screaming, there was normally blood and they had to be separated or yes, they'll kill each other. You can try setting them up next to each other and see if they'll settle and eventually get along.

I've had the occasional rat that when placed with new rats, gets into fights and squalls about everything, but when I moved them to OTHER new rats, settled right in and acted like nothing was wrong. Sometimes a rat just don't get along with another rat. You might try giving them other friends, IF you intend to have more rats. Otherwise, separate them and hope they do better alone.

My females that are adults are great about tearing up boxes or hammocks or beds. They like tearing things up. The boys generally are happy to sit in a box or hammock.

Good luck.