Adult/Baby Rats

Question
QUESTION: I have 3 female rats. One is 11 months, one is 8 months, and the other is about 3-4 weeks. We just got the baby a few days ago. They are all very social and friendly. I am having a problem with the baby and the 11 month old. The baby and the 8 month old are getting along fine. No major problems. But the 11 month old keeps trying to bite the babie's head every chance she gets. Of course i pull them apart and dont even let her go near her because i am scared she can really hurt her. I have the baby in a seperate cage from the other 2. They only all come out together so i can do the introductions. This is when the 11 month old becomes aggressive. She will smell the baby, then go for her head and it scares me. I dont know what to do. How do i make her stop? And why is she doing this? I have no intentions of putting the baby in the cage with them until she is bigger and can defend herself or until the biting stops. What do you think? Thank you for your time.



ANSWER: Hi Gina

Wow, that baby is just 3 to 4 weeks old? Thats a bit too young to be weaned from mom. Do you know why the baby was taken from mom so soon? Usually females arent weaned till closer to 5 weeks old.

As for the older rat acting the way she is acting: unfortunately this can be normal behavior with some rats when first doing an introduction but because the older rat knows she can totally dominate this baby rat, she will do it, and not realizing she can harm the pup very easily from doing this but her intentions still remain that she will present herself as alpha regardless of how big or how small the newcomer, or sometimes in the existing rats eyes, they are  the intruder.
Your right to keep the pup from the adult and I would  allow the cages to sit side   by side so they can see and smell each other and become aware of each other, but the pup needs to get stronger and bigger first.

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

QUESTION: Hi and thank u for answering my question. Maybe i am wrong about her being 3 to 4 weeks old. I just assumed. My brother picked her out as a surprise to me, i was not even at the pet store when he did it. I just assumed she wasnt that many weeks old because she is so much smaller than my other 2. But she could be 5-6 weeks old. She seems to be old enough to be away from her mother. She is doing great actually.

I was wondering about your opinion on this. When the older rat is trying to bite the baby rat it is always on my bed, which is where they always play. Last night we put them on the couch, which is a neutral ground for all of them, and the older one was not acting as aggressive. So do you think it could be a territorial thing?? Thanks again for your time.

Answer
Hi Gina

Your right to assume that your other rat is acting aggressive due to being territorial.  I usually advise people to introduce their new rats on neutral grounds so they cant claim it as their own turf. If feasible, I also usually advise to buy a new cage too and this sounds nuts but if your up for a new cage now is the time!!  If not, you should scour it well, dab vanilla around the cage to neutralize odors *yes this really works and in fact I learned this from other rat keepers and the vets and I found it to work and so we always suggest it)  change the old cage around and even add new toys to the cage too that has no other rats scent on it.  I would do this the day the new rat moves in with the existing rat.  Before this though, I always suggest letting new rats play together for several days before moving in totally.