# bitey rat through the cage bars?



## Reitanna (Jan 8, 2016)

I am currently with my third pair of male rats within the last... I dunno, five or six years? they were eight weeks when i got them, so they'd be around ten or eleven weeks now, and we've bonded fantastically. one is named jerry, and the other, orbit. jerry's trust in me was practically instantaneous, though orbit was a bit slower. regardless, neither of them went to the bathroom on me when i held them at the pet store, which is a very important thing to me when adopting. over the last couple of weeks, jerry has already learned to kiss, even through the bars of his cage. this is normal to me, as i never feed my rats through the bars so they don't bite, and my rats have always given kisses. orbit has long since opened up to me, and he climbs on my shoulder, sits in my lap, looks excited to see me, and is slowly starting to figure out kissing... however, he bites through the bars. at first it was just a couple nibbles at the finger or nail, but this morning, he bit my finger hard enough to break the first few layers of skin. he's not aggressive, he's very sweet and gentle, but not when you try to pet him through the bars! I've never had this happen before. is this something he will grow out of? if not, is there a way i can teach him not to without resorting to negative discipline?


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## Reitanna (Jan 8, 2016)

bump?


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## Coffeebean (Jan 6, 2017)

Do you feed them through the bars?


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## Reitanna (Jan 8, 2016)

Coffeebean said:


> Do you feed them through the bars?


as I said in my post, no, I do not feed them through the bars. I never have, no one ever has.


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## Coffeebean (Jan 6, 2017)

Have you made sure your hands are washed and then try it? Some rats don't see too well and rely on smell and if your fingers smell either like food or like a strange animal (cat or dog or something) he might decide to try it with his teeth, not knowing it's just your finger poking in.


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## morsel (Feb 10, 2017)

All my rats had troublesome backgrounds, they were all rescue lab rats. If I put my finger up to the cage while their noses are there, they all will bite me, not nibble, full on puncture wound with a lot of blood, so you know what, I don't do that anymore. I still have lots of love with them, they climb all over me and love to come out and chill with me on the couch, run around and crawl all over me when we have play time, but they've had some mental trauma early on, so I kind of just let them do what they do. Sometimes for no reason they bite me... and hard, enough to bleed on both sides of where ever they bit me, but we all move on...

So I guess what I'm saying is maybe this little guy just has some nervous issues or something happened to him that effected him and someone prodded him through the bars or something... Just let him do his thing and he'll either warm up to you and you can kiss him and pet him through the bars or maybe not. I think you're doing good if he has these issues and yet you can still hold him and be sweet with him outside of the cage. I've had some male rats that I was never really able to get snuggly with, but still loved them the same and they had good lives living with me...


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## BearNecessities (Dec 6, 2016)

Rats have incredibly poor eyesight and so rely on their sense of smell. If your finger smells like anything edible or remotely tasty, in rats eyes, then they'll try their luck. Make sure your hands are thoroughly washed before approaching the bars with your fingers. If that doesn't work then maybe just don't put your fingers through the bars from now on, saves you the puncture wound. He may very well grow out of it, but don't count on that.


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## seeska (Mar 15, 2017)

This has been said a few times already, but if your hands/fingers smell like food that's usually cause for your ratties to bite (though they usually let go once they realize you aren't food). Do you think the biting was aggressive, or did he let you go immediately? If it was aggressive, there may have been something (like a bug buzzing around his cage, or another animal if you have them) that agitated him and cause him to lash out without realizing it was you. If he let you go without you forcing him to, that's a good sign, and you should wait and see if it happens again. If it does happen again (especially on a regular basis) it could be cause for concern, but if he's not being aggressive or biting outside of when you stick your hands in the bars, a pretty easy fix seems to be to not stick your fingers in there (even though you have with past rats-- all ratties are different, and some just don't do well with the same things). Hope this helps!


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## Danes'n'Rats (Nov 13, 2016)

You could smell like food or hes very curious. I have the same problem with my rats but I feed them through the bars because I had a hamster before my little ratties that made me bleed once or twice a week so I'm terrified of getting bit and that seems to stop them because my fingers aren't near the food, but now i'll stop.


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## mis.kay (May 29, 2015)

Whenever I get rats I do the cage test. I put my finger in when they are at a distance and call them over, most of the time my fingers are nibbled, kissed or sniffed then ignored. However, one rat I had had a serious bite problem through the bars. I guess for him I just got him used to my hands being on the cage. Flat palm against the bars so that he can smell and I couldn't get bit. Then I would gradually put a few fingers through the bars. I had the mindset that multiple fingers is more obviously not food than one single one. Don't startle him by doing it when he's right there. Try doing it when he's at a distance and then calling him over. This helped my boy and he stopped.

Like it's been said before, sometimes they have traumatic experiences and choose to bite first ask questions later. But my concern with the biting is when my nieces and nephews come over. Kids will be kids and want to touch the critters in the cage without getting in trouble for opening the doors. I believe it's just conditioning. Keep at it and hopefully it helps. =)


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