Snowball (now June Bug)

Of all the babies that Vesta and Rayo had we have one June (formerly known as snowball, we changed her name to June Bug now that she is staying with us), who to put it nicely is shy. All of Rayo's babies are a little more shy then Vestas but nothing that stands out, they are sweet and curious. June is crazy, she acts terrified whenever you try to get her out of the cage, even standing up on two legs, sometimes falling over stiff, and always squeaks when you try to get her out. We have gotten these little guys and girls out every day since they were born, June was always harder to get out but around 4 weeks she just started acting like a different rat. Once she's out she's not as bad, but she's quick to run and always seems stiff if you are holding her.

I have no idea how to help her with this, she's beautiful and healthy but she just acts crazy! Any suggestions or ideas about what happend or how to get her to calm down??

Some rats are just plain scaredy rats. You can try to force socialize or you can accept her as she is and give her, her space. joinrats.com has some really great tips on how to socialize a scared rat.

I wonder if poor eyesight has anything to do with her fear

I have been stopping by and giving her treats and she will run over and get them, she even pull at my hands but the minute I try to pick her up she squeaks and runs. I was thinking that it might be her eye sight also as she sways back and forth more then her red eyed cousins and siblings. My hope is that with enough bribery she will be calmer even if she's a little round from all the extra treats lol

Bribery should work! lol

One of my baby boys looks just like her a siamese/himi he is the same way. Around 5 weeks he started screaming/whining every time I pick him up. In my case though it makes it easy for me to know if I have him or his brother since they look alike. I just wait from the whine when I pick one up to know who I'm holding - that and I color coded their tails with a sharpie ..

Lol that's funny because the person who was going to get Zara and Sheba didn't follow through and I can always tell which one is Zara and which one is June because Zara is laid back and June freaks out!

Awww, love that picture!

Our boy Benji was like that. Also a smudge nosed pew. I believe it's sight related as he was super snuggly when he was a baby then when his eyes were more developed and he started being more independent he didn't want to be touched. We had him from a day old as well and handled him every day multiple times a fay. What we did was started to get him to walk up onto our hands so we didn't have to reach at him. Started with super tasty treats at first luring him onto the hand and then it was let him walk up sit and sniff my smell before getting the treat and now he only gets the treat once back in the cage because he now refuses to go back after. Lol
Older picture but I always let him sniff for quite a while before going for him or asking him to come with me.

Thank you, that's a good idea! She's doing a little better, she will climb on the cage door when she's expecting her treat and it's much easier to pick her up from there. I don't think she has time to be afraid before she's up on my shoulder. I have really developed a soft spot for her, I hope she keeps warming up!

Good news for her sisters Zara and Sheba, they went home with a family today. Now we are down to a much more manageable 5 (from12!) girls so she can get even more attention. I have gotten several updates from everyone who has adopted babies and they all seem happy

Now I just hope we can find the last three boys a home!