[Crazyratlady94]

Hi all, my little girl Jordan, who is also the youngest of my 7 female rats has a lot of scabs from the last couple weeks. I thought it was under control- just figuring out dominance as she grows- until today when she was covered in scabs.
Maybe about a month ago she became the second from the bottom by beating up my dwarf, who sadly died about 2 weeks ago, sending her back to the bottom.
What should I do with her? I have a spare cage where I can separate her, but for how long? And should I put one of her more docile sisters in there with her? Or should I just let them figure it out?
My biggest concern is that I've had her for nearly 6 months, why is this happening now? And if I take her out, will someone else just get beaten up instead?
Thanks in advance.

 

[moonkissed]

If she has scabs then I would say it is going too far and she needs to be removed. If you have the cages I would probably split them up to make two groups.

Also u may want to take her to a vet for a health check. I have found that sometimes rats just decide to pick on sick rats But the death of the other rat may have been the trigger as well.

I am sorry.

 

[Crazyratlady94]

Thanks, should I do like 3 and 4 or 2 and 5? Should I sometimes mix up the groups?

 

[raindear]

So often our rats blindside us with problems we didn't anticipate. On my way to a mixed mischief that wound up with 13 spayed/neutered rats, I had one intro with 2 new girls where 1 of the resident girls tried to oust the new girls from the family. I took the aggressor out and put her alone for a week while everyone else got to know the new girls. Then when they were established as part of the mischief, I reintroduced the aggressive female to the group and things went well after that. Sometimes the answer just comes to us and when we try something, it works. Other times we try several different ideas before hitting on one that works. You could put the least aggressive rats together, or try putting different sets together every week for a while, or some other combination. You could have everyone together for playtime, but separated for cage time. After a few weeks depending on how play time is going, you could try putting everyone together again and see how things go.

 

[Crazyratlady94]

That sounds like a good plan. I haven't figured out who is the aggressor yet because I don't live with my babies and I only get about an hour and a half with them everyday for play time. I'll separate them tonight.

 

[moonkissed]

Yeah u might have to try different groups to see what works. I think 3 & 4 might be better but it all depends on what cage sizes you have and their temperaments. You could also still let them all play together during play time as long as they seem to get along. When she is older they might all get along better too.

 

[Crazyratlady94]

Thank you everyone! I hope it all starts to get better for my little girl