Jess5
Active Member
Hi everyone!
I haven’t posted here in a while but I’m in need of some more advice. I have 3 female rats that I’ve had since September of 2020. They are my first rats but I have (and have had) many small pets like mice and hamsters with no issues. I love my rats so much but I don’t know if they’ll ever like me, and I’ve been feeling like a bad owner for a while now.
For reference, they live in a double critter nation with a modified base that expands the cage into the previously storage area (about 8 inches of bedding). Their cage is also packed with tons of toys, chews, hammocks, etc.
Ever since I got them they’ve been very shy and skittish. It was very hard to build any trust at all but after a lot of work I was able to get them all to eat from my hands and they still happily do that today with some petting too. I can pick 2 of them up but they’re never happy about it. Despite the multiple hours that I’ve tried to get them to explore out of the cage they are just terrified and end up sleeping under a blanket the entire time. I’ve also tried leaving the cage open and surrounding it with a playpen so they can come out by themselves but they refuse to leave the cage.
Scrabble has a biting issue and will bite me hard if I do anything that scares her on accident, she’ll even chase my hand aggressively while I clean the cage (I’ve had to block her off to one level while I clean the other). But other than that she’ll let me pet her when I have food and pick her up most of the time if I need to. Twister doesn’t bite but she’s the most skittish and won’t let me pick her up period (despite countless hours of patient taming efforts). This makes it extremely difficult to get her out of the cage, and she has started barbering her sisters backs which is very concerning to me (she has done this in the past and stopped for a long time but that was on herself). Jenga is by far the best behaved but just generally skittish and uninterested in me/out of cage time.
I feel like a terrible owner because I can’t get them out of the cage to explore. I got rats in the hopes that I’d be able to spend a lot of time with them outside of the cage, but despite my efforts they don’t seem to be interested or willing (without me bleeding). I know that it takes some rats a long time to become tame but I don’t have the time or energy to do the same things with no progress anymore.
I’m worried that my rats are bored. I try to help this by giving them interesting toys, having them forage, making them climb, but I don’t think it’s enough.
Lately I haven’t been putting as much effort into their behavior because I’ve been very discouraged and busy, and I feel really bad. I’ve pretty much just been hiding their food around the cage and keeping it clean for the last couple weeks, but I want to do more.
If anyone has a similar experience or just ideas on what I could try please let me know! Are some rats just happier in their cage without humans or do I need to try something else? I just want them to be happy!
Thanks so much
I haven’t posted here in a while but I’m in need of some more advice. I have 3 female rats that I’ve had since September of 2020. They are my first rats but I have (and have had) many small pets like mice and hamsters with no issues. I love my rats so much but I don’t know if they’ll ever like me, and I’ve been feeling like a bad owner for a while now.
For reference, they live in a double critter nation with a modified base that expands the cage into the previously storage area (about 8 inches of bedding). Their cage is also packed with tons of toys, chews, hammocks, etc.
Ever since I got them they’ve been very shy and skittish. It was very hard to build any trust at all but after a lot of work I was able to get them all to eat from my hands and they still happily do that today with some petting too. I can pick 2 of them up but they’re never happy about it. Despite the multiple hours that I’ve tried to get them to explore out of the cage they are just terrified and end up sleeping under a blanket the entire time. I’ve also tried leaving the cage open and surrounding it with a playpen so they can come out by themselves but they refuse to leave the cage.
Scrabble has a biting issue and will bite me hard if I do anything that scares her on accident, she’ll even chase my hand aggressively while I clean the cage (I’ve had to block her off to one level while I clean the other). But other than that she’ll let me pet her when I have food and pick her up most of the time if I need to. Twister doesn’t bite but she’s the most skittish and won’t let me pick her up period (despite countless hours of patient taming efforts). This makes it extremely difficult to get her out of the cage, and she has started barbering her sisters backs which is very concerning to me (she has done this in the past and stopped for a long time but that was on herself). Jenga is by far the best behaved but just generally skittish and uninterested in me/out of cage time.
I feel like a terrible owner because I can’t get them out of the cage to explore. I got rats in the hopes that I’d be able to spend a lot of time with them outside of the cage, but despite my efforts they don’t seem to be interested or willing (without me bleeding). I know that it takes some rats a long time to become tame but I don’t have the time or energy to do the same things with no progress anymore.
I’m worried that my rats are bored. I try to help this by giving them interesting toys, having them forage, making them climb, but I don’t think it’s enough.
Lately I haven’t been putting as much effort into their behavior because I’ve been very discouraged and busy, and I feel really bad. I’ve pretty much just been hiding their food around the cage and keeping it clean for the last couple weeks, but I want to do more.
If anyone has a similar experience or just ideas on what I could try please let me know! Are some rats just happier in their cage without humans or do I need to try something else? I just want them to be happy!
Thanks so much