# My Rat Has Started Biting



## odolby (Apr 23, 2017)

Hello all,
I am looking for some behavioral advice about my rat, Priscilla. Priscilla and her cagemate, Cherry Blossom, were adopted in November at about 3 months of age. This is my first pair of female rats. Unlike my previous boys, Whiskey and Fromage, these girlies came from a pet store so they were not hand raised. My boys were rescued from feeder bins when they were still very young. Priscilla and Cherry were totally unsocialized and I dedicated at least an hour a day if not more to working with them on trust training. It took a lot of patience and treats but they both bloomed into pretty outgoing rats. They love to greet people at their cage door and are happy to explore a new lap or ride on a shoulder. My girls have always done exploratory nips to see if my fingers are food. These nips are gentle and do not break skin. Once it has been determined that I am not a tasty treat, they go about their business as usual. This shocked me at first because my boys never nipped, but they did give lots of kisses. Only recently, Priscilla has begun biting hard enough to draw blood. I feel like the first time was my fault because we were playing chase with my hand and she got over excited. However, the next few times were different. The first time she really got me good was when I reached into her cage to pick her up. The cage needed to be cleaned and she'd already greeted me. I thought at first she might be cage aggressive, but she has bitten me outside of the cage, too. I try to be as gentle as possible and scoop her up with both hands instead of grabbing her with one. No matter what now, if I have to pick her up I know I'm going to get bit. I understand I may be doing something wrong, but it hurts my feelings when we've come so far from where we began. Once in my lap, she's fine and loves pets. It's just getting harder and harder to want to try to pick her up sometimes. I've tried making it her choice to leave the cage, but sometimes I need to clean it and she's just got to be taken out. She also beats up her cagemate at least once a day. Cherry is much more timid than Priscilla and sometimes I worry she's being bullied. Again this is new. I check for blood and no fur flies. So far there hasn't been any injury to either rat and I know play fighting is normal. It just seems to be happening a lot. In terms of the cage, my girls are spoiled. There are tons of hiding places, toys that are changed for enrichment, lots of food and water. I also like to give them puzzle toys which they adore trying to figure out. They don't always fight over one thing like food or beds so I can't figure out what it is. Any thoughts would greatly help! Thank you in advance!!!


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## Endlessmtn (Apr 18, 2017)

When my rats bite me (even from 2 weeks of age), even the little nips - I squeak really loudly. It's ridiculous. My kids think I'm crazy, and my husband has probably thought so for a longer time  It's the loudest, most annoying sound, but it surprises them and they interpret it as that they hurt you (it's how they'd respond to the same from another rat). Doing this from such a young age they understand the concept quickly, but I do it with older rescues and such as well. You can try this with her and hope that it turns around. Also, start over with trust training. Begin again and pretend like you just got her. If you feel like the other rat is getting beat up too much you can try a trial separation and see if a few nights apart help things. In 25+ years I've still never had a rat bite out of aggression - I'm sorry I'm not of more help


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## Nieve5552 (May 20, 2014)

I think Endlessmtn's advice of squeaking is good  One of my boys have recently taken to grooming my hand every playtime. I like it but sometimes when I feel like hes going to start nibbling too hard I give a little squeak and he immediately stops. 
Also are you sure if Pricilla isnt being aggressive due to any health problems? Maybe being picked up hurts her somewhere
And make sure to keep an eye on Cherry's weight, rats can lose weight from stress and psychological bullying too, without any blood or pulled out fur. One of my old rats started losing weight quite dramatically as their new younger cagemates got older, and I thought it was just due to age. But when i had to separate them to neuter the younger ones, he gained the weight right back- turns out one of the younger ones was bullying him, so he either lost weight from stress or from not being able to get to the food that often.. I think its the former because the cage is pretty big and for him to have lost that much weight, the aggressor would have to have been guarding the food 24/7 which i know wasnt the case


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## odolby (Apr 23, 2017)

Thank you for the advice, any and all helps! I have started trust training again and it seems to be going well. Priscilla didn't respond to the squeaking, so I'm not sure that strategy will work for her but I will keep trying. I'll keep you guys updated.


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