Help!!!

[PaulO]

About 2 weeks ago we found two (what we assumed to be rats) in a bucket and we decided to rescue them. Long story short I notice the larger of the two "Misty" (who I know for sure is a rat) chases the other one relentlessly and manages to pin her in a corner. When this happens I see that the smaller one(cocoa) goes up on her back legs and puts her paws out in defense. I did a little research today and what I found scared me. I read that this behavior is called muricide. I am genuinely worried so I would like to post some pictures on this site for help. I tried to register on ratforum but for some reason it keeps thinking I am a spammer. Please Help!!!









I put a quarter in the picture for size reference.

[ChoclateBetta]

I think a different habitat might help. The rats are adorible.

[PaulO]

I was wondering if the little creature (cocoa) was a rat or mouse. I know rats like to play but I want to make sure that they are playing and that the bigger one isn't murdering the little one. I usually take them out for an hour of free roaming as well as letting them crawl all over me while I'm on my laptop (one at a time, those two together are craaaazy :P) They get plenty of exercise so at this point I just assume that misty is extra playful but cocoa always squeals when she starts wrestling her. Are they hurting ea other? the squeaks are usually high pitched and short so they always manage to startle me :P. Anyway if anyone here has experience I really just want to make sure if cocoa is a rat so I can decide if they need separate cages or if they will work things out. We did not buy these at a pet store which is why I am asking. Also the part of the previous post about misty pinning cocoa in a corner, it happens when their in a cage and while free roaming.

[Pilot00]

Dont know much about mice, but that tail looks ratish to me. OFC I might be mistaken.

[LittleFish2012]

I've owned rats before. The rat in the picture is likely young. Sometimes, young rats and adult rats don't get along well. I think its a dominance issue. They tend to do that if they were not raised together.
I recommend trying to keep them separate until the young one is an adult or at least bigger. Chances are then they might be able to get along.
And this is assuming that they're both female!! You can guess what happens if you mix genders...

Also, I second ChoclateBetta- a different habitat would be nice (plus that rat could jump/chew its way out of the box). I suggest giving them something to play with. :) Rats are social, intelligent, and playful. They love toys. I gave mine an old sock to play in, chew up, and make a nice little nest. They love it.

Hope that helps some. Also, some links? The first is a good website for rat owners. The second should hopefully help with the fighting rats.

http://www.dapper.com.au/toys.htm
http://wiki.answers.com/Q/How_can_yo...ith_each_other

[PaulO]

I am starting to doubt they are fighting as I have not seen any blood and yes they are both females. We did a gender check and I am sure they are girls as there are no bulges where the testes are on a rat. I have them in a 2-3 square cage with tons of entertainment, they have a wheel, the pet igloo, a ware willow bar, a short wood tunnel, paper roll tunnels, and a homemade hammock that takes up about a fifth of their cage in the corner. Also they get at least an hour of interaction with me every day 20-60 minutes of free roam and another 60-90 minutes of hanging out on with me on my chair while I do some work. Today I had to cut a session short due to one of them getting tired and falling asleep on my shoulder. I will try to get some pics of their cage, misty, and also a few of them together so you guys can see their difference in size.

[katydidmischief]

She looks like a hooded rattie to me, on the young side. And it's possible they're fighting, but they could be playing as well--my mischief used to be pretty rough and tumble, but there were never any injuries between them. What set up do you have for them?