Only bites at face

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.

Lefty

Active Member
Joined
Jul 6, 2020
Messages
27
Location
Bloomsburg PA
So I’ve had my boys for almost a year now, they were 6 weeks old when I got them from a breeder in September of 2019. From the very start Rufus (my hairless boy) has been very social and loving and so has Richter (my dumbo Rex), but if you let Richter near your face he will lunge at you and bite! He’s completely normal and never bites at your hands or anywhere else, he’ll even lick your fingers. I’ve tried everything, washing my face & brushing my teeth to get rid of any semblance of food smell, being very slow and quiet, even “eep!”ing when he tries to snap at me to show him he’s hurting me. It’s just so strange, he’s such a sweet and loving boy but as soon as he sees a face he wants to give you a nose piercing. I play with them every day and they’re well socialized, so I don’t know why he does this.
 
some rats are triggered by faces so its best to just not let them near it. Kiss his back if you must but don't let his mouth near your face...I only allow rats I know very well near my face having had a bad chomp near the eye a few years back.
 
some rats are triggered by faces so its best to just not let them near it. Kiss his back if you must but don't let his mouth near your face...I only allow rats I know very well near my face having had a bad chomp near the eye a few years back.
It’s so strange because I got both of them from the same breeder, they were housed together and Rufus is %100 ok with faces while Richter goes nuts and bites at your face but never anywhere else. Do you know why he has this behavior? There has to be a reason that sort of thing develops.
 
Never figured it out. Usually when they nip near eyes it is the eyelashes that set them off, they get predatory like they are birds/bird feathers. But when they bite noses etc that's different.
 
I always thought rats were afraid of faces because of the predator thing, I always train my rats to get used to my face because it seems to get them to trust me more.
 
I always thought rats were afraid of faces because of the predator thing, I always train my rats to get used to my face because it seems to get them to trust me more.
How do you go about doing that? Is it possible he was never introduced to a face until I got him at 6 months old? I would think showing him my face close to the cage bars every day would have taught him not to be afraid by now. I’ve never had a rat who bit at my face before, all my boys have always been good about biting right from the get go.
 
Well for me my rats never bit my face but they always seemed kind of tense when I would bring them up to kiss them or if they were on my shoulder and I would turn, so I would just quickly put my face near theirs by either cupping them near my face or bringing them up and giving them a kiss and then I would give them a treat. Eventually I could snuggle them near my face without them trying to squirm out and one rat really loves it and sorta melts in my hands when I kiss her 😂. I would also teach them the kiss trick where they briefly touch their nose to your face, since this would get them to initiate the contact.
 
Back
Top