How do rats play with each other?

Question

i just got two rats and cant tell if they are fighting or playing they seem to be restleing eachother

Answer 1

Think of a dog.  They'll push each other over and maybe nip, but they won't draw blood.  If blood is being drawn or any serious cries or yelps are being sounded, this is a fight.  Soft squeaking isn't a problem as they're only communicating.  You'll know a rat squeal when you hear it.  If you're not confident, you could always go onto youtube and look up "Rats playing together" and "rats fighting" and look for the difference.  ^^

Answer 2

I LOVE this site. It is called What is my Rat Doing? FAQ. http://www.ratbehavior.org/WhatIsMyRatDo...

It talks about noises they make, behaviors (individually and socially).

4.1 Why are my baby rats chasing and jumping on each other?

Young rats chase each other, jump on each other, and pin each other to the ground. They are play fighting. Rats start play fighting at around 18 days of age. Play fighting peaks at around 30-36 days of age, then declines. In play fighting, the goal appears to be contact and defense of the rat's nape. If a rat succeeds in contacting an opponent's nape, he nuzzles it gently with his snout.

Play fighting is not a good predictor of adult dominance hierarchies: the winner of play fights may or may not become turn into the winner of real fights. Nor is play fighting necessarily "practice" for adult fighting, because the goals and tactics of adult fighting are different from play fighting. Therefore, play fighting and adult fighting are related but separate activities.They pretty much wrestle. As they get older, boys (and some girls) will "box" by standing on their front legs and posturing at each other until one backs down--there may be some squeaking with that too. That's practice for when they are adults and have to work out a dominance pecking order.

They'll keep grooming each other and sleeping in a "rat pile" pretty much their whole lives.

Here is some more information about play fighting for you http://www.ratbehavior.org/RatPlay.htm They are still young so and their behavior (and friendship/relationship)_ will develop as they get older.

Games you can play with your baby ratties http://members.aol.com/juliesrats/fun.ht...

And lastly, creative ideas for rat toys: http://www.dapper.com.au/toys.htm

Answer 3

Well the fighting and playing will look similar.

Usually you'll see a bit of biting/nibbling, jumping on each other, rolling around, if they are playing.

Fighting you'll hear loud squeaking, they will be biting and shoving agressively, and in no time you'll see blood and thats when you should separate them and consider getting a second cage.

I hope I helped.

Answer 4

They have one hold on to the wheel while the others spin it, haha.  I see them do that all the time in the pet stores.