W
wamydia
Guest
Hi all.
I'm new to the forum and signed up so that I could get a little guidance with my new rat. I have previously had several male rats that were research rescues, so this is the first time I've had very young rats. I got these two from a pet store in a moment of weakness about 2 weeks ago (I was supposed to be buying water frogs, oops) because I missed my boys that had passed away last year. I now have just these two, both males. I'm not sure of their age exactly, but they were in the "medium" bin and maybe about half the size of the mostly full grown rats in the large bin. I'm guessing maybe 10-12 weeks?
The problem that has developed is that, as they have gotten more comfortable with me, the more active (and dominant I believe) rat, Will, will run right up to me and grab onto whatever part of my hand he can find and bite hard. He bites just hard enough to draw a few pricks of blood and pulls, so I'm sure that this is not aggressive biting. I think he's just very young and excitable and, for whatever reason, he's totally sure that anything that comes into the cage must be food. When I feed him from my hand, he grabs onto the food in the same exact way - with gleeful abandon and determination to make off with the food before his much calmer cagemate, Hood, can get to me. I think it's made worse because Will is a PEW and so he can't really see what exactly is going on.
I've been very careful about washing my hands and only presenting my fist or the back of my hand. I'm also making a point to talk and make noises when I approach, but this doesn't seem to make a difference. He'll still grab hold of me a few times and after I yell "ouch!" and make a big deal out of his hurting me, he usually eases up. But I haven't been able to make any headway with him and his initial reaction to latch on hard as soon as I put my hand near him. I'm starting to get nervous about putting my hand in the cage. It's also stopped me from really doing a lot of picking up and handling because he's gotten blood out of me several times now and I don't trust him. I realize that this is the worst reaction, so I'm trying to come up with new ways to break him of this before I accidentally end up making it worse. Suggestions?
I'm new to the forum and signed up so that I could get a little guidance with my new rat. I have previously had several male rats that were research rescues, so this is the first time I've had very young rats. I got these two from a pet store in a moment of weakness about 2 weeks ago (I was supposed to be buying water frogs, oops) because I missed my boys that had passed away last year. I now have just these two, both males. I'm not sure of their age exactly, but they were in the "medium" bin and maybe about half the size of the mostly full grown rats in the large bin. I'm guessing maybe 10-12 weeks?
The problem that has developed is that, as they have gotten more comfortable with me, the more active (and dominant I believe) rat, Will, will run right up to me and grab onto whatever part of my hand he can find and bite hard. He bites just hard enough to draw a few pricks of blood and pulls, so I'm sure that this is not aggressive biting. I think he's just very young and excitable and, for whatever reason, he's totally sure that anything that comes into the cage must be food. When I feed him from my hand, he grabs onto the food in the same exact way - with gleeful abandon and determination to make off with the food before his much calmer cagemate, Hood, can get to me. I think it's made worse because Will is a PEW and so he can't really see what exactly is going on.
I've been very careful about washing my hands and only presenting my fist or the back of my hand. I'm also making a point to talk and make noises when I approach, but this doesn't seem to make a difference. He'll still grab hold of me a few times and after I yell "ouch!" and make a big deal out of his hurting me, he usually eases up. But I haven't been able to make any headway with him and his initial reaction to latch on hard as soon as I put my hand near him. I'm starting to get nervous about putting my hand in the cage. It's also stopped me from really doing a lot of picking up and handling because he's gotten blood out of me several times now and I don't trust him. I realize that this is the worst reaction, so I'm trying to come up with new ways to break him of this before I accidentally end up making it worse. Suggestions?