rats suddenly scared of me?

[RAts_sage.and-iris]

i have seen a lot of posts here about rats being randomly scared of their owners, but the situations are different. my rats are totally fine with my going up to their cage. they will excitedly run up to the door of the cage and just watch me. they climb onto me willingly, and they are okay in the bathroom when i take them with me to brush my teeth, wash my face, whatever. if they need me, they climb up my leg and onto my shoulder, and i am always paying attention to them when we are in the bathroom. they approach me in the bathroom. i cuddle with them, and they hang out in my shirts, hoodies, sleeves, and pockets when i do my chores or just walk around the house. but as soon as we are in the bedroom, and it's free-range time, suddenly i'm scary. i have to coax them to come up to me, and when i call them, they don't come. they will just look like deer in the headlights, and it's so confusing and worrisome for me. after enough coaxing, one will come up to me and go hop up on my lap when called, but once she's given a treat, she runs. as fast as she can. i have been limiting their hiding places (areas under/behind my dresser and nightstand) with things like towels to block access, so that could be it, but i have like a little play structure made out of cardboard boxes (like literally any smallish to medium-sized boxes), and i include this fuzzy tunnel/tube hammock that they sleep in so that they can go there if they want to hide or are just tired. lots of run around space (my room is small, but it's enough for them and me), little water bowl near their play area. they have things to do, but they just won't come near me.

it's so weird because they are super friendly with me until free-range. they are also reluctant to perform tricks they have memorized, and can do without guidance, if they perform the trick at all. like a couple weeks ago they were super great when it came to tricks and just coming up to me in free-range.

if you have any clue what's going on, or if you have advice on what to do, i would greatly appreciate it. thank you so much!

kind regards,

a rat owner

 

[Kye]

i have seen a lot of posts here about rats being randomly scared of their owners, but the situations are different. my rats are totally fine with my going up to their cage. they will excitedly run up to the door of the cage and just watch me. they climb onto me willingly, and they are okay in the bathroom when i take them with me to brush my teeth, wash my face, whatever. if they need me, they climb up my leg and onto my shoulder, and i am always paying attention to them when we are in the bathroom. they approach me in the bathroom. i cuddle with them, and they hang out in my shirts, hoodies, sleeves, and pockets when i do my chores or just walk around the house. but as soon as we are in the bedroom, and it's free-range time, suddenly i'm scary. i have to coax them to come up to me, and when i call them, they don't come. they will just look like deer in the headlights, and it's so confusing and worrisome for me. after enough coaxing, one will come up to me and go hop up on my lap when called, but once she's given a treat, she runs. as fast as she can. i have been limiting their hiding places (areas under/behind my dresser and nightstand) with things like towels to block access, so that could be it, but i have like a little play structure made out of cardboard boxes (like literally any smallish to medium-sized boxes), and i include this fuzzy tunnel/tube hammock that they sleep in so that they can go there if they want to hide or are just tired. lots of run around space (my room is small, but it's enough for them and me), little water bowl near their play area. they have things to do, but they just won't come near me.

it's so weird because they are super friendly with me until free-range. they are also reluctant to perform tricks they have memorized, and can do without guidance, if they perform the trick at all. like a couple weeks ago they were super great when it came to tricks and just coming up to me in free-range.

if you have any clue what's going on, or if you have advice on what to do, i would greatly appreciate it. thank you so much!

kind regards,

a rat owner

Do you perhaps put them away after free-range time? I'm just asking because it could be they just don't want to go back to their cage so they run, if not I'm not actually sure what could be going on..

 

[Nyn]

Is this only happening in the bedroom? If so it could be nothing to do with you but just with some kind of scent that is in the bedroom. My rats get mostly scared in any new environments where they do not know where to go to be safe. It sounds like they know you and the bathroom very well, but maybe other rooms are just new and scary. New and scary things could lead to just general fear behavior where everything is all of a sudden very scary! Even though you are safe, their guards are up and they behave as if any moment they can be attacked by something. If there is a new smell, that can have the same effect. I've seen a ratty in her cage be absolutely scared all of a sudden because I put a bathroom scented candle on two rooms down, but as she smelled it she was terrified. When I removed the scented candle, it took a day or so for her to relax again. Usually once they are scared, the adrenaline that comes from that takes a while to wear off.. a day is normal in that case

 

[RAts_sage.and-iris]

this is only happening in the bedroom, they live in the room with me, but we lived downstairs when the house was being renovated, which included my room. we've been back in the room for about 5 months now. they often hide under their cage, under the bookshelf, or under my bed when they get frightened, or when they want to explore. i haven't added anything that has a particular scent, but i'll search around my room to see if maybe there is a cause to this problem. could it possibly be animal hair? we have two dogs, but my door is mainly closed. dog hair is easy to get to places you have closed off, though.

 

[RAts_sage.and-iris]

Do you perhaps put them away after free-range time? I'm just asking because it could be they just don't want to go back to their cage so they run, if not I'm not actually sure what could be going on..

i do put them away when free-range is done, usually because i have things to do, but sometimes i'll keep them with me.

 

[Ratmomma2016]

I would try to add hides in your free roam area. Rats don't do well with large open spaces. So if you put a couple of houses out they'll know they have some place safe to hide.
Also, if you have hardwood floor, I've noticed my rats prefer carpet so I have some soft rugs out in their free roam spaces because I noticed they avoid the floor.
You can also try putting a blanket in their cage for a day and then move that blanket to their free roam area so they have something that smells like them in it.