ear biting-how do i get him to stop??

Advertise with us
Fins us on Amazon
Shop with us on Ebay
The Rat Shack Forum

Help Support The Rat Shack Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
T

twitch

Well-Known Member
Joined
Apr 16, 2008
Messages
1,485
Location
Dartmouth, NS
wagner is a character, always into everything and always on the go. he's a happy bouncy little boy that loves everyone and everything, including eating his human's ears! :shock: which freaking hurts like a... well it hurts a lot. i have been lucky that he has yet to draw blood from me *knock on wood* but he has nipped my ears more then the other human members of the house so i guess it evens out. :roll: he has drawn blood from the boyfriend and one of my friends though. he's not going after earrings because he'll chomp on bare ears just as much as earringed ears. and he's not being mean i don't think or trying to get away as he has proven on more then one occasion that he's not at all afraid of heights and is very willing to just jump down on his own. we try to keep him away from our shoulders and faces (he only goes after the ears) but he'll scale us and WANT to be on the shoulder. he is a very determined rat, and he's a very sneaky rat when he wants to be... :wallbang: i don't really know how to get him to stop. we've tried removing him and keep him from our shoulders. we've squeaked bloody murder when he chomps on us. we've even tried time out in the hospital cage for a few minutes (yeah, we weren't expecting much there... :roll: ) and mostly was used to contain him while we banaged ears...

so, anyone else have an ear biter, perhaps one that they have "cured" of the habit?? :stickpoke: suggestions would be greatly appreciated! :nod: :nod: wagner is an effective piercer but we don't want more earrings right now... :(
 
Maybe if you could figure out why he is doing it .....

Cindy used to bite my lip ... drew lots of blood.
I realised that she only did it when I was on the phone or doing something so she did not have my full attention.
Giving her my full attention when she was out, combined with consistent short time outs in her cage when she bit my lip (she was sneaky too) eventually solved the problem ... since what she wanted was my attention.

good luck.
 
You can also make a little eeping sound of sorts when he does it to let him know it hurts. That might help too.
 
I've got a couple that do that too, it really is annoying but I have yet to figure out why or how to stop them from doing it. So for now, I do my best to keep them off my shoulder but ya, they are determined to get up there. Maybe he wants more attention? Wants you to listen?
 
Try dabbing bad tasting stuff on your ears ... like apple bitter.
Or paint everyone's ears with the stuff they put on kids thumbs to get them to stop sucking their thumb.

Well ..... it might help ....
 
A mixture of apple bitter and cayenne pepper on your ears (hey, you'll be looking weird just in time for Hallowe'en!) might be worth a try. That would be an annoying habit for sure! My Edith (RIP) loved to sneak up and bite my little toes. She didn't draw blood but it HURT! I took to wearing shoes during their out time, but I wish I'd thought of the cayenne pepper and apple bitter.
 
My boys are the same! They love sneaking up behind us on the sofa and nipping our ears! They also tend to bite our feet. They have a thing for socks, have no idea why..

They also like rubbery objects like TV remote buttons and squishy headphones :roll: maybe ears are kind of similar? Or maybe ears are a personal preference of theirs? :giggle:

It's a mystery to me..
 
My dogs chew on pig snouts and bull penises, animals have odd tastes. Calvin once bit off an earring, but I think that was out of curiousity.
 
Godmother said:
A mixture of apple bitter and cayenne pepper on your ears (hey, you'll be looking weird just in time for Hallowe'en!) might be worth a try. That would be an annoying habit for sure! My Edith (RIP) loved to sneak up and bite my little toes. She didn't draw blood but it HURT! I took to wearing shoes during their out time, but I wish I'd thought of the cayenne pepper and apple bitter.
Click to expand...


Awwwwwwww I miss playing that game with Edith
Great game of "I'll sneak up and bite your toes" (Edith) vs "I'll scoop you up and give you belly kisses" (me)
 
One of my old rats Spinach would nip at your face anytime she got a chance. The one day she went for my eye so I did the eeping thing when she latched on. Just put her back in the cage. She was no longer allowed near my face at all. Mike picked her up a couple days later not even thinking put her on his shoulder and two seconds later, I hear chomp, she had bit the cartiledge in his ear.
She was never allowed on our shoulders or near our faces anymore. Sometimes you have to.
 

Latest posts

Back
Top