greedy/agressive rats

Question
QUESTION: Hi
I have two male rats that are 9 months old.  One of them (Eddy) is very greedy.  We used to put all the rat food pellets into one dish but Eddy, one by one, took them all and hid them so his brother (Louie) couldn't have any.  I work at home so we decided that we would give the rats 2 pieces of food each at a time, so they both got the same amount.  This works fine, but we are going away in a couple of months and someone is looking after them for us for 3 weeks.  She works all day so can't feed them bits at a time.  How do I stop the problem of fighting over food.  Eddy is the more dominant one and Louie will run and hide from him, and quite willingly let Eddy steal his food from him.  Should we just put the food in a dish and let them sort out it between themselves?
Any advice would be grateful

ANSWER: Do you keep food down for them all the time or feed them on a schedule?



---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: They get 30 pellets of food a day, I used to put 26 pellets in first thing in the morning and save two each for later in the day, then when we noticed that one was getting more than the other we had to just feed them a couple of pieces at a time.
We would like to go back to the method of giving them most of the pellets in the morning and saving the rest for an evening, or would you suggest some other routine?
I am open to suggestions.  but the schedule would have to revolve around a working day hours, so that when my niece looks after them she could feed them before she goes to work and maybe when she comes home.

Answer

Your rat is hoarding food because you use a scheduled feeding and he fears that there may not be more food available.  It is advised to keep food down at all times for rats so they can eat at their own pace. Rats do not over eat.  A fat rat is from eating the wrong type of foods, not because of eating too much.  

Once Greedy Eddy sees food will be there all the time, he will stop hoarding it.

Also, you can try a variety of foods for them along with the pellets. Do you give them vegetables daily?