Rats desperate around food?

Question

I have 5 male rats together, and every time I feed them, things become so chaotic! The main problem is that 2 of them start stealing everyone's food, and the other 3 get defensive. They usually end up fighting and everything gets so messy. Nothing awful, but I'd like to prevent it if I can.

The two that do this used to live alone, so I think they missed out on learning "manners" such as not to steal. Another is extremely timid, and starts stealing as soon as the other two begin doing it. The other two are really mellow, and only get upset if their food gets taken away.

I never have this problem with my females, they all eat from one dish together, but they are also all sisters, while the males are all introduced.

Now I separate the 3 problimatic boys to eat on their own, and leave the 2 others together, and it's okay, but I was wondering if this happens to anyone else? And if anyone has been able to get them to stop?

And they do have a huge cage, and enough food for them.

Answer 1

yeah my rats did that but i usually let them battle it out because there's enough food to go around

maybe you should try putting food in two dishes in different places

Answer 2

you can try hiding the food around the cage, so thy are distracted burrowing, or get separate dishes.

Answer 3

I just got 3 new baby boys, all brothers from the same litter, and they tend to do it, too. They'll steal food back and forth from each other and then get into wrestling matches over it. Never serious fighting, but they definitely scrap over the food. I also have a boy with mites whose lived alone his whole life (I recently adopted him, when he's mite-free I plan to introduce him). And another boy I adopted from someone else who has also lived alone all his life. The 3 boys are still in quarantine, though, so no introductions for another week or two.

So things should be interesting when they all get together! I think that's just what boys tend to do.

I'm not sure if the 3 boys do it because they're babies, well.. toddlers (born June 9th). :P But they've always been together, and seem just as bad as your boys!!