A question about three female rats getting on with each other?

Question

We bought one female rat at the pet store,she was 7 weeks old. They only had one. Three days later we got another two rats from a different pet store.They were sisters. We put vanillia flavouring on all three rats and cleaned out the cage and they seemed to accept each other without a fight. However the first rat now appears jealous when the other two get treats.The two sister rats sleep together on a hammock but the other rat refuses to join them. He instead sleeps in one of the many little houses in my cage. Is this ok? Should be doing more things to make them bond? Is there any need at the moment to seperate them?

Answer 1

Although it's fairly common to use vanilla when introducing rats, this usually doesn't actually work.  As long as the girls aren't fighting enough to draw blood (some wrestling is normal) it's fine to let them sort things out for themselves.  Our rats don't always sleep together & some rats need to get used to the idea of a hammock, which can take some time.  Three isn't a crowd as long as there's enough room for everyone.  We've had trios of both rats & mice several times.  Basically, No Blood= No Worries.

If they *are* fighting excessively, put the non-sister into a different cage for awhile, but have the cages close enough together so they can see, hear & smell but not touch each other.  If there is any "huffing" (loud, rapid exhalations like hissing), simply give it a chance to play out. After a few days of no huffing, have them swap cages a few times. If everyone seems calm, you can try to introduce everyone on neutral ground.  Do several intros before putting them into one well-cleaned & rearranged cage & observing them carefully.

It would have been best to do a quarantine before introducing them but since they've already been together don't worry about that.

The longest it's ever taken us to successfully introduce rats was 2 weeks but it's usually been much quicker & smoother than that.  Good luck.

Answer 2

Two's company - Three's a crowd!

I think that you should have even numbers, especially when the other two were sisters, they're already bonded. The original rat is going to feel left out. Maybe you should get her a separate friend. If one of them is a he, it won't be a problem because you're going to have lots of little baby rats in no time at all and you won't have to put vanilla flavouring on any of them.

By the way, where did you get that idea? Are they supposed to eat if off of each other or is it to disguise their scent? Never heard of that before.

Answer 3

There is nothing wrong with your situation one little bit.

Rats will not get jealous. This is just not how rats live. Rats naturally will live in very large groups, maybe 10-20. In these groups, there is no equality at all! They have very strict pecking orders. There is always only one dominant rat, a lesser dominant rat, an even lesser dominant rat, and so on. Sounds like the first single rat is the passive one. But don't think she is upset by it. They are very happy living in this situation, they are rats, it is what they do.

Obviously because the two sisters are much more bonded, they will feel more comfortable to do things like nap. I mean they just met each other! Certainly the first rat will want to be alone for a while until she adjusts. They can sleep wherever they want to. In time, they will become closer together.

Answer 4

This is normal. Unless there is blood shed there is no need to seperate them. Rats have a pecking order that at some point in time will need to be established. They may box with each other or do other things to show dominance. Most of the time they may squabble but this is completly normal. The only time a rat needs to be seperated is when they fight to the point where you have major injuries or they just dont get along no matter what. But for the moment yours sound fine just watch them.