# Bitey rat, HELP!



## zorak (Aug 6, 2014)

I have two rats, Science & Daisy. We got Daisy a couple of weeks after Science as a companion. They've been living together just fine. Science was never bitey at all. At first she nibbled our fingers to see if it was food but now she never bites unless our fingers smell of food. Daisy on the other hand has been bitey since the day we got her. I don't know what to do! I've had her for about a month and a half. She's still terrified of us (she hasn't had a good past. she was given up for adoption to a shelter down south and then transferred to the shelter we got her from) as well as any kind of human interaction. Lately she seems interested in us and would sometimes peep her head out when the cage doors were open. I tried putting my hand closer to see if she was beginning to trust us but she did what she always does, a slow approach, a quick bite and backs off. I don't know what to do! I thought that putting her with Science would show her that we don't mean to hurt her or anything but she doesn't seem to trust us still. Any advice? Please? I don't plan on giving her up and I'm going to keep her until the end. I just want her to not be so scared all of the time :-( also I'm tired of having bites all over my hands. 
(she bites pretty hard she has drawn blood a couple of times)


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## zorak (Aug 6, 2014)

Also I have tried immersion but she only ended up being more terrified of me and bit into my thumb pretty badly.


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## livenatso (Sep 14, 2014)

What I found helped when my rats were really scared of me was to just sit in a bathtub with them until they got used to my presence and started climbing on me. That way if they were really scared they could just sit at their end of the tub until they gained enough confidence to come over to mine meanwhile the small space still kinda forced them to be pretty close to me. Needless to say they're not scared of me any more but we are still working on getting them used to being touched.

Helps if you have a bag of treats to bribe her to come over to you and a lot of time to kill because it can take scaredy rats a while to figure out that you're not there to hurt them. You don't really have to touch her. Just talk to her so she gets used to your voice and patiently wait for her to come over to you. I guess it's kinda the same concept as immersion except you're not getting in her face. I did this for about an hour every other day with my rats but I'm sure one really long session would have been even more effective. Once she's okay with you being there in general then you can start work on the biting part if she continues to be nippy even when she isn't terrified.


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## Lita (Jul 10, 2014)

How long did you try immersion? From what I've seen it can take a while. You get thick gloves, something secure to put her in, and just sit around with her and carry her around. I saw someone used one of those balls to carry around their rat and she came around and ended up seeing the ball as a safe zone. That could be good so she can see hear and smell you but can't bite you, and you dont have to worry about her chewing a way out. If she is really tramatized it could take months to break through.


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## Kitterpuss (May 9, 2014)

Rats are smart so if she bit you during immersion and you put her back into the cage while you tended to your wounds, then what she will have learned is that biting gets you to back off and leave her alone. 
You need to get some thick gardening gloves/oven mitts or similar so that you can feel more confident about handling her. 
Try immersion again, and as the above poster recommends, don't back down until you see positive interactions. That could mean a good few hours in the bathtub, bathroom, closet or whatever space you decide to use, so make sure you clear your day for it.

You can start your own immersion thread so folk here can give you some guidance and encouragement.


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## livenatso (Sep 14, 2014)

It might help to bring Science into the bathtub with you guys too so she doesn't feel like she's trapped all alone with you. I guess any relatively small space where there aren't really any places she can run and hide would work too.


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## new_rattie_mommy (Aug 24, 2014)

All of these people have posted really good advice. Especially about how you can't let them have their way once they bite you. Show her that she doesn't scare you and you are still going to handle her even if she bites. I know you don't want to get bit again but you can't allow her to win that battle. Wear gloves if needed. Also it definitely could still work since you've only tried one session (that's what i understood from your post anyways). It could take a lot more work since she's had such a rough past and isn't just a brand new baby. 
What I wanted to tell you though, is that if you aren't comfortable with the forced immersion technique or are somewhat standoffish about being bit you don't have to do it that way. The slow method is perfectly fine. That is what I used with my rats since I wasn't experienced at the time and also am not a huge fan of force. Do you spend a lot of time hanging out with her by the cage and trying to give her some treats that she likes? Cheerios are a good one since you obviously can't give her several store bought rat treats at a time. I just put myself in a small room where they could come play if they wanted to and i opened the cage and would feed them treats from my fingers. They quickly built trust with that and after a few days of that I started putting some on the floor outside their cage to see if they would come out to get them and they did. One of mine was snippy at first too for a couple weeks but I didn't allow him to know I feared it. I corrected him when he would bite and he did draw blood pretty badly a couple times but luckily he grew out of it quickly, whether it was because he trusted me or because i corrected him idk. I did some forcing with them like picking them up and petting them sometimes or trying to scratch behind their head cuz they are supposed to feel pretty comfortable with that rather than a huge hand coming down on them. Be very slow and gentle with her so you don't spook her more than necessary. Basically what I'm saying is if you don't wanna completely force her in that extreme way you can mix the methods a little and spend lots of time with her not handling and put some handling in the mix with that and see if she comes around. If not, you may need to do that very long immersion session to get results. My boy that used to bite me came around and absoutely loves me and loves being cuddled and carried and he gives many kisses and grooming sessions. My other boy didn't come around using the slow method though. He trusts me for the most part and i know he loves me as his mommy but he just hates being pet and held. He isn't scared of me and will come hang out by me but if I even put my hand up as if im gonna touch him he will run away. I did a little immersion training with him (not for hours though, just periods of time each day where i forced him to be pet and loved on) and it helped to where he accepts me picking him up and doesn't squirm really bad but he still greatly dislikes it. your girl may be that way too but you at least need to get her to the point where she doesn't bite you and trusts you enough to do what you need to do with her.


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## Kitterpuss (May 9, 2014)

I did a little of many methods too, but I ended up doing a longer immersion when I started having some dominance issues with my three boys, some fights had led to injury between them. This was a couple of months into owning them so its something that can be useful to do to strengthen your bonds at any time during rat 'parenthood' 

One thing that really helped my rats trust me was to be quite firm and confident when handling them. In nature rats respect and trust the alpha rats in a group - the most dominant and confident rat. So it stands to reason that being super gentle with our petting and handling of our rats, and being wary of going in to touch them will not earn the trust that we desire.

Nice firm petting and firm confident handling worked wonders for my boys. They really respond to voice too - my boys will start bruxing if I praise them in the kind of voice you would use to tell a dog he's been a good boy - and they recognise the change in tone of voice I use for when I tell them off for fighting a little too hard.

You want to use that authoritative voice when your rat tries to or succeeds in biting you. Tell her No and boop her lightly on the nose if you feel you can. (Just a tap - we don't want to harm her) Again, gloves will probably help during this process  Lots of praise and petting and treats. With a little time and hard work soon she will realise that biting gets her nowhere and that you are not a scary monster!

Good luck


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