FIGHT! Squeaks so LOUD they set our security alarm off this morning!

[sugarfoxx]

Ahhhhhhhhh Saturday morning.  Sleep in till 9 (I get up at 6 so this is sleeping in for me!!)
Get a shower at my own leisure. Feed the rats at my own pace. No rush for work.

NOT!

Instead my two middle boys decide to fight. Crackers and Jack were ripping each other up and someone squeaked so loud the glass break detector went off thinking it was window being broken!

They were both all puffed out still circling each other when I got them apart. Crackers has a small hole on the side of his leg.

Of all the fights they have gotten in nobody has been hurt so I ask........
now what?  
He is not limping but doesnt want me to touch his leg.
Can I use neosporin and watch to see if it starts to heal?

Gash who would think after  having 21 rats I would freeze at the first sign of a battle wound?  

[quellykin1]

There is nothing more horrifying to me than the sound a real rat fight...although you must have the Mariah Carey of rats to hit that note! I'd put Neosporin on his bite. Although I don't know why I even bother with it, since I think it always gets licked off by the rat himself or another rat within seconds. Sometimes I try to isolate the rat, put on Neosporin and distract him with a yogie for a couple of seconds to buy some time.
Crackers and Jack? They should be best buds with names like that. Were they fighting over the prize at the bottom of the box?

[Dearpie]

Crackers and Jack? They should be best buds with names like that. Were they fighting over the prize at the bottom of the box?

BWAHAHAHAHA!!!  

[sugarfoxx]

LoL the bottom of the box for the prize.

They fight alot.  They both start it.  I bought them last year to be cage mates with Louie, Mister Jingles, Macaroni and Cheese..........but those two were just simply too mean for the other 4. They love each other dearly unless they are fighting. They both have wild rat in them too.  Even though Jack is a hooded and Crackers is a black berk you can see the wild in their faces......especially Crackers. They do not like to be out of the cage. If I take them in the portable cage and go in the bathroom where they dont see anyone but me they are fine and will come out and climb on me etc.......but if I even dare take one out and hold him.........I end up clawed to death like I am now from breaking up the fight. When they fight its ugly. I am shocked there hasnt been more serious injuries but GRATEFUL all the same.
I love those two boys. Just wish they were not so serious. They are both very serious about everything. Food. Hammocks. Me. EVERYTHING!
And they dont trust much either. They dont even trust the new feeding dish I put in the cage and sure didnt like the color red on their new water bottle. I had to take it out and trade with another rat clan because for some reason they both puffed out when they went near the new red water bottle I put on their second level of the cage. I make sure every cage has at least two or more bottles.

Oh well.......thanks for the advice.

I might not be around for a while but wanted to thank those of you that have been nice to me.


Sandy

[groomfest]

Wow, what a fight story! What a screech that must have been. LOL@the Mariah Carey reference!

I think having the boys neutered would solve their fighting problem or at least improve the situation. In another rat group I've heard of several people whose rats were vicious until being neutered.

That's interesting that they have wild rat in them and you can tell by their faces and extra-cautious behavior. How did this happen? Did a pet female get loose and have a fling with a wild rat?

[sugarfoxx]

Hey Violent groomer

I bought the two boys from a small ma and pop pet store. They told me that they were part wild.  I never gave it much thought until a friend of mine (who is also a part of this board and knows alot about ratties) noticed by the looks of Crackers just in his eyes and the way his ears are and the shape of his head and snout/nose.
So many signs typical of a wild rat too especially the part about being so super cautious.
Wild rats are slick.  They know the majority of humans are out to poison them.  By instinct this is how they eat something new they come across other than their own food source:
A wild rat will take just a tiny bite of something new. He will not eat the whole thing.  He will go away and wait to be sure he does not become ill from the food. After a proper amount of time that the rat is satisfied with he will return for the food. This way he knows he is safe.
Well.........all of my rats will grab food from me and eat it.......never sniffing it or taking a sample bite first. They simple HOG IT DOWN.  
Not these two. No siree.  They grab it just as aggressive as the others do but they dont eat it. They play with it, sniffing it first, taking tiny bites and stashing it for a while.  They wait. They wait for about an hour and they go back to the stash and eat it.   After that I give them another piece and this time they remember it was ok to eat so they dont hesitate. They grab it forgetting their rattie manners, and woof it down.
Really clever of them huh?
Crackers has an unusual look about him more than Jack does.                                                                                                                                                          

[trinity_monroe]

ohh nothing better than being woke up to your alarm going off....it is so loud that you get confused.....

i cancelled my service, but i still have the door and window detectors...and for some reason i had it on and i got up at like 6 when my dogs started monkeying at me to let them out....i opened the back door and....well lets just say my husband jumped out of the bed and froze cuz it was SO loud...

heh >=)

i hope your boys heals fast....i hate fight bobos

[angelratgirl]

oh sugar, i sympathize with you completely.  nothing goes straight to your heart faster than a real rattie scream.  i have stepped on a tail (and almost hit myself on the bathroom sink in my haste to get off her tail as fast as possible), i have accidentally (i swear) squeeshed rat toesies, and broken up a rat fight between a girl who wanted to play and a girl who was definitely not in the mood.  but to have two rats in a fighting mood...  i can only imagine.

people ask all the time, "my rats are sqeaking and fighting" and it is usually just the normal rattie giggling as they play wrassle.  but once you hear a rat scream, you KNOW that something isn't right.

i will try to send calming thoughts to your boys.  they may just be too stuborn to listen tho.

[sugarfoxx]

Your so right. There is a real difference.  I have heard this rat scream maybe on three other occasions in the past few years.  These particluar screams were due to horrid fights between my males.

There is such a difference and I never thought of the squeaks you hear as they romp about the cage and wrestle with each other in play as rattie giggle squeaks but your right. The angry squeak will shatter glass and set your security system off in the middle of the night!!   :huh:

I have pinched toes before too when shutting the gate and not knowing I had some followers trying to get out the same time.
I felt THIS big!    Kissing tiny toes made up for it along with a few yogies.