# Do rats jump?



## babyblues (Nov 18, 2011)

Kinda silly question....but I don't have rats yet. Do rats jump? For example, will they jump off your shoulder if they are scared? We held one the other day and it was nervous and I was holding it carefully but I was nervous if I let it crawl up to my shoulders it might jump and run away??


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## stephaniechung (Mar 9, 2010)

Rats can jump, yes. Will they jump off your shoulder? Not really. They might try to climb down but I've never in my experience have a rat just jump off. I've even had active baby rats (around 3 weeks) just run up my arm and when I stood up, they just sniffed around but didn't jump off or anything. They're smart animals. They know when they're high up (most of the time).


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## mjp1036 (Sep 16, 2011)

I have only had one time when when one of my girls jumped off of my shoulder. There was a loud bang in my room (I don't remember what caused it) and it frightened her so much that she jumped backwards off of my shoulder onto the ground. She was ok afterwards, just scared. Other than that one time neither of my rats have ever jumped off of my shoulder. They won't even jump off of my couch which is 1-2ft from the floor.


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## sonicboom (Sep 3, 2011)

They are confident at jumping up.. between 2 and 3ft high... not so much at going down. They'll also jump from one thing to another if they really want to go there.


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## roombalicious (Nov 22, 2011)

Once a rat gets to know you, they will probably never run away from you. If theres a loud noise it might send them skitting. Mine only jump if they're having a bath or if they want to get from one surface to another. Hah, but couch and bed wise, mine tend to slide down the fabric to the floor.


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## Maltey (Jun 26, 2011)

As was said, they don't tend to jump down- more up or across.
I do have a rat that likes to abseil down me though!


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