Help with my boys?

mina

Hey all, I've got a question for any other rat fanciers out there.

My pair of rat males have been fighting a lot recently, and it's gotten to the point that we have had to separate them, otherwise one of them will just start screaming. They weren't so bad in the past, in fact they were the best of buddies just about a month ago. But lately my albino one (his name is Leo) has been going after my black and white (Raf). Leo will just chase Raf around the cage, and while Raf will fight back at first by pinning Leo down and powergrooming him, eventually he gets tired of dealing with him and tries to run away. But Leo won't give up and continues to chase him.

I've separated the two of them now, keeping them in different cages. I keep the cages near each other, and the two seem to be okay right now, but whenever I tried uniting the two (I've only tried twice, was too worried to try again) Raf just starts screaming right away and refuses to go near Leo. And Leo continues to try to go after him. I've also found a few wounds on Raf's body, which I'm assuming have come from confrontations with Leo.

We got a pair of rats so they would have a companion, but is it just that they hate each other? Does anyone know whether I'll have to keep them separate, or is there some other way to help them get along again? It's making me sad having to keep them apart.

driftingfe3s

I was responsible for some mice at a research lab and from what I was told unless they were from the same litter and grew up together they will fight when they get older. I assume rats behave in a similar fashion. Were these rats raised togehter from birth?

Kelvin

Maybe once they grow up, they become territorial just like other animals. The same thing happened to my friend's hamsters. Once they grew up, they no longer want to be in the same cage and got hostile to one another. The weaker one loses naturally. Her case may be different though cause the two are of different breeds.

mina

They've been together since birth.

while they've had some scuffles in the past, it was never to this degree of hostility.

I guess it is possible that Leo is just getting territorial, and Raf is losing the battle. But I've always heard that rats are social, and don't like to be solitary. I thought that would overcome any of the problems that they are having, but it doesn't seem to be doing the trick.

Fortunately they seem to be doing alright being separated.