# Young Male Rat needs home



## lovemyratties (Feb 8, 2012)

Brewster is about 10 months - 1 year old.
He is a VERY sweet but shy guy.
He is VERY needy and I cannot give him all the attention he needs.
At this point he doesn't even like me to hold him.
He squeaks and acts like I am hurting him the whole time.
I don't think he is happy so I am re homing him.
Any one interested please message me!
Thanks!


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## ratjes (Mar 26, 2011)

Why don't _*you*_ try to make him happy? If you want you can always make time. Give him a ratty friend and make sure you do the proper intros. Lone rats are never happy. He needs gentle training with you. don't try to hold him at this point but give him tasty treats so he learns to trust you. You need to take the time. it is a very rewarding process that will make you want to spend time with him/them. if he has a friend you he won't crave your company as much. I got a (lonely) rat like that and now she is the sweetest rat I have ever had (she has a friend now).
Rats like him run a great risk of ending up as snake food. I hope you'll reconsider.


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## lovemyratties (Feb 8, 2012)

I have had him for 6 months and have been working with him. 
I've introduced him to rats but he always gets beat up by them.
I feel that I have tried and I don't know what to do with him.
I am constantly going slow with him and giving him treats and trying to win his affections.


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## ratjes (Mar 26, 2011)

Can't you intro him to a baby male?


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## lovemyratties (Feb 8, 2012)

Possibly but I honestly didn't want anymore rats. I have 4 all together with him.


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## Korra (Dec 11, 2011)

But you wanted to breed? And you keep them all separately? 

You should make a post in meet my rat so we could see everybody you have and get an idea of your dynamics, then maybe we can help ya


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## lovemyratties (Feb 8, 2012)

Alright.
Maybe I just feel overwhelmed. He is a sweet boy he just acts like I am almost like hurting him and he like cowers and screams when I hold him.
I try to give him as much attention as the others but he acts all defensive so I assume he doesn't want it.


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## Korra (Dec 11, 2011)

Yeah, I understand that it is hard to deal with. You just have to keep at it and it will get better some day. But ratjes is right... he will almost defiantly be snake food unless he goes to someone that has patience with rats. I also think that a companion will make a huge difference. 
With the "getting beaten up" is there ever any blood? Cuz if there is not, you can usually just let them sort it out for themselves over a few days. With my girls, I put some butter all over one's fur so the others were too busy licking it off to be territorial.


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## lovemyratties (Feb 8, 2012)

I havent seen blood but he cowers and looks really unhappy.
The other male (well in the case of Atreyu) kept jumping on him and they were squeaking and then Brewster would go cower and go to sleep ad Atreyu would keep jumping on him.


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## Fugitivus (Jan 29, 2012)

For the jumping
My female rats did it to each other constantly. It was very very sad putting the twins in there and seeing them jump all over poor old Biddy. Luckily she could handle it then. She just took it and would go back to the hut when they wouldn't stop. They're going to pick at one another, it's just how things work.  

Otherwise, if you ABSOLUTELY feel that you need to rehome him and can do nothing with him, I'm looking for a rescue male to put with Kingsley. I do live in Arkansas though, so it may be too far. ^_^;; Just throwing it out there, though it would be awesome of you to keep your patience with him. (Kingsley is still the same way. Instead of handling, I let him free roam with me and get down on his level as much as possible. I feed treats that way. He's to the point he accepts pettings and crawls on me, but he'll never be a pocket rat like my Lulu.)


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## lovemyratties (Feb 8, 2012)

Yeah I guess I have just never had this problem and it irks me to have a pet I can't bond with. 
He screams when I hold him and cowers.
I've seen him wag his tail (which I have never seen) and occasionally get on 2 legs and not let me touch him.
He came from a weird re homing situation (was kind of passed around) so I dont know if thats his issue or what.
I might try to home him with Atreyu again, maybe thats just going to be their relationship?


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## ratjes (Mar 26, 2011)

You have to look at it from his point of view and not feel sad when you cannot bond with him. I had a rat that was not bonded to me lie the others were, but I was glad that I was able to give her a good life after the misery she came from. That in itself was satisfying enough for me. He is not going to live forever, you know. take it slow and don't force anything because it will make matters worse. He is just a tiny animal with a ratty brain.


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## Razzbery (Jan 5, 2012)

lovemyratties said:


> I've seen him wag his tail (which I have never seen)


Contradict much? sorry big pet peave of mine.


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## Fugitivus (Jan 29, 2012)

I'd definatly try putting him with Atreyu, let them figure it out. As long as they aren't seriously harming one another. Sooner or later, they'll start to bond at least a little together and join each other in a ratty pile to sleep. 

And it can be irritating to have a ratty that doesn't want to seem to bond with you. Both Kingsley and Biddy are that way, as I think I said. Just keep feeding treats and showing you aren't bad! If his cage isn't already in a room your often in, I'd put it there (if practical). Sit there and read, out loud if it doesn't bother you, get him use to you and your voice.  Its one of the ways we've gotten Kings to accept us fairly well.


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## riotfox (Apr 16, 2010)

i agree, he will need to be introduced to another rat anyways even if rehomed, cuz id say a situation where someone can "replace" a rat friend is rare, the person would need so much time to keep him from getting lonely (and even so he would still be worse off without a friend). just be persistant with intros, because rats need to work out who is the dominant one. personally my theory is that if most rats werent kept alone in the first place, intros wouldnt even be an issue because they would know how to socialise properly!


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## ratjes (Mar 26, 2011)

riotfox said:


> personally my theory is that if most rats werent kept alone in the first place, intros wouldnt even be an issue because they would know how to socialise properly!


Established social groups will still defend their territory against strange rats. Any stranger needs to be introduced in a proper way. It's just the way they are wired. Rats are territorial.


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## A.ngelF.eathers (Jul 6, 2011)

lovemyratties said:


> He came from a weird re homing situation (was kind of passed around)


Well then how fair is it to pass him around again?


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## lilspaz68 (Feb 24, 2007)

Razzbery said:


> Contradict much? sorry big pet peave of mine.


Was this even necessary? She missed saying 'before" but it was implied. Not helpful Razzbery.

As for your boy...

Tail wagging is extreme emotion and usually fear, the rearing up is also fear, the crying out is fear. Its not that he doens't want to bond with you he's just too scared right now to trust, and that's where you begin. Forget intro's with others (that probably set him back in his mind a lot more than anything you did to get him to bond with you). At this point he feels the whole world is out to get him, so let's slow it down a bit. You need to work on him very gently, one on one, never push, watch his body language, and respect when he starts to get too frightened, as his mind will shut down. if you can have him out with you or on you but not always touching him this is best. You are there, not grabbing at him (grasping is a predatory thing to them and they get used to it and trust us eventually), or even touching him. let him watch you and relax. Offer treats and if he won't take them from your hand, put it down near him and back off. Your scent is still on the treat so he will realize its from you eventually. Really frightened rats I usually sit or lie on a chair/couch that they cannot get off of...put a blanket over both of us and let him relax and hopefully start moving around to explore. he's covered up (taking away that instinctual fear of overhead predators like birds of prey), but he's still on or near you, without having to worry about hands (which they are usually very frightened of). It can take time but you can usually reach most rats this way. Once they trust you, they will trust the situations you have put them in (intro's etc).


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## Kiko (Sep 18, 2009)

I understand everyone's concerns, but this area of the forum is for RE-HOMING, not arguing. If anyone has concerns please PM them to the OP, or OP make a new thread in a different section.
Or if you'd like I can move this thread for you,


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## lilspaz68 (Feb 24, 2007)

I didn't realize Kiko, saw someone asking for help so I answered. You might want to move this thread into Behaviour then?


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## Kiko (Sep 18, 2009)

It's no issue , i'll just move it.


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## lovemyratties (Feb 8, 2012)

I am keeping him.
I have decided to just try my hardest. I feel like everyone on here was angry with me for trying to do something I felt was better for him and honestly hard for me even though he doesn't want much to do with me. Obviously if I couldn't find him a home I was going to keep him. 
I am working with him, bought him some toys and some treats and we are working on slowly being positive and social.


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