my 2 girl rats are fighting and now it got worse

Question
QUESTION: hello, i have 2 girl rats that are around 1 or less, their names are babe and pepper. about a month or 2 ago, babe starting really hurting pepper! she would start biting her and dragging her around!! i put them in 2 separate cages for about 3 days then all was fine again, but today while i was in my room i noticed babe hurting her again! i picked up pepper and i saw blood all around her vagina! and when i put her down and watched her for a bit she started hunching over and breathing really heavy, is she sick, getting her period, or did babe do this to her? please answer me quick i don't know if pepper will make it to monday when we take her to the vet! i hope she does! its just strange to me because when we first got them they did everything together! sleep, play, even go on the wheel. its also strange that babe is perfectly healthy! a little sneeze here or there but nothing seems to be wrong. please help me!!! i don't know if i should put babe down and i don't want to unless its absolutely possible!! please e-mail me ASAP at cheetahgirl3@cox.net thank you for your time

ANSWER: They were being dominant with each other and unless she was bleeding from her neck where Babe was biting her, I doubt Pepper was actually hurt - most likely squeaking to be dramatic. Girls do this. It's very normal. Unfortunately you probably made it worse by separating the two (the pecking order had to start all over again). Babe may have started bullying Pepper because she knew Pepper wasn't feeling all too well.

Rats DO NOT get a menses (period) like people do - ANY bleeding from her vaginal area is a bad sign. She probably has a urinary tract infection or a uterine infection - take her to the vet, they'll put her on antibiotics, and hopefully she'll be fine in a few weeks.

Good luck.

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

QUESTION: thank you so much!! u really helped a lot, i just have another thing to ask
you, can pepper die from this? if she can i thought only grown up rats get
sick. the other question is, today is sunday of course we are not going to be
able to go to the vets until tomorrow, will pepper be able to make it? it looks
like her bleeding stopped because its all brown and it doesn't look like new
blood and should i put babe back in the cage when pepper is taking medicine
or will that make her more angry? again thank you for your help and we hope
that she doesnt have to be put down

Answer
If left untreated; yes, any infection has potential to be deadly.. however if you get her to the vet ASAP tomorrow morning she will most likely be fine, unless it winds up being something more serious (cancer, etc.). Also, at a year old, rats are full grown and adults. And even young rats can get sick -- just like children can get sick (with the flu, colds, etc.) so can rats!

If Pepper is started on treatment, I'd say its probably safe to keep Babe with her -- however if Babe continues to pick on Pepper, no, separate them. But I'd say it would probably be fine.