the girls started fighting!!

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scanrat

Member
Joined
Jun 7, 2009
Messages
23
Location
Syracuse, NY
if people remember i adopted two girls from lilratsy43 to keep my single girl penelope company (and vice versa). a few days ago they seemed to have little scratches by the corners of their eyes. I say they because i mean all 3. which was strange because i haven't heard or seen them fighting for a long time, since i first introduced them several months ago. i don't even see them fighting over treats or water. i'm up til about 1 am every morning and still see no fighting, even when they are really active. my boyfriend is often up until 3 am or later and he says he hasn't seen any funny business either.

today when i went to clean out their cage it was obvious things had escalated. nothing serious, but eloise (formerly known as bunny) had a little blood on the inside of her paws (i guess where wrists would be on a human?), the corner of her eyes and a little around her mouth. penelope, who i think is the dominant one, also had a little blood on her paws too. Coco (April) had the eye scratches but nothing else. they seem mostly like little bites and scratches. not like wounds or anything. they are all eating and acting normal.

i'm not really sure who is fighting who. during the day they all sleep in a big pile like best friends! i'm assuming for now that it is penelope causing the trouble, so I'm keeping her separate until i sort things out.

anyone have a clue as to what might be going on? should i restart the bonding process?
 
Maybe they aren't fighting. If everything seems calm all the time, look for something else......
Doesn't having mites make them look injured? Because they're scratching? Remember that normal secretions in rats are 'blood' coloured (from eyes and nose).
I'm sure there's someone who would have more info...
 
That sounds more like porphyrin to me. Porphyrin is easy to mistake as blood, the reason you see it on there paws is because they wipe their face. If they were fighting, you would find puncture marks.

Sometimes that can be the start of an illness or it can also be just stress. Have you moved them at all? Has anything stressful happened?
 
Scanrat...I thought my girls were fighting too....they box alot amd squeek alot....I posted some pics of the one who had marks on her and everyone instantly thought mites. I took them to the vet today to get treated for them. There was blood involved and scratches about the face and neck. You can see my post in this category and see the pics I showed.

Also...if I am correct (everyone?) isnt a little blood normal because they sneeze the pysporin or whatever that is called that is actually brown stuff not blood? My girls sneeze that stuff occasionally and if it splatters on the shelf maybe they are stepping in it and getting it on their paws, or scratching it from their nose? I am not half as experienced as most people here, but I have heard this before.

Good luck, Paula
 
you know i just got home and saw the responses, and got my camera to take some pictures to post but the stuff all gone except for about a pinhead size dot in the corner of one of eloise's eyes. i dont think it would even show up in the picture. the other two were all clean.

i dont think there have been any big changes, except we were gone this past long weekend and had one of our good friends feeding them. he said everything was fine. i started noticing the problem before we left anyway.

i haven't heard any sneezing or anything like that. i'm trying to think of something that could be stressing them or unusual behavior but am at a loss. is there another way I could tell if it were mites? i'll check tonight for extra scratching. most of it definitely seems to have been from their eyes.

poor penelope i had her in solitary confinement while i was out this evening thinking she was the culprit!

is a trip to the vet in order perhaps? of course i'd rather keep that money in my pocket if possible but the rats come first!
 
I personally would wait it out. If you don't see excessive scratching or any other odd behavior in the next couple of days, they are probably fine. If anyone is acting weird or you do think they are scratching a vet visit may be in order.

If they are all showing the same symptoms then maybe you could just take one of them, to lower the costs...although if you do that you will have to figure out doseages for the other two on your own, so that could be difficult.
 
P.S.
actually, the flash was able to pick up a little of what was left.
September555 said:
Scanrat...I thought my girls were fighting too....they box alot amd squeek alot....I posted some pics of the one who had marks on her and everyone instantly thought mites. I took them to the vet today to get treated for them. There was blood involved and scratches about the face and neck. You can see my post in this category and see the pics I showed. a
Click to expand...

thanks so much Paula for the reference. I;m not sure if my three might have mites at an earlier stage? sounds like that porphyrin stuff to me though.




lilratsy just read your post, I would probably take all of them if need be to just to be safe. i agree i think I'll wait a little while and see how things go.
 
They look pretty good to me but definately keep an eye on them.

AND OMG the blue girl (not sure what her name is now) is sooo pretty. In the pic she has a brownish look to her.
 
They look good... some rats will have more porphyrin after waking up from a nap or sleep.
I'd keep an eye on them, make sure they remain active and eating well.
 

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