Fighting!

Question
I have had 2 female rats (sisters) for about 8 months now. There names are Zoey and Peach. Their very different in personalty, one (Peach) is REALLY gentle and is a big baby (my dad spoils her) and one (Zoey) is a real bully, always power grooming and she was the alpha of her WHOLE litter. But lately they have been fighting a lot! I've herd Peach squeak a lot but I never really though much of it since she squeaks more than Zoey. Peach has also been getting a bit more aggressive. But one night I was playing with them in their cage and they started playing with each other, then Zoey started power grooming and it looked like Peach got really mad and attacked Zoey! Zoey bent down and Peach was above her and showing her teeth and Holding her paws up like defense! When I tried to get them to sit together Peach ran away so fast into her hideout! So they wont go near each other, Peach is trying to get out Of the cage a lot, and i just sitting here with Zoey on my lap not wanting to put them back together! I don't now what to do! Peach squeaks every time Zoey go near her never mind touch her! I know rats power groom and play fight and all that, but this looks serious. Please help!

Answer
Sorry for the delay.  I have been getting alot of these messages days late which is putting me a bit behind on getting to them so forgive me.


This is not real common for girls to behave this way unless they were not bred for temperament. Did you get them from a petstore or breeder?

This is the prime age for puberty related aggression but is more or less seen in males than females.  It does happen and in fact you are now about the fourth person this week alone with females that are behaving badly!  They little brats!

You can try a few things such as keeping separate bowls of food around so one cant try to claim it as her own, and several sleeping areas for them so they dont have to share.

How are things since you wrote to me?