Darting when picked up

[heatherton]

One of my rats has quite poor vision (pink-eyed), and has always been more skittish than her cage mates (including her sister-from-another-litter who she’s known since birth). She leans away from pats, and will startle if I move my hand in the cage suddenly, but will hand feed and take treats.

My big issue with her which is very very very slowly getting better, but I’d still like to speed up for both our sakes, is the fact that she often tries to dart when I pick her up.

I’ll often stroke her first, so she knows my hand’s there and she’s comfortable, and I’ve tried picking her up from under her belly, above, facing me and away, and it doesn’t make too much difference. Sometimes she’ll just grab at something as she’s lifted out and let go once she’s balanced herself, but many times she will dart the moment one of her feet lift off: then she either ends up up-turned, rolling off a level, running into something, or with her tail caught in my fingers before I can let go.
She’s a bit easier to pick up outside of her cage, so I wonder if it’s just the smaller space and or busy environment that maybe distracts her attention

I don’t know how much this plays into her poor vision, as I didn’t notice any signs until about 1.5-month-old

Anyway, any info appreciated! It’d just be nice to have her a little calmer to pick up so she doesn’t keep startling herself and then I have to keep re-attempting

 

[Coffee Babies]

Have you tried petting and handling your while feeding and giving treats? Try to reward the good behaviour, instead of giving food and then stroking, stroke then give food. If your hand feeding then thats a great time to get her used to handling, before giving her the food just pick her up slightly and quickly then give her some food. Your trying to make handling a good experience for her so make sure she's not feeling uncomfortable or frightened, if she shows any signs of being frightened then just go back to stroking and work back up to holding again. If your rat starts grooming then just let her be, this is sign of her thinking so just let her calm down.

 

[heatherton]

Have you tried petting and handling your while feeding and giving treats? Try to reward the good behaviour, instead of giving food and then stroking, stroke then give food. If your hand feeding then thats a great time to get her used to handling, before giving her the food just pick her up slightly and quickly then give her some food. Your trying to make handling a good experience for her so make sure she's not feeling uncomfortable or frightened, if she shows any signs of being frightened then just go back to stroking and work back up to holding again. If your rat starts grooming then just let her be, this is sign of her thinking so just let her calm down.

None of my rats tend to eat outside their cage (Partly because I use it as an encouragement to want to return to the cage when out), but for her I could certainly introduce this more.
She will take treats after a stroke, and once she’s had a treat she’s very tolerant of being touched, so this is what leads me to think it’s just the initial approach that catches her off and it’s not so much fear of me but just startling because of movement (my hand, shadows, etc). Again, she’s much more comfortable being touched and picked up outside the cage, when I’m picking her up from above and there’s more space.

unlike my other two rats who are a bit more active/explorative than her, she’s good at being held and will sit or walk quietly around in my hands (the other two want to race to my shoulders and don’t like sitting still)

 

[Coffee Babies]

That's great! Sounds like she's really trusting, if it's only the movement that scares her then that's what you can work on, just by moving things around her cage while giving treats will her used to unexpected movements.

 

[heatherton]

That's great! Sounds like she's really trusting, if it's only the movement that scares her then that's what you can work on, just by moving things around her cage while giving treats will her used to unexpected movements.

This is smart! She’s startled when I rearrange stuff or clean up, but carries on very quickly so maybe I’ll just do this a lot more so it becomes much more normal.
I wonder how much it will change when I’m back to work and out of the house for longer periods..

 

[Coffee Babies]

It sounds like she's a great rat! Super timid rats take a lot longer to come out when startled, i'm sure your rat will do great as long as your consistent!