Bullying

[dalamar]

Ok, so I have 4 babies (2 girls born in March, and 2 boys born in April), and one of my boys (Dillon) started bullying the others on Monday. Mostly he bullies his brother Malcolm, and he does this all the time. Sometimes he goes after little Bandit and she's just too little to really put up a fight w/o help.

Malcolm is kinda dumb, so he hasn't learned to just run away like Bandit does. So far no one has been hurt, but Malcolm tends to whine a lot (kind of a squeaking) when he's losing, which is all the time. Oh, and he steals food and toys too!

Normally I would say that this is just Dillon showing dominance over the others, but you may have noticed that I didn't mention the other girl in the family, Piper. That's because he doesn't mess with her anymore except to play. He tried to bully her a couple of times, but despite his size, she sent him packing. The last time she bit his ear and dragged him down the ramp of their cage. That's what he gets for trying to take her toys when she's playing with them.

Should I try to break them up when this starts getting too much for Malcolm or just let it continue until they sort things out?

[Heather]

Others may have different takes on it but if no ones getting hurt and there's no blood or poop then let it go. It only accelerates if we interfere. I have 11 fuzzies who live reasonably well together. There are battles...lots of screaming and swearing, but it's mostly posturing... but they work it out. I will step in if Loki or Thor are involved in cornering one of the tiny girls. They don't stop. They have a very nasty disposition regarding the tiny girls. Neither boy has a problem with Lady "B" but she weighs the same amount as they do and she's bigger than Thor. I watched her drag Attila (my alpha male) down the hall by his ear screaming like a little girl of course she's screaming at him like an old fishwife (she's deaf, come to think of it so's he ) My 2 seniors (recent rescue) have never been in a group situation and can't seem to handle the stress or the aggression, so I keep them seperate. I figure the house is large enough that they can play without having to deal with each other except in passing, so they can all live together in reasonable harmony. That's how it works in my household anyway
Ciao

[Forum Administrator]

Old fishwife! OMG I am laughing so hard right now!

[dalamar]

Well, Malcolm was chewing on Dillon's ears tonight while he was sleeping, and he didn't do anything but lay there. When Piper finally came from under the couch I put her in the cage with the rest for a few hours, and she kicked Dillon out of his new hammock; she walked in and he walked out.

So I guess as long as there's no blood and they know that I'm in charge, and Piper is second, everything is ok.

Thanks!