Fighting???

[Mochelem]

Ok heres the situation, I have a group of 1 male 3 females that have live together since they were weaners, they are usually very peacefull, yesterday one of the females had a litter of 12 babies... Last night the rats were fighting like crazy, in the same hide as the babies, I kept thinking they were going to hurt the babies but there wasnt much I could do about it... This morning I looked at the rats and 3 of them have wounds and scabs on thier faces and ears.... What is making them fight?

[LadyOhh]

Dominance.

[frankykeno]

Was this the first litter born to this particular group?

[Mochelem]

Was this the first litter born to this particular group?

Yes this was the first litter...

[frankykeno]

Dominance.

From what I've observed with these ASF colonies it looks like they have a very female dominated way of running things. It's been pretty common in my groups that the first female to give birth often assumes the dominant position. If the other females accept that, life is good. If one of the females wants to challenge her, life is not good. They usually sort it out, though often one of the females will always end up being smaller and definitely the one that gets picked on by just about everybody in the group.

Usually once all the females are producing offspring, and sharing the nursing chores, they will all settle into their places in that community of rats.

[Mike Cavanaugh]

I agree with jo...

But it also could have been the male that did it too. When a female is giving birth, she is in heat. The males desire to mate at this time is unbeliveably strong. Often time the female tries to fight him off, but he overpowers her and does his thing. It can be quite violent when she puts up a fight (bites, scratches, cuts) and can go on for HOURS. They urge to mate is so strong that they will often grab whatever female is closest to them... even the ones that aren't in heat... and usually the ones that are not in heat FIGHT when he tries.

Side note, you mentioned you were scared the babies will get hurt... i would'nt worry about that. when she is runing in circles to get away from him it is common for the babies to get stepped / jumped on. Although it looks horrible, I have never noticed a baby getting injured as result.

They should settle down some after a few litters.

[PigsnPythons]

Also, my first group of ASFs was mis-sexed. So you may want to double check and make sure have what you think you do.

[Mochelem]

Also, my first group of ASFs was mis-sexed. So you may want to double check and make sure have what you think you do.

Mine were miss sexed also, I had 3 males and 3 females, I fed 2 of the males off so I know there is only one male now

[littleindiangirl]

I agree with jo...

But it also could have been the male that did it too. When a female is giving birth, she is in heat. The males desire to mate at this time is unbeliveably strong. Often time the female tries to fight him off, but he overpowers her and does his thing. It can be quite violent when she puts up a fight (bites, scratches, cuts) and can go on for HOURS. They urge to mate is so strong that they will often grab whatever female is closest to them... even the ones that aren't in heat... and usually the ones that are not in heat FIGHT when he tries.

Side note, you mentioned you were scared the babies will get hurt... i would'nt worry about that. when she is runing in circles to get away from him it is common for the babies to get stepped / jumped on. Although it looks horrible, I have never noticed a baby getting injured as result.

They should settle down some after a few litters.

I also agree with Jo and Mike.

The only thing I would like to add is the females when in heat also want to breed madly.

Like Mike said, after females have a litter, a few hours later they go right back into heat and if the female is particularly dominant, may be fighting with the other two females to give herself the best chance of being bred before them.


The male and female in heat are being swarmed by a truckload of different hormones and cues, it can make them do funny things.

They will get it sorted out, one way or another.

[jglass38]

Simple..ASFs are savages!