# do female rats ever settle down?



## twindads (Jun 8, 2017)

thanks to help from the forums, the other day i learnt that my two 'boys' were actually girls, which has actually upset me a tad.
the reason i wanted to get rats, more specifically male rats, is because i wanted a more lazy lap pet that i can just pet, which is what i had when i was younger when i had male rats. 
knowing that i now have females, and they likely wont ever be cuddly until theyre old, and will always be skatty and wild is made me feel a little disappointed  i also dont know if ill be able to keep up with their energy. i dont really want to get rid of them or take them back to the lying pet store, as theyre my responsibility now. i was even considering adopting a male rat & neutering him to keep him with the girls lol, but then 3 rats would be too much!!!

so will these girls ever be cabale of settling down and be loving & cuddly?


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## writingonwalls (Oct 1, 2016)

Short answer: it depends, but in some ways yes. I'm sorry that the pet store told you the wrong sex- only females have nipples and males will very early on show their scrotum. I have two female rats. One loves to run around and play while the other is completely content cuddling, riding on my shoulder, and sleeping next to me. I would look at this as a positive experience and not assume that the female rats will fail to be cuddly. Female rats are very friendly and sweet, like males. They are more active, but still spend a lot of their day sleeping and relaxing. Some positives are that female rats tend to mark less than males, they are very fun to train with tricks, are smaller than males, and are very, very fun to watch! Give these sweeties a chance and I'm sure they will capture your heart. I thought Alice was a male at first because she was more cuddly than normal. You'll see their personalities soon enough and I'm sure they already love you very much.

As a side note, it is not a good idea to get a male rat if you are planning on neutering him to keep with girls. The procedure can be dangerous and sometimes deadly for the poor guy.


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## Shadow <3 (Jan 25, 2017)

Female rats do settle down. In my experience, the stereotype of them staying "skaty" and not being "cuddly" is WAY off. All my adult females will occasionally settle down for a cuddle with me. They also like to sleep in my lap/hoody, and they really look forward to seeing me at the cage. All my girls love to lick (although one in particular is a SUPER licky girl <3), and all will follow me around during free-range. None of my girls are skittish now that they're tame, and they actively seek out my attention.

Now of my new 6 week old girls, one is a bit skittish and the other won't stay still for long. But they still greet me at the cage, hop on my hand when it's presented to them, and love to run around on my shoulder and in my shirt. The more confident one sometimes even falls asleep in my lap! <3 I've only had them for a few days, but I'm sure that when they mature, they'll become more affectionate (like my other girls). 

My recently deceased girl Shadow was super cuddly, although she didn't really settle down until about a year old. She was active till the end, but she'd beg for cuddles every day. She was a real sweetie, and easily the most cuddly animal I've ever had.

While your girls are young, you can work on active games (keep in mind that boy rats are usually just as active as girls until they hit the 6 month mark) such as pea diving, chase the string (like a cat), hand wrestling, and trick training. I've found that my new little ones learn super fast, and they've already picked up quite a few tricks!

Other than that, only time will tell how much they'll settle down. But I'm willing to bet that when they get older, they will be cuddly in some way (whether it be sleeping in you, enjoying being pet, licking you, etc.)


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## Coffeebean (Jan 6, 2017)

Very few of my rats, male or female, are too energetic to nap on my lap for most of the day. 3 of my youngest juvenile girls are sleeping on me right now. I have 5 females and 1 neutered male and all of them are energetic when they're outside exploring the room, but they spend most of the day at the computer with me. All but one of my rats (my oldest female) spend almost all of the day sleeping on me while I'm doing my own thing. 

I know females and young rats in general are very energetic, but most of the female rats I've had, no matter the age, are very relaxed and lazy when I sit in my chair with them. From the first day that I get my rats I have them hang out with me in my onesie or under a blanket for hours every day and they have learned that nothing exciting is going to happen when I bring them to my desk with me. The only exceptions tend to be those who are so independent by nature that they will just hop off the chair and do their own thing, but they still come back to me and climb around on me and the chair every once in awhile while they explore. Currently, that would be my 1 oldest girl. I think that subscribing female rats as being energetic and too crazy to handle much tends to really just encourage them to be that way in most cases.


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## twindads (Jun 8, 2017)

thats extremely good to hear!! they are only young at the moment so i hope they do become cuddlier. will they slow down too? as they are way way too fast for me, especially when im trying to catch them & put them back in their cage. zip and theyre gone lmao, i dont remember any of my boys being so quick


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## Shadow <3 (Jan 25, 2017)

They'll slow down some as they age and adjust to the area. Your best bet is to train a solid "come" (easily done by making a certain noise or shaking a treat bag each time before giving a treat), and use it everyday. Be sure to sometimes call them over just to give a treat, and then let them explore more. Otherwise, being the smart creatures they are, they'll learn that your "come" just means they'll be going back to the cage.

I train all my girls a come noise (mine is a "kissy" noise) as soon as we start free-ranging, making catching them as easy as calling and waiting for them to come.

Lastly, be sure they're hand tame before free-ranging, as if they're already skittish, catching them will be much harder than catching a tame rat. All my tame girls will stand still or amble towards me when I stand up in the free-range area, and most of the time they beg to be picked up (they're pretty curious to see where I'm going ).


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## HobieFinchArthur (Jun 18, 2016)

My oldest girly has always been pretty cuddly. I'd always had boys before (because I wanted laprats) but out of 12 of them only a couple were what I'd consider cuddly with me. 

I'm still getting used to my group of girls but I'm finding it really fun. Because they're a lot more agile I find they spend more time climbing on me than my boys ever did (Bea in particular enjoys touring the house on my shoulder) but as always it depends totally on the rat. Definitely a lot different with girls but not necessarily in a bad way


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