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Cheyenne

New Member
Joined
Feb 11, 2019
Messages
0
Location
Georgia
Hey guys! New member and first time poster.
A little background,
When I met my boyfriend over a year ago he had 5 rats. Two older feeder boys he took in with his ex, and three baby boys. His ex has the two big boys and we have the initially VERY timid baby’s (Puar, Mickey, Kush). I’ve been working with them hands on trying to get them more use to handling/petting and work on not biting fingers. Two of the boys are now the best little babies. Puar is the sweetest and more outgoing of the three. He loves to explore, but is a little more possesive with treat handling. Mickey has had the most improvement of the three. He use to bite so much and now he rarely does (only if he’s cranky/just woke). He loves little ear and head rubs. They both are still sometimes timid with being picked up, but don’t put up much of a fight about it.

Then there is Kush... he got to a point where he was getting better, but he’s starting to plateu. When we touch him he instantly bites, picking him up he screams. After the initial attempt to pick him up if we barely touch him he screams louder. He has started to explore more, but only on his own initiative. He burrys away in his igloo a lot of the time. Luckily he’s very fond of his brothers and will pile sleep with them, but is he is just so skiddish and I don’t want him to stop improving. He had surgery last winter for a tumor on his side, and he’s becoming more over weight. I need advice on what methods I can do to help get him use to handling, hand feeding, pets, and more social/actively moving. He seems to love the interaction and exploration, but he just holds himself back ;-;

THANKS!
 
Glad that he has his brothers :)

If you have access to a good vet with the knowledge and experience to safely neuter rats, you may consider having him neutered if he is in good health

Please see joinrats.com for good ideas on socializing and on caring for an aggressive rat
 
I would definitely suggest a neuter for the little guy. How old is he? Where did he come from (sorry if I missed it), and how do you interact with him? Do you reach into his space, and pull him out, stick your hand in the cage and coax him out, or just open the cage and let him come out on his own. Also, try not to cover your hands with mitts or gloves. Those tend to scare already skittish rats. Try putting a little bit of watered down peanut butter on your palm, and hold your hand right outside the cage, and let him lick the treat. If he gets nippy, pull it away. Try to keep the fingers away for now. If he seems amped up, then give him quiet time then try again. Try not to pick him up much in the beginning. Maybe coax him to your hand with a treat then have your hand a little off the ground. Let him jump down, and do it again. Don't hold him with your hands wrapped around him. Just on open palm. This is trust training and it is fairly simple todo. Just take time and patience. There are good stuff about behavior on joinrats.com
Good luck. Don't give up. It'll be so much worth the effort in the end.
 
My boyfriend and his ex got them around I believe late summer of 2017 from a girl who rescued and kept a lot of rats (technically only two of the three are biological brothers, we just don’t know who).

I’m not sure if he is or isn’t already neutered, because the girl they got them from was very attentive about rat health, so that’s something I’d have to ask him.

And usually we don’t stick our hands in. We just open the cage and put a ramp for them to climb down and sit back a little and talk every soft and calmly and move very slowly and try to show him us touching his brothers, but he just kinda teeters on the gate edge like he wants to go but is scared. And anytime we slowly approach with the back of our hand he just runs. Sometimes he has better days like recently where he hopped out and explored for cleaning time, but sometimes, I don’t know, he just kind lumps in his igloo.

I definitely will check out the site. Thru the troubles I know he is a little sweet heart, he’s just needs more time than the others.
 
A vet would be able to tell you if he is neutered
- depending on the method used by the vet it may be very obvious that he was neutered
 
You are doing great in how far they've come! Sounds like Kush needs more time and encouragement. I too highly recommend joinrats.com for more tips on socializing.
 
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