# Bitey.. no touch-ey



## daZblu (Apr 10, 2009)

Exactly as per Subject line:

I recently got 2 lovely female Blue Dumbo Rats from a pet store, and have had them for little over 1 week. I have named them Buttons and Whiskers. Buttons is my brave little darling. Whiskers is a little shier but smart as a whip: she's even learned to recognize her name in the short span of time i've had her here. 

Buttons has recently started chomping on my hand. It started yesterday: during play-time. I had my hand in the cage for them to sniff and explore and Buttons seemed a little more interested in my sweatshirt sleeve than usual: she pulled it up my arm, and later on, tried to take it with her. All of a sudden, she turned, pounced and took a sizeable chunk out of my finger. I yelped and took my hand out of the cage. This has happened 3x so far. 1x yesterday, 2x today after petting her side. 

As she seemed calm, I used the back of my hand to pet her back/sides and when i stopped, she turned, sniffed out the area that had been in contact with her, calmly placed both her paws on my hand and CHOMPED. Confused, I wiped the blood off my hand and offered her the back to see if she'd calmed down after a few minutes, and was rewarded with yet another CHOMP, this time on my finger with a full-on latching. 

All the reading i've done seems to suggest that she's Cage protective: she is the dominant girl of the 2 and once out of the cage (for cleaning, for example), she's fine. Once out of the cage, she'll climb into my sweatshirt pockets and hood and sniff my ears and etc without a problem. All biting incidents thus far have occurred in the cage. I've tried the "licky treat" method and if there's anything on the fingers, she seems to know better than to bite down. But if it's just my hand, without anything special on it to lick off, she seems to get bitey again. This is rather long winded, i realize, but if anyone can help me figure out why she is starting to do this, and what I can do.. i'd be very much obliged. 

Cheers,
Alice


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## ratscribbler (Jan 31, 2009)

I'd guess the easiest solution is to work with Buttons' territorial nature. Instead of removing her from the cage forcibly, try coaxing her out on her own terms with treats. Otherwise, drape a towel over her and then pick her up.

Someone else may have better advice for actually training her to stop...


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## lilspaz68 (Feb 24, 2007)

Cage territorialism can be a bit tricky, but you just cannot give her an opportunity to bite. Time and learning to trust you is key in this, eventually the bites will turn to nips then hopefully licks, although you may endure a few more bites through inattention on your part :

She is obviously telling you to stay away from her territory and is protecting her friend too. Work on her outside of the cage...let her learn you are her friend outside and eventually the behaviour will transfer to inside the cage. It could take weeks or it could take months.


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## daZblu (Apr 10, 2009)

LOL... turns out... Buttons was Preggers! i haven't had a chance to read up on behavioral traits in pregnant rats, but I came back tonight and she had a litter of squeaking pups in her igloo! She's sweetened up a good amount since yesterday too... I guess i'm a grandma now! LOLOL! ;D


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## otterfox (Jun 9, 2008)

daZblu said:


> LOL... turns out... Buttons was Preggers! i haven't had a chance to read up on behavioral traits in pregnant rats, but I came back tonight and she had a litter of squeaking pups in her igloo! She's sweetened up a good amount since yesterday too... I guess i'm a grandma now! LOLOL! ;D


Well, now we know why she was being so bitey, huh? Do you know how many there are yet? You have to put up pictures if you get the chance to too. ;D


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## Stace87 (Jun 24, 2008)

daZblu said:


> LOL... turns out... Buttons was Preggers! i haven't had a chance to read up on behavioral traits in pregnant rats, but I came back tonight and she had a litter of squeaking pups in her igloo! She's sweetened up a good amount since yesterday too... I guess i'm a grandma now! LOLOL! ;D


I hope they all do well. Check they all have milk bands  - a band on white on their bellies = feeding fine as that's milk in their tummies, in case you wondered what on earth I was babbling about lol

Do you plan on keeping any?


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## daZblu (Apr 10, 2009)

UPDATE: 

I've taken a head count: I have 11 pups in total!
Also: Whiskers is also beginning to look round at the middle and has already started nursing pups. Unless these are sympathy pains, i'm guessing she's about to have a litter of her own... I'm going to have 20+ pups... Yee Gods...

If all goes well, i'd like to keep 2 females.. Otherwise.. Anyone want Baby blue dumbos? haaaalp!


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## natluvsrats (Apr 15, 2009)

i'd _*love*_ a baby blue dumbo!!!! ;D *raises hands*


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## lovesasa (Apr 4, 2009)

I would love one, but we'd have to figure out how to get it all the way to Colorado. :/


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## daZblu (Apr 10, 2009)

A further update to my update: Whiskers has also given birth to a litter: she had 13 eepers. I now have a total of 24 Ratties. 

Buttons's litter: i miscounted, she had 9:
2 Hooded ratties
2 White? (eepers are big enough to show fuzz and these are still a pale pink)
5 blue.


On a sadder note: Buttons seems to have developed a hatred for my hands. She's starting to "huff" at me through the cage bars, and snapped at my face.. AFTER climbing out onto my arm to explore..

she climbed out of the cage, onto my sweatshirt arm into my sweatshirt pocket, out again
onto my arm, up towards my shoulder, sniffed towards my face, took a SNAP, then climbed down again, saw my hand and went CHOMP: drawing lots of blood and taking a sizeable chunk out of my hand. I don't think i was menacing her. Any ideas as to why she's so angry/defensive?


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## daZblu (Apr 10, 2009)

OH: FYI: i separated the 2 females after Whiskers gave birth to a litter.. Could this be contributing to Buttons's bitey-ness?


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## Stace87 (Jun 24, 2008)

daZblu said:


> Any ideas as to why she's so angry/defensive?


Protective of her babies?


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## rattiesrock (Apr 19, 2009)

She's probably wanting you to stay away from her babies. Most animals trun very aggressive when their kids are involved...well, humans do, too...so yeah.


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