2 ratties FIGHTING

Question
QUESTION: Hi There.... So I have had my two rats Co-Co Bean and Bubbles since December... My boyfriend and I LOVE them to death! We got Bean first and about 2 weeks later we decided we can't just have one and no friends for it, so we got Bubbles for her... They have been REALLY great pals, after the introduction stage!!! Of course when we introduced them Bean had to lay down the line and let Bubbles know that she is the dom. one, which we new was natural, well from everything that we have read about them... since then everything has been fine. They act just like they are sisters, love each other, get into lil tiffs, but they get over it... WELL these past 2 weeks, Bubbles has been too aggresive. At first we thought they just got into another little tiff, but it keeps getting worse and worse. Bean will just be standing on a box, looking at whats going on in the house, and then all of the sudden Bubbles will come up behind her, and drag Bean off of the box with HER MOUTH! Bean starts to sqeak and cry out to us, and we will spray a lil squirt of water on bubbles to get her to lay off of her! I thought it was a lil stage, but it's getting worse and worse. I am not too sure what to do because now my boyfriend is getting pissed off at Bubbles because she just won't be nice. He is thinking that maybe she has a diease or something like that, but I DOUBT it. We got her a petco! Is there any advice you can give me, cause I'm just not sure what to do anymore, its getting out of hand! Plus, what really confuses me, is Bubbles has ALWAYS been the shy one and the one who does whatever Bean does, and the little quite one. She NEVER was the dom. one and now she is just taking it too far! Hope you can help

ANSWER: Nope, no diseases for the rats..they are going through puberty is all and its more or less hormonal. She will out grow it.

A real aggressive rat will stand up on their hind legs and circle the other rat, hiss, growl and snarl, fur standing up straight, shoving the other rat with their paws and before you know it they are entangled in a ball fighting,biting, kicking and there will be blood shed.

With your girls, no blood, no foul...and the more you put into it the more they rats will pick up the negative energy and it gets worse.  
Let them work it out. Dont intervene. It may be hard but it works. If you continue to rescue the other rat she wont know how to defend herself and if you keep spraying the dominating rat and showing her negative energy, she is going to put that negative energy onto the little rat and it gets worse, which as you can see, it is, you even said it was getting worse and it probably will keep getting worse as long as you intervene.

Does that make sense?

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

QUESTION: Yea I understand what you are saying, it is just as if they are kids... in the teenage stage, lol...
I will be trying that out...
Also, I Have one more question for you, I am looking at some type of diet for Bubbles because she is getting over weight and I don't want her to get bigger to where she won't be able to fully walk...
We give them a lot of things, like lettuce, rasberrys. blueberrys, mushrooms, apples, plain white rice, etc. I mean they have a great life when it comes to food wise. Bean is fine with her weight, but Bubbles, I believe she has a different metabloism, just like people. It doesn't help though, like after  I am done cooking, how she sneaks away from Ryan and I and gets into our dinner, (because we let them roam the house, like play time), but do you have any diet plans or recipes something that would be good for her, but she would like to eat it at the same time?

Answer
Check out my website, Critter City. Ah heck I will give you the direct link to the diet and nutrition page. There are some recipes there plus links to other sites that have other recipes etc...

http://www.freewebs.com/crittercity/ratsandahealthydiet.htm

Rats normally have a fast metabolism, hence the one reason for a short life span, unfortunately.

They burn calories just like they burn through medications faster than normal. However, a diet high in fat will for sure pack on the weight just like with humans. If your dealing with a rat that is older and less active, this could be another reason for weight gain too.

Anyhow, check out the stuff about rat diets on my page and hopefully you will find some ideas.