My first serious rat bite- I'll need help with this one

[bruxxy]

Ok so this is not one of my ratties but a good friend of mine recently decided to take on a family members "problem" rat (I call it "problem" because thats what they called him, but after hearing his story its obvious why he doesn't like people).

He's under a year, I would say 7-10 months so he has alot of potential, but he hasn't been been with my friend very long. Maybe 2 weeks or so. Originally he came from a place where he was alone and they handled him really badly. I'm talking holding him by the tail, grabbing at him and probably letting kids rough him up with no consideration to how this would effect him.

Eventually he started biting and the people couldn't understand why. Somehow my friend's cousin found out about this so he decided to take him in. This was the start of this poor boy being bounced around, within the family, from place to place for a few months...Apparently he's been in 4 different homes in the last few months. He has bit every single person he was with and was often held with huge gloves.

My friend eventually heard this story and took him in.

This was about 2 weeks ago and apparently he's made alot of progress, but she's been working with him daily. He doesn't hide anymore, comes up to the cage and is curious about people. He really likes food so thats a bonus and he's comfortable taking food out of her hand and even getting a stroke on the head. But for some reason he bites her without notice. And he bites really hard too.

The other day my friend asked me to come over and check him out...I have zero experience with bitting but I told her I would check him out anyways.

I fed him a few treats to let him know I wasn't going to hurt him, I talked gently to him and he seemed to be pretty relaxed . She said she really wants to teach him that hands aren't something he should be scared of so I gave her a few pointers such as taking things really slow, talking nicely, no sudden movements, lots of treats and lots of encouragement...even for small things. I told her one exercise she could do was feed him something yummy and then give him a stroke on the head so he will assosiate her hand with something good.

As I was showing her a quick demo he turned around and gave me a pretty nasty bite on my finger. I was really surprised because he seemed so calm and he certainly wasn't showing any obvious signs of fear. The bite was pretty deep and there was blood going down my arm and all over the floor. I seriously considered going to the hospital but hospitals scare me and it was almost 11pm so I took care of it myself.

I'm fine now. I know it was my fault because he didn't trust me and I obviously just took it too far with him. But we're both really curious about this behaviour because it is so unexpected. It seems like one minute he's fine and the next his teeth are in your finger. Like I said I've never been seriously bit in the 7 years I've had rats so I don't have experience with this.

What advice should I give her? Is this fear biting or is it a territorial thing? Will this be something that he will always do or can she work with him to change and is it possible for a bittey rat to totally overcome this behaviour?

She has two other rats and her hope is to get this boy neutered and to eventually live with the other rats. Is it likely he will be aggressive towards them too? Is this just a result of his past or could it be genetics?

Also I suggested she wear soft gloves to protect her hands, it that a good idea?

Sorry if I have alot of questions :roll:

 

[jorats]

This poor boy, he's lucky he finally landed in a good home willing to be patient with him.
Are the bites only in the cage? Only when the hand is near him? Does he lunge?
He sounds like a very scared rat. He really doesn't trust and his stress gets the best of him and bite is all he knows. It's like he reacts before the hand can do harm. It's like get it first before it gets me.
I really think a neuter will be excellent for him. It will take away that hormonal stress which is always present in males so that's a weight off his shoulders. Without the "macho" stress, he can relax and really start to learn how to trust people and hands.

 

[bruxxy]

As far as I know the bites happen in cage, when my friend is trying to take him out of the cage, or when she is holding him. When he bit me it was in the cage.

He doesn't lunge either which I think is a good thing. Its only if your hand is too close at the wrong time.

My friend says she plans to get him neutered soon but with a kid, her funds are pretty limited at the moment. I did offer to help her out a bit so hopefully she will be able to get the rest of the money together soon.

 

[NezumiNeko]

Poor ratty! I'm sorry I don't have too much advice, I guess just be patient, give him a few weeks or even months to settle in.

 

[mercurydust]

My Jackie was like that. He came from a shotty home before I got him and I admit he chomped me a few times. But I kept at it by bribing him with treats and letting him come out to me...but I didn't get much time to work with him. Poor boy had such a short life. I am beginning to wonder if his tumor could have been removed and we would not have had to have him pts....I hope that isn't the case, ingorant vet.

 

[Moon]

If the bite happened when you were doing a demo of treat + head pat, I'm thinking he's got hands-from-above problems, probably from being grabbed at for so long.

And, keeping in mind the whole preyanimalsfeelinglikeprey thing, hands above are probably very very scary for him.

I wonder if starting with rat buddies might help more than hinder. Well adjusted rats could be a good thing for him. If she only has males she might not need to neuter to start intros. He might be totally relieved to have rat buddies around. But that can't be told without trying.

 

[jorats]

Moon makes a good point and worth trying it out.

 

[SQ]

Yes, having rat buddies will help him be less afraid, feel safer and also teach him that humans can be good.

Ask Godmother about Edith ...
I miss that girl sneaking up on me to bite my foot and being scooped up by me for belly kisses instead :laugh4:
Poor Edith, she did not appreciate belly kisses ... and yes, she drew my blood quite a few times.
But she settled down and stopped lunging at hands that entered her cage.

 

[bruxxy]

Thanks for all the advice everyone. Currently she has a neutered boy and an intact girl so he would obviously need to be fixed before he met the girl. Her girl has been around since she was a baby so she is very well adjusted, the boy is older but hasn't been around as long, and he is a bit skittish with people but is very nice with other rats...apparently the into with her 2 rats only took about 5 minutes.

Since I've been to her house, she was bit again by this rat (his name is Freddy) a few times. Freddy has tried to bite more but she pulls away before he has a chance. She said the other night Fred was being really good with coming out of the cage and apprently he was climbing on her and seemed pretty confident. She wasn't touching him at all, she was just letting him do his thing, and he came up to her hand and bit her on the knuckle. She was pretty shocked because she hadn't done anything to provoke a bite and he wasn't showing and signs of fear or agitation.

I think she is worried that he might just be an aggressive rat or at least a biter. I told her it's unlikely that its a genetic thing but when she told me this story I was pretty confused myself. I still doubt that he's genetically aggressive but I'm wondering if this behaviour could be imbedded in him.

She asked me to ask RS members what she should do when he bites. So far she has been pulling away and saying "owch!" loudly but thats not working. She's also worried about her other rats because she doesn't want them to get bit.