# male rat bashing female



## clippy (May 3, 2009)

as the tittle says my daughters male rat as bash her female rat and bit the female on both front legs and on the tail .We know that the male bashes the famale while mating but there has been no sign of this and only happens when we put him in her tub .what can we do the female now won't go near him even when my daughter has them both out the female will dart up her shoulder and hide in her hair .Any suggestions as to what to do besides freezing him which isn't an option.


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## australia09 (May 3, 2009)

gas him? no but change the female seriously otherwise he wont beable to breed.. home are just like that i guess.


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## clippy (May 3, 2009)

thanks australia09 guess thats what i'm going to have to do he obviously dosn't think shes cute as we to
so now to look for an ugly female .mice were so much easier


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## grannieannie (May 3, 2009)

if there is a big size difference that could have something to do with it.....


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## australia09 (May 3, 2009)

no problems, rats are harder to breed obviously.. you can tell just by comparing the prices as they breed exactly the same ammount of young as mice do. if the ugly rat you get doesnt help then i would consider -gas- or sell him back to the petshop or trade him in?


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## funcouple (May 3, 2009)

either let him mate as hes trying to do. get rid of him anyway you like. if he means alot to you take him to the vet and have him desexed


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## Hsut77 (May 3, 2009)

If you are not planning a littler of little pink mini rats I would be keeping them seperated, or like funcouple said have the male desexed.


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## clippy (May 3, 2009)

thanks everyone will be getting a new female for him then once our present females wounds have healed will get her another male or try reintroducing him to her again .


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## Koula (May 4, 2009)

I selectively breed rats for pets and I'll just say that any illness or aggressive traits I see in either my males or female don't get the tick of approval. I have 8 boy rats and only 3 of them I consider worthy of breeding, going by size, temperment, health and colours. Some rats can be extremely cage territorial so if you're dumping either the male or female into each other's cages there will be fur flying. 

Try bathing both rats so they're clean and clean out there cages. Wait for the female rat to go into buzz mode then introduce her and the boy rat on neutral territory (an old clean towel laid out on the floor or couch or in a large tub with some decent floor space) and supervise. 

For further info on rat breeding, edumacate yourself with the links at http://www.dapper.com.au/links.htm#breeding.

TL;DR version: http://www.ratfanclub.org/repro.html


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## australia09 (May 4, 2009)

koula you are a very smart person :S


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## clippy (May 4, 2009)

thankyou koula will follow that link that you put up he only ever bashed her in the females cage .
Sadly though the female passed away during the night wether it was caused from the bashing or an other reason i do not know.i suspect she might've already been sick when we got her . so thankyou everyone for your help .


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## Jazza369 (May 4, 2009)

ohh know sorry to heard that i guess


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## australia09 (May 4, 2009)

dispose it dont feed to your herps


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## Koula (May 4, 2009)

clippy said:


> thankyou koula will follow that link that you put up he only ever bashed her in the females cage .
> Sadly though the female passed away during the night wether it was caused from the bashing or an other reason i do not know.i suspect she might've already been sick when we got her . so thankyou everyone for your help .




Wow, that's really suss. How badly was he bashing her up? Rats are tough, stoic little buggers. Not like them just to keel over suddenly unless something was seriously wrong.  I don't think the bashings would have been brutal enough to cause internal bleeding. Maybe she ate something that was on the Do Not Feed list: http://www.petratscanada.com/forbidden_foods.htm

Did she have any breathing problems? (ie: made whuffing, rattling or snap-crackle-n-pop rice bubble sounds) The coming cold weather and nights will exacerbate it.

Only other thing I could think of is, is did she always appear swollen in the belly and leaking pinkish fluid? (Pyometriosis)

Just out of curiosity, where did you pick her up from? Rattery? Pet shop? Snakefeed Tub? or elsewhere?


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## waruikazi (May 4, 2009)

Try putting her in the kitchen, i'm sure the male rat just wants her to make some sammiches.


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## Koula (May 4, 2009)

waruikazi said:


> Try putting her in the kitchen, i'm sure the male rat just wants her to make some sammiches.



No, that's what the human slave is for.


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## dragon170 (May 4, 2009)

Koula thanks for the interesting read on what you can and can't feed rats didn't realise peanut but or corn could be dangerous might have to slightly alter my rats diets


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## clippy (May 4, 2009)

thanks again koula she was brought from a pet shop and no i don't think the bashing was the problem she was removed as soon as my daughter noticed what was going on .my daughter said she had been sneezing but not alot so i have put it down to that maybe she was sick when we got her she was fed the same as the male and he is fine will be watching him now for any sneezing .also will be going to another pet shop from now on .


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## clippy (May 4, 2009)

australia09 she was disposed of by my husband before our daughter saw


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## australia09 (May 4, 2009)

lol what was your excuse, she died or she got out during the night? my parents used that excuse..


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## Koula (May 4, 2009)

Yeah, watch out for them pet shops, they usually don't give a rat's A about the wellbeing of their stock and most times theyve got respiratory infections or worms.

If you're after a serious pet rat, there may be a rattery or private breeder nearby. Check http://www.dapper.com.au/links.htm#ausbreeders


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## clippy (May 7, 2009)

australiao9 we told her the truth better for her to deal with it tried that once with a bird said it flew away only to have her little brother tell her it was in the bin .
once again Koula thankyou for all your help and links . Have since brought a new female that we will be keeping seperate from the male for a few weeks .Went in one pet shop and walked out the condition of the rats were disgusting and stunk to high heaven looked like they only had males and wasn't game to ask if they had any females .One male had a bald spot on its head while another was gasping for air .


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## Koula (May 9, 2009)

clippy said:


> australiao9 we told her the truth better for her to deal with it tried that once with a bird said it flew away only to have her little brother tell her it was in the bin .
> once again Koula thankyou for all your help and links . Have since brought a new female that we will be keeping seperate from the male for a few weeks .Went in one pet shop and walked out the condition of the rats were disgusting and stunk to high heaven looked like they only had males and wasn't game to ask if they had any females .One male had a bald spot on its head while another was gasping for air .



Aye, best to get the young ones used to the concepts of life and death early. It'd be nice to live in a sheltered, sugar-coated world, but learning about death early is better than growing up in fairyland.

But yes, those examples of the rats you saw in that pet store is sadly commonplace in the pet trade. You'd have say 80% of people buying the rats for snake food and the other 20% buying for companionship. Some pet stores can be good though - they'll have healthy rats on display and keep the "mongrel" feeder rats out the back. Bald spots can either mean mites or just over-grooming/barbering. The poor little bugger that was gasping for air sounds like mycoplasmosis pulmonis, a dreadful fate for any rat where the insides of their lungs fill with fungus and fluid and they literally drown. I have seen rats go -mad- from it, desperately trying to climb upwards to the point where they jam their heads through the cage bars to escape the rising water in their lungs. The sad thing is, is it's us humans that usually infect the rats with it. (we're immune to it, but we still carry it on us)


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