Nervous Rat?

[Erin]

Hey guys! I’m new to this forum and was hoping somebody could help me. I currently have 6 rats. They are in a deluxe critter nation cage. I had two before I was given 4 more that urgently needed homes about 6 months ago. I am not sure of their exact age but they are definitely over a year old. They had some behaviour issues. One of them (Lilly) was friendly but had a nasty biting problem where anything that came in her face she would bite, HARD. We’ve now gotten over that and she is super sweet. The other one (Aju) was super super scared and shy but luckily enough for me was super curious and is just now letting me pick her up and she will sit on my lap. But the third one, Latte, is still super nervous. Any movement and she’s gone. She will just now take food from my hand and if I’m lucky will stretch and place her front paws on my lap. I just want her to feel comfortable and not be so nervous. I’ve had rats my whole life and I’ve never seen one so nervous. They get two outings a day, once in the morning is free time out of cage either in my bathroom or on my bed and it’s for about an hour or more. I’m always there for that outing and that’s where I interact with them, feed them treats, and work on getting them to get close to me. Their second outing I just leave their cage open and put a tunnel connecting it to their second spare cage and they just run between the two and climb on them. I’m always in the room doing some work or what not. They are constantly exposed to people so I’m not sure why the one, Latte is still so nervous. I feed her treats my hand, let her approach me, talk to her, everything. I’m just curious as to what else I can do?

 

[RatsDrawBlood]

I’m just curious as to what else I can do?

My 1st rat is 21 weeks & I'm still too scared of her (how'd you tame Lilly please?),
but my rat who's now 16 weeks was like Latte when I got her last month.
Can you wear a sweater (or maybe sweatshirt) not too tight nor loose (with just a bra under)
& interest her in entering to go up the sleeve (as you hold it straight, wherever she needs to get through, as she explores),
& find the other (to go down it),
after going around your middle, where it's tucked, or has a shape she doesn't fall out too easily (you can stand on a mattress, or at least comforters, in case)
or pops out her head, where you half-zipped it down, or goes up your back to find the neckline to perch,
you can walk around, stopping the bus, to let her off a while, wherever she reaches to climb onto,
or when she sticks her head out the wrist, you put her up high for a panorama view,
she eventually hangs out as though she's sharing a hammock with your arm?
Try hanging out in between her & the bookshelves you hide treats on,
in a way that makes it (climbing all over you all the time) the only way to get snacks & home again.
I heard pudding to lick off your skin?
Maybe look up what nutrients are calming (or opposite), what's high in those, and check rat-safe list?
TWWFM ... That's what worked for me.

 

[Erin]

My 1st rat is 21 weeks & I'm still too scared of her (how'd you tame Lilly please?),
but my rat who's now 16 weeks was like Latte when I got her last month.
Can you wear a sweater (or maybe sweatshirt) not too tight nor loose (with just a bra under)
& interest her in entering to go up the sleeve (as you hold it straight, wherever she needs to get through, as she explores),
& find the other (to go down it),
after going around your middle, where it's tucked, or has a shape she doesn't fall out too easily (you can stand on a mattress, or at least comforters, in case)
or pops out her head, where you half-zipped it down, or goes up your back to find the neckline to perch,
you can walk around, stopping the bus, to let her off a while, wherever she reaches to climb onto,
or when she sticks her head out the wrist, you put her up high for a panorama view,
she eventually hangs out as though she's sharing a hammock with your arm?
Try hanging out in between her & the bookshelves you hide treats on,
in a way that makes it (climbing all over you all the time) the only way to get snacks & home again.
I heard pudding to lick off your skin?
Maybe look up what nutrients are calming (or opposite), what's high in those, and check rat-safe list?
TWWFM ... That's what worked for me.

I was too very scared of Lilly and it took time for me to have the courage to realize her bites would never get better if I didn’t try. So I left my hand in the cage and let her bite it a couple times, making a high pitch scream similar to theirs to show her that it hurt. If she sniffed my hand without biting she would get a treat, but after that I would present to her the same finger to show that it doesn’t always mean treats. Or you could only give treats using a spoon so that she realized hands = never food. Now she very rarely bites but when she does it’s just her mistaking my hand for something else and I wouldn’t even call it a bite, more her just resting her teeth gently on my skin to test what it is, doesn’t hurt at all. Also thank you for the advice for Latte! I will definitely try that.

 

[RatsDrawBlood]

I was too very scared of Lilly and it took time for me to have the courage to realize her bites would never get better if I didn’t try. So I left my hand in the cage and let her bite it a couple times, making a high pitch scream similar to theirs to show her that it hurt. If she sniffed my hand without biting she would get a treat, but after that I would present to her the same finger to show that it doesn’t always mean treats. Or you could only give treats using a spoon so that she realized hands = never food. Now she very rarely bites but when she does it’s just her mistaking my hand for something else and I wouldn’t even call it a bite, more her just resting her teeth gently on my skin to test what it is, doesn’t hurt at all. Also thank you for the advice for Latte! I will definitely try that.

Thank you! Yes joinrats.com says it's cruel to discourage rats from using their teeth on you in ways that don't make you bleed [EDIT: I meant to say "bleed NOR HURT"], but I just have too much fear, from the blood drawings of my bitey one. If I die of a heart attack I can't feed them, right? For Latte I read check your house for things reminding them of snakes. Weird but true. And don't let your friends kill things in front of them like bugs!!! Also could be food allergies?

 

[RatsDrawBlood]

Thank you! Yes joinrats.com says it's cruel to discourage rats from using their teeth on you in ways that don't make you bleed, but I just have too much fear, from the blood drawings of my bitey one. If I die of a heart attack I can't feed them, right? For Latte I read check your house for things reminding them of snakes. Weird but true. And don't let your friends kill things in front of them like bugs!!! Also could be food allergies?

PS I forgot the most important thing. What made the new baby terrified of me or in general, was the things that were happening due to the 1st rat being bitey. To her mind, I'm a stranger who randomly decides I hate & will eat them. She doesn't know the 1st one just bit me, or that my scream just means I'm trying to politely say what hurts or is scary so we can be better friends, or that my only real problem with biting is how it could harm them in the long run.

 

[jorats]

Some rats are just naturally scared. You can force socialize them or use conditioning practices found on joinrats.com But for me, I would let them be and do their own thing. Eventually, they became more confident and more social with me but it could take over a year. I was fine with that, I played with the rats that wanted to be with me and eventually my scared rats did too. joinrats.com is a fantastic website using the best methods for happy rats.

 

[Trilu88]

Some rats are just naturally scared. You can force socialize them or use conditioning practices found on joinrats.com But for me, I would let them be and do their own thing. Eventually, they became more confident and more social with me but it could take over a year. I was fine with that, I played with the rats that wanted to be with me and eventually my scared rats did too. joinrats.com is a fantastic website using the best methods for happy rats.

Would taking them out daily to free range be traumatic for them if they are still fearful? Asking because I want to free range more they seem to like it but it’s hard to get them out of the cage ?

 

[jorats]

Would taking them out daily to free range be traumatic for them if they are still fearful? Asking because I want to free range more they seem to like it but it’s hard to get them out of the cage ?

It depends. If the cage is available to them during free range, like able to go back home at will then I'd invite them out every day, several times a day. But if you are physically removing them from their cage to another area, that could be hard on the scared rat but I do believe that eventually they would get used to it. Giving them the choice though is gentler on the scared rat but it might take longer for them to want to free range.

 

[Marciea Evick]

I’m new to rats so I’m definitely no expert. I have 2 boys that I am educated guessing are about 6-7 months old. They seem to have bonded somewhat with me but don’t particularly love being held. They tolerate it but mostly they just like to sleep on me. Anyway I was going to add my input on letting them free range while they are still nervous... when I first tried it they were extremely nervous and would just sit there looking terrified or find a hiding place an stay there. Now I’ve had them around 2 months and if I try to let them explore freely Wrigley just comes straight over to my chair and wants up on it ...Rizzo will sometimes explore a little but mostly just hides. What’s the best thing to do? Continue to make them explore a little or just decide that it scares them and accept that they aren’t going to be that kind of rat?