# my rat hates me :(



## ariana (Jul 24, 2008)

hello everyone! i am new to this forum and to rat keeping. i just bought my first rat almost 3 weeks ago now, and he is now almost 10 weeks old.
ive never kept rats before but the woman at the pet store said it was fine to get 1, so long as we gave him lots of attention...

so anyways, for thee first two weeks, everything was fine, he was so delightfull, freindly, cuddly, he would lick my fingers / lips, and do litte pretend bites / put his teeth on my fingers, but not hurt me.

then all of a sudden, hes started biting us! first time he was sitting on my fiance's chest, then ran up and bit him on the lip! then next time he did the same to me.. first he licked then he like ran at my face and bit my lip! he has done that to me twice now, then a couple days later he bit my finger when i went to take him out of his cage.. now we cannot even get near him he bits us every tim we try to handle him and hard! like draws lots of blood typ of biting.

i dont know what to do  i spent so much time with him every day and then out of nowhere he has sarted attacking us..

any ideas? im feeling frustrated and lost for ideas.


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## phaidraft (Apr 9, 2008)

I'm sure someone can explain this better to you, but I know that when I first got Lizzy, she bit me once on the lip and twice on the eye lid. I don't know what caused it, but I just don't let her near my face anymore. I figure there was something about the movement that startled her.

And the woman at the pet store was very mistaken, rats do need a friend to be truly happy. Your attention will never add up to what a rattie friend can give your baby.


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## ariana (Jul 24, 2008)

i was thinking about getting him a friend... but was a little conserned.. his behavior is so bad now that i wonder if i put another rat in there.. will he attack it like he attacks us? or would it mellow him out? im really upset i feel like i lost my little friend  i would have absoloutly bought 2 in the first place had i been given better advice


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## Stace87 (Jun 24, 2008)

It's not after you've been eating or drinking is it? Cos I know mine run up to sniff and try to lick my lips when they smell something yummy.


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## kilas_rattery (Jul 25, 2008)

Try washing your hands with antibacterial soap before trying to handle him. Do you have any other pets also? He may smell other pets on you and sees that as a threat and that could be why he is biting. Try changing clothes also before handling, something that doesn't have perfume smells or smells of other animals. Take him into a room where no other animal has been also, like the bathroom and see how he does.


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## lilspaz68 (Feb 24, 2007)

Young rats go through a mouthy phase around 3 months old. Has anyone told you to eeep loudly when he nips or bites? he doesn't know any better on when he's hurting you and eeping is rat language for "Owww! Stop that!"

don't let him near your face, some rats will nip ears, lips, really got nutso for eyelashes (they ARE like feathers), etc.

Is he biting only in the cage, or when you have him out. Does he sneaky bite, or lunge for your hand, slash or crunch? Has anything changed in his environment or his life to unsettle him? Is anyone rough when they handle him? How do you pick him up?


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## ariana (Jul 24, 2008)

thanx lil spaz.... i have heard to eep loudly but that was after ive been bitten, and im too scared to try and pick him up again so i havnt had the chance to try it out. he bites in the cage and out - the out was when he bit our lips, the first couple of times. now we cant even get him out coz he bites.

when he bites he lunges at our hand like a full attack. he chomps down through layers of skin and it bleeds.

nothing has changed in his environment that we are aware of, we did build him a jungle gym to play on hoping it would cure his boredom and maybe change his attitude, but that was after he had already started biting. no1 is rough only my husband and i handle him and when we pick him up, we slide our hand under his belly and lift him up that way.

i tried again yesterday with him for he first time in days...
i talked to him pet him gently, then i placed my hand infront of him for him to sniff / come to me and he kept turning his head to the side like he was gonna bite so i just pulled my hand away.

i really dont know what to do, it seems cruel for him to be in that cage by himself al day every day and never come out, but he wont let us get near him.
my husband tried to pick him up yesterday with a glove on and he just kept running away.

today i decided i think im gonna buy him a rat friend, to see if that changes his behavior at all.... do you think this will help??


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## Caity (Apr 1, 2008)

Yes. The longer rats spend alone, the more frustrated they get, and they become less and less social with humans. Because he has displayed aggression you might consider getting two friends in case his issue also turns out to extend to other rats, that way if he doesn't accept the new friend, the new friend won't wind up alone too. There is much debate on this forum as to whether it is totally necessary to adopt new rats in pairs because of the relatively low occurrence of peoples' current rats not accepting new cagemates, but most rats do not have aggression issues such as the one you described. If you do get more, whether you decide to go with one or two, make sure you read the threads about quarantine and introductions so you can give it the best chance of going smoothly.


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## ariana (Jul 24, 2008)

well there has been some progress with rattagin... kinda.

i have started taking him out of his home with a glove on. he still tries to attack and bite the glove or run, but once hes out of the cage - totally normal again, doesnt bite, hangs around like he used to, can b picked up. just seems hes agressive in his home. how do i break this? even when he attacks the glove, i eep loudly at him hoping he will stop doing it, i was wondering if anyone has any advice?

we are also starting to introduce him to a new baby, and soon we are buying them a new cage to co-exist in... seeings he currently is in an aquarium.


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## begoodtoanimals (Dec 6, 2007)

Grabbing him while he doesn't like it will only make matters worse. Try to see it from his perspective; you are scared and then they grab you.....Not a lot of incentive to become social. 
You have to start to bribe him with food. Little crumbs so he doesn't snatch them from your hands and then hides to eat them. Put some in his cage while you hold your hand near him in the cage but do not handle the rat. Then sprinkle some crumbs on your sleeves until he gets on there on his own. Practice this as long as you need. Be patient, it can take a week or even more. This is how it worked with my older pet store rat.


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## ariana (Jul 24, 2008)

i have tried numerouse times he will not take food from our hands, no matter what it is, he is not at all interested. and if i leave my hand near him in his cage more than a few seconds, he just attacks my hand....

i just dont understand, he is completly social out of his cage, will run over to me on the bed and climb up on me and all the social cute things he used to do. hes just viciouse in his cage?


its weird coz our new baby who weve only had 3 days will already come to us.
all we have to do is open his cage door and hold our hand there and he will come over and walk onto our hand and lick our hands and be ready to come play.
they have almost opposite personalities


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## Hallie-Mae (Jul 31, 2008)

It sounds like he is being territorial.

I don't want to jump to conclusions here, but there is the possibility of neutering him which will reduce, if not completely erase his territorial and aggressive behaviour. 

However in very, very few cases, rats can continue being territorial and vicious after having been neutered, but this is all down to bad tempermental genetics from bad breeding etc.

Good luck.


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## ariana (Jul 24, 2008)

thanx, i dont think neutering is an option at this point because first of all we havnt found any vets around here who have done rats before 
and second of all we can not afford it right now as we have just come up on a lot of bills.
yesterday him and new baby were playing on the bed, and babys cage was there and open, and he went into babys cage with him, and was not mean or agressive at all, and he is not agressive out of the cage. we are buying them a new cage in the next week so im hoping seeings he wasnt agressive in the other cage, or out of cages, he wont be agressive in the new cage, especially if we let the baby rat establish his territory first.

thanx for all the advice, i do think we are seeing slight and slow improvements in him daily.

also today for the first time.. he took food from me!

it was a peice of dried banana, and although he did snatch it as fast as he could, its the first time hes even considered it!


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## geebus (Jun 23, 2008)

Thats horrid - sorry to hear of the bitey one -


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## beanieboo-rattles (Jan 3, 2008)

There are two ways that i have used to socialise my rats. 

First is the soft and gentle food bribery way. Try getting some baby food or flavoured yougurn on a spoon *make sure there are no chunks!* then he will be forced to sit there to lick it , it will get him used to being in youre prescence. 

The other is force socialisation , for this i put on a long sleeved top then a bulky hooded top. Rats can only hold their fear for 20 minutes so take him out and put him between layers of clothes for half an hour a few times a day. He will feel safer in the hoody and it will acclimatise him to youre scent.


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## radlations (May 24, 2008)

Don't forget you need to have patience. I was in the same position and both of my rats love me now.


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## ariana (Jul 24, 2008)

UPDATE - ratagin is not a totally social, well behaved boy out of his cage, with new loki and even in lokis cage. he only bites in his cage, so i just take him out with a glove on. the fact that he is a good boy in lokis cage makes me feel like once we buy them a new cage, they could definaty co-exist in there very hapily!i can also grab him from lokis cage and he doesnt bite . i guess its juts a weird thing with his home!


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