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Alyssabstan

Member
Joined
Jan 31, 2021
Messages
9
Location
Toronto
Hi guys... So I've been having a small problem with fighting between my two male rats. Both of them are about 9-10 months old now and are half brothers.

They don't often fight and I never seem to catch them doing it but I have noticed Moose (my smaller boy) has a lot of cuts on his back around his shoulder blades. They look like bites.

Roach seems dominant and always has. I managed to fix the food aggression he had at the beginning where he'd steal Moose's food and bite him for it and it seems like that is gone. They do not bite me or other people, they are good for that. But it's these little bites I see on Moose's body that make me thing, they must be fighting when I'm not home. They have adequate room in their cage and they get outside play with me too so it not that.
I've been placing an antibiotic creme on Moose's scratches so they don't get infected but I feel like every time I look at home, he has more and more chunks taken out of him. So far it's only 3 bites I've seen but I don't like it one bit.
 
You bet I checked first thing for fleas! These are huge chunks. This week he has no new ones but I caught them fighting haaaard an hour ago.
I work in a vet clinic so I checked all the boxes ahaaha. No flea dirt, searched both for fleas and mites and they've had their fecals dowe (no worms/parasites)
I truly think this is a result of fighting.
 
Hi guys... So I've been having a small problem with fighting between my two male rats. Both of them are about 9-10 months old now and are half brothers.

They don't often fight and I never seem to catch them doing it but I have noticed Moose (my smaller boy) has a lot of cuts on his back around his shoulder blades. They look like bites.

Roach seems dominant and always has. I managed to fix the food aggression he had at the beginning where he'd steal Moose's food and bite him for it and it seems like that is gone. They do not bite me or other people, they are good for that. But it's these little bites I see on Moose's body that make me thing, they must be fighting when I'm not home. They have adequate room in their cage and they get outside play with me too so it not that.
I've been placing an antibiotic creme on Moose's scratches so they don't get infected but I feel like every time I look at home, he has more and more chunks taken out of him. So far it's only 3 bites I've seen but I don't like it one bit.
Be sure those marks and cuts are not mites.
 
This sounds very similar to my experience with my two boys... also seldom caught fighting, mine are 1 year old now but the scabs started showing may be around 7 to 8 months old (5 - 6 months ago). Only one rat (grey/Cookie) has the scabs and other does not, and the scabs were all over back from neck to mid/low back. I have never actually seen mites/lice on them. A couple months ago I ordered Revolution and when I received it, I gave both rats a bath, then applied a drop to each. The scabs have slowly disappeared since and not reappeared any more. I apply one drop about every month.
 
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