Three brothers, two are meanies..

[Kermit&Pickles.Mom]

Hi thanks for reading my post.

The end of February early March I purchased from a pet store 3 hairy rats and all three of them with different features and personalities. All three are males and brothers. I couldn't seperate them, so I got them!
There's one albino rat, there's one fancy rat and there's one dumbo rat but the albino rat has Dumbo ears - it's a cute mix amongst them all.
My fancy rat is incredibly intelligent; friendly, polite, trusting and interacts with people that he comes across. My dumbo rat and albino rat are very timid; very sketch, very scared very unsure and constantly in a hurry if they have to go from their food to their water and back to bed, they never seem to relax.
Fancy rat lets me pet him and he's just over all really great.
But the two timid ones; they will bite you when you offer them a treat of any sort so to substitute the biting I don't know what to do other than feed them through the bars of the cage and even then they're quite nippy to grab.
We don't dare to pet them - we do try to talk to them and be friendly but they ultimately are just too scared.

How do I help my two timid boys?

 

[Coffee Babies]

Definitely don't feed between the bars since that'll get them used to biting things that go through the bars (like little fingers). Do you know if the rats are biting because of fright or because they don't know how to take food without biting?

 

[Kermit&Pickles.Mom]

Definitely don't feed between the bars since that'll get them used to biting things that go through the bars (like little fingers). Do you know if the rats are biting because of fright or because they don't know how to take food without biting?

Good point about "that'll get them used to biting things that go through the bars". Makes sense.
I can tell they are afraid, even in the cage at the pet store they were all scared but I still picked them. I can tell too they don't know how to grab the food properly, the two brothers both are grabby and nippy to their other brother that is a Fancy rat - who's very gentle and eats from my hand and little loving licks. Perhaps some exercise out of the cage..

 

[Coffee Babies]

If they're afraid, first thing to do is find out what their afraid of. Can it be noise? Skin? Being touched? Lack of security?
Once you know you can train them to be more confident about their surroundings and you. To train them you might need to use a metal spoon to give the treat if they bite, use a licking treat so they can't run away with their treat, although if your training them to keep coming back to you and being in your presence you can use a tiny treat so that even if they run away with it they need to keep coming back and a good sign to look out for is them eating it in front of you. When training make sure to look out for your rats body language, if they freeze or groom let them alone for awhile since this can mean they are overwhelmed or thinking. A curious rat is a good sign of a confident rat so look out for that but if the rat looks tense or is staring hard back away.

 

[AlexandderCrb]

Hello. I have a similar problem here with two brothers that i have since few days ago. One of them is very energic and let’s say social and the other one is shy. The “social” one bites everytime he can. If i’m approaching the cage, he will stalk me and run to the top of the cage. If I open the lid and try to pet him (or simply insert the hand into the cage) he smells me than bite (sometimes he just bite).
I tried the spoon thing and he just licks it, no bite here. So i assume he knows what’s food amd how to grab it.
Any idea how i can train this one? I know it’s not recommended but right now i’m trying to manipulate him with gardening gloves thinking that maybe in time he will stop bitting them.

 

[Coffee Babies]

It sounds like your rat is afraid of you. Does your rat bite if you give it a licking treat on your skin? If your too afraid to try this you can use the spoon to get your rat used to your presence and touch. You can use the spoon to reward your rat for being calm when near you, when you come to the cage give your rat a treat, lure your rat on to you using the spoon, and start getting your rat used to your touch while your rat is busy licking the treat. Make sure that your only giving him a treat when he is calm, for example not when he's frozen, grooming, or puffed up fur.

 

[AlexandderCrb]

I already tried that. First i used the spoon for the licking treat and he just licked it. Then i put some treat on my finger and let him approach. He just bite me without smelling or any warning. Now i'm kinda afraid to do anything without that glove. When using the glove he comes and smell it, bite it, smell it again, bite it, and so on. After some time he will bite it harder than before.
I'm not sure if he's afraid of me. I was expecting to hide if so. He's very energic, i never saw it freeze.

 

[Coffee Babies]

It's okay to use gloves until he stops biting. If he's not afraid then can you try rewarding him when he acts calmer and less bitey near you. You can put your hand with the glove inside the cage and give a treat when he either ignores it or acts curious without biting. Also everytime he bites the glove (even if he's not biting you) or the spoon you can squeak as if it hurts.

 

[AlexandderCrb]

After reading a lot of articles and topics i started to change my voice tone when he tries to bite (just like with a baby). I just tried again with threat on my skin after two days of playing with gloves and changing the voice tone. This time i used the side of my hand which is harder to bite (is bigger than the tip of the finger). First he scratched with the teeth, i changed my voice tone, then he started to lick. After that i just inserted my bare hand and let him smell it, changing the tone everytime he tried to scratch or bite.
I'd say that this is an improvement. I did this on a neutral terrain, so maybe in his cage he can be more aggresive than that. I will continue to switch between bare hand and glove until he will no longer scrach me.
Thanks for everything, you guys are so helpful!

 

[Coffee Babies]

I'm so glad your progressing with him!