rat jelousy

Question
I have had pet dumbo rats for the past 5 years. i started with 2 girls and then latedr adoped another girl, Bo, who was staving herself in a pet shop because she was lonly. Since then the original 2 died and i got two others. Bo got on really well with the 2 new little ones, she carried them around and mothered them alot.
Over the last few months tho one of the babies (who is now proberly fully adult, and called formally) has become very dominate over her and the other baby (titch, who is also an adult but so small she looks like a baby still).
Both Bo and Titch now are looking quite patchy as Formaly has been overly aggresive with them.
`i know it is normnal rat behaviour to have little spats over food and play fight but im beinging to get worried. I have made sure that there is always plenty of food and get all 3 out as much as possibly to try and exhust them a little so the fighting will be less but its not helping. Is there anything you can suggest that will help.

Answer
First things first, what are you feeding them, and is your cage large enough? Territory spats in a cage too small can be a common occurrence, solved by getting a larger cage. Food spats may happen if they're getting a food with only a little bit of the edible good stuff (as in most commercial seed mixes) and the rats have to fight over the choice morsels.

What I've had to do in the past with my overly aggressive does is to put them in with a neutered male. They neutralize each other; and do quite well. This isn't a cure all and sometimes the fighting won't get better; but it worked in my cases. If you're worried about Bo and Titch being injured, though; that's worth a shot, or separate Formally altogether.. although I hate to separate rats if I can help it, as they do get so lonely.