Worrying behaviour?

[dumbo1]

Hi to you all
We are newbie rattie owners who live in England. We have two male dumbos 16 weeks old (brothers) called Ren and Stimpy. They give us a great deal of pleasure and amusement. They are beginning to socialise quite well.
However, over the last 2 days Stimpy has started to get quite agressive towards Ren. Ren has always been a little more quiet and timid but is not shy.
Stimpy now takes treats off of his brother (although we know that Ren is still eating well), he initiates a scrap where Ren always runs off and Ren is hiding more now than he ever did.
They still snuggle up together when they sleep.
Should we be worried about this fighting and food taking? Is Stimpy asserting himself as alpha male? Is there anything we should be doing?

 

[jorats]

Hi and welcome!

The behaviour between these two brothers is very normal and not considered fighting but playing. It's common to have one bossy and one more timid, it's just part of their unique personality.

 

[dumbo1]

Hi guys

Thanks for the quick response.
It's reassuring to know that the boys are just playing. It seemed so vicious when they were scrapping, we were worried that one or both would get hurt. We didn't see this behaviour in the first couple of weeks so thought there was a problem.
We have noticed that Ren has a small scratch on his forearm but he could've done this in the cage.
Stimpy has started to come out of the cage willingly onto us but Ren still hides in his tube. Any suggestions about ways we can encourage him out?

 

[Cityratt]

:welcome3:

Just to add upon what Yang was saying....
I've found that feeding them something that they cant scurry off with works well...like baby cereal (you know the powered kind you make up), baby food or something of that consistancy....

They have to hang out with you to eat - thus increasing the bonding experience!