# I'm scared of my rat to bite me. Please help.



## annebp2001 (Mar 30, 2016)

Hello!So I got my rats a couple of weeks ago. I let them settle in for 1,5 weeks then I tried to start trusttraining. I put my hand into the cage and just left it there. One of my rats came, sniffed and bit the tip of my finger. She drew blood. I withdrew my hand because it hurt. I waited a week and tried again: same result. Bite with blood. Same rat. Now I am scared that a rat will bite me again because they bite hard. I have three rats. The first is the one who bit me. She is quite normal but when I speak to her through the bars (when you speak you exhale some air)she hates that and atacks the bars between us. So I try to speak to her from further away so I don't anger her. Also, when she dosen't like something she attacks it. She is irritated easily. She attacks a moving string like a cat. My second rat looooves to eat. She is bigger than the others and has a habit of tasting everything new. I don't want her to taste my finger as she may bite as hard as the first. So I try not to get my fingers too close to her either. My third rat is calmer and I can pick her up and stroke her but I think she is scared when I pick her up so I don't usally do it.When I fill the food bowl or add/remove a toy or clean the cage my rats have no fear of me or my hands and sometimes try to sniff them or wander out of the cage past my hand. I am scared thry might bite so when that happens I usally close the cage door and wait untill they go somewhere else in the cage. I would love to stroke them, to carry them, to make them learn tricks but I am scared ill get biten as I am very pain sensitive. Maybe I put my hand in too soon and they were scared at the time?I don't know. But I do know that now they have no fear of me whatsoever but I have of them. I know it sounds wierd but please help me. What can I do?Thanks in advance Annebp2001


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## Gribouilli (Dec 25, 2015)

First it is normal that rats will "attack " a string like a cat, all my rat do that they are playing the problem is that they are scared and learned that they can get that "scary" hand away if they bite. Go back to your gloves and do NOT withdraw your hand when the rat bites you. If you take the hand away, you will only teach her that biting takes the "scary" hand away. Also your rats feel that you are scared of them which make them scare of you- you need to go pass that. Have you tried to take them in a small bathroom or bathtub for at least 1 hour?


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## annebp2001 (Mar 30, 2016)

I am very sure that they ate not scared of my hand, I just think they want to taste me. They always bite me near the nails so maybe they think its a treat? I do have gloves, but I think they are scared of the glove, in which they bite constantly, but not of the hand.


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## Rattielover965 (Apr 26, 2016)

Do you wear anything that's scented?


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## Gribouilli (Dec 25, 2015)

My rats do ratticure with my nails...that's maybe what she is trying to do just too hard...when they bite the glove scream in your highest pitched voice EE, they will get it or you could do that without the gloves right away but you could be bitten a few more times before they get it. Do you have fake nails? I wonder if they could smell the glue or whatnot.


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## Andromeda (Apr 28, 2016)

The more you handle your girls, the faster you'll get through this. Trust me, I know how much it sucks to be bitten by a rat, especially when you genuinely care about them. But when you don't handle or speak to them for a week at a time, it just makes things worse, because you're basically starting from scratch every time.

My recommendation would be to handle them daily for at least 20 minutes at a time (ideally longer). Take them out and away from their cage so that they don't feel they need to protect 'their territory'. The bathroom is a good place (as long as it's rat proofed!), or if you have a playpen set up for them that works too. Gloves are a good idea until they start to recognize and trust you.

As for the girl who attacks the bars when you're near the cage, are you sure she's actually attacking them? Whenever I walk into my room, if my boys are awake they'll usually run to the bars and grab it with their paws and stick their noses through the gaps when they hear me. It might just be that she's curious about you, and wants to get a better look/smell/listen.

You mentioned that you can pick one of your girls up, but she seems scared. Of course she is! You'd probably freak out too if a giant scooped you up. xD Depending on where you got your girls from, it's likely they just aren't used to being handled, so it's scary to them. That's okay! It doesn't mean you shouldn't handle them. Quite the opposite actually. The more you handle them, the more comfortable they'll get, and the more they'll start to trust you.


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## TheRatAttack (Mar 29, 2016)

Okay so first of all, your rat is not biting you accidentally. I have been bitten by rescues more times than I can count, and not one of those times was it on accident, the only way that a rat bite is an accident is if you are breaking up a rat fight without gloves. The one that keeps biting you sounds like she is territorial, so take her out of the cage(use gloves if you have to), and put her in a rat proof room/playpen. You need to handle them, if you have to wear gloves to be confident around them, wear gloves. Some people don't like to use gloves because rats seem to be more inclined to bite gloves, but if gloves are what you need to feel confident around your rats, then by all means wear gloves. If you handle them with confidence they are less likely to bite you.

I have a rat that likes to be pet, but not picked up. When we first got her she would bite us whenever we tried to pick her up. Even though it may seem like you are scaring your rat unnecessarily, a rat NEEDS to be okay with being picked up, so if they get themselves in a dangerous situation, you can grab them without the fear of getting your hand torn open.

Good Luck!;D


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## Nieve5552 (May 20, 2014)

I think the fact that you just left them alone and waited after the first bite is a problem. The rat probably bit you because you are a stranger, no one likes to be touched by a stranger. You left them alone for such a long time after the first bite, rats think if they bite you they can make the large stranger animal leave them alone. You need to get to know them better and allow them to get to know you and like you, by doing some form of trust training and spending a lot of time with them instead of just leaving them alone. Try reading through the immersion training sticky on the top of this forum


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## annebp2001 (Mar 30, 2016)

Okay, there seems to be a missunderstanding. I do NOT leave my rats alone. I try to talk to them whenever I can or reading a book next to their cage so they smell me and givving them a treat whenever I come by (I don't over treat them) I don't think they bit me accidently, but I don't think they wanted to hurt me. I remember her nibbling at my nail before biting me just under the nail, at the skin. Maybye she tried to yank the nail away because she thought it was a treat. As for the gloves: I have thick ones, which are compleatly biteproof. Problem is, they are so thick I cannot move my fingers enough to hold a rat. They just slip away. So I got thinner gloves. They are "rosebush proof". We have a rosebush in our garden so I put the gloves on and grasped a branch. Some of the bigger thorns, about the size of rats teeth, came through. So I am still a bit scared with gloves. I am going to try stuffing them with toilet paper and just having them in the cage (with me still holding them at the end). Maybe that will work.


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## Andromeda (Apr 28, 2016)

annebp2001 said:


> Okay, there seems to be a missunderstanding. I do NOT leave my rats alone. I try to talk to them whenever I can or reading a book next to their cage so they smell me and givving them a treat whenever I come by (I don't over treat them) I don't think they bit me accidently, but I don't think they wanted to hurt me. I remember her nibbling at my nail before biting me just under the nail, at the skin. Maybye she tried to yank the nail away because she thought it was a treat. As for the gloves: I have thick ones, which are compleatly biteproof. Problem is, they are so thick I cannot move my fingers enough to hold a rat. They just slip away. So I got thinner gloves. They are "rosebush proof". We have a rosebush in our garden so I put the gloves on and grasped a branch. Some of the bigger thorns, about the size of rats teeth, came through. So I am still a bit scared with gloves. I am going to try stuffing them with toilet paper and just having them in the cage (with me still holding them at the end). Maybe that will work.


By leaving them alone, we mean not handling them. xP That's really the only kind of socialization that's going to make any kind of progress. 

I do think some rats bite by accident. For example, one of my boys will every now and then chomp down on my hand because I'm stupid and will forget to wash my hands after I eat, and then try to pet him. xD However, since your girl is biting you repeatedly, I'd guess she's doing it on purpose, and she is trying to hurt you. Not badly, but just enough to get you to leave her alone.

I think the rosebush gloves are a good idea, and should protect you from most bites I would think.


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## TheRatAttack (Mar 29, 2016)

The rosebush gloves should work. She is not biting you very hard, and I doubt she will bite hard enough to tear through those gloves.


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## annebp2001 (Mar 30, 2016)

Thank you all for the help. I am not scared with gloves and I can stroke them with no problem! They don't let me pick them up yet but the trust training has started! Stroking and cuddeling sessions here we come!


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## Gribouilli (Dec 25, 2015)

Ok sounds good. Keep us posted on your progress. Do trust training sessions if at least 40 mins at a time, better 1 hour so it really gives time for your rat to learn and remember for next time so the progress is much faster


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## annebp2001 (Mar 30, 2016)

So, during the day, every hour I came to my rats and put my gloved hand inside the cage. I put a little apple sause and they licked it off. Now, whenever they see the glove, they go to sniff for applesauce. I just put a bit on my finger with no gloves and she didnt bite! Yay! The other one does bite the glove though, so I didnt try it with her.


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## Gribouilli (Dec 25, 2015)

You can eep (sound that rat do) when the rat bite the glove. Good to hear that one is getting much better. Are you taking them out of the cage for play time at all?


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