# Having a bit of trouble.



## eururongs (Aug 6, 2014)

I was attempting to get the rest of the account opened so that I could post to the proper thread, but it's not working well for me and I'm rather worried. This will be a long post.

I made the mistake of getting a pet rat before I read anything about them. I had gone into the store to get a pet hamster because I was lonely and wanted a pet that I could have and the only thing I'm able to keep is a small animal (nothing like a cat or dog). This little fellow caught my eye almost immediately and I made a quick decision to get him then and there. I brought him home that day after having read very little on the subject of rats and behavior and their needs and I'll be the first to admit that it was the wrong thing to do. I was very much impatient and I should have waited and gotten two rats instead of just one. 

This brings about another issue. 

I am absolutely terrified of being bitten. I'm not sure why. I've read all over that rats do not bite generally unless they feel threatened or are harmed, but there is such a huge part of me that is scared still. I've only had D.O. for a week now and every day I spend up to 5 hours with his cage door open and me sitting beside him as I let him crawl around a secure area on the floor. At first, he wouldn't come out and I know that I've made progress a bit because he'll come to me now and sit on my stomach/lap as he eats a few treats, but a lot of the time, he'll retreat to a corner of the room or back to his cage which I've been told is perfectly normal. But I am so, so scared to feed him with my hands. I place the treat on the sleeve of my hoodie to give it to him or I place it onto my lap so that he can pick it up. I've only ever had enough courage to let him eat directly from my palm twice now and I haven't been able to let him eat anything from between my fingers. He hasn't displayed any signs of aggression as of yet, though he can be jumpy a bit which I'm wondering if it is normal because he's still in a new environment and is getting used to me. He crawls on me from time to time and allows me to pet him every now and then (when he's eating treats), which I'm hoping is a good sign. 

Long story short about the above material: is there any advice any of you can give me about being so scared? Is there anything that you think I may be doing wrong aside from having only one rat and keeping my hands and feet away from him, and is there an estimated time frame on how long it could take a rat to become used to you?

I've read so many different articles, posts, threads, etc., on rats and I know that they require a lot of time, especially if you only have one. I'm very worried that I'm not doing things properly or that I'm not going to give him a good enough home. I also wanted to ask for advice on getting another rat. Should I wait until D.O. has gotten used to me and I've overcome this fear of being bitten or should I get one immediately? And if I'm to get one immediately, should I allow them both to become used to me before I put them together or would that defeat the entire purpose?

Any advice or help would be much appreciated, really. I'm so so sorry for having posted this directly into the say hello area, but.. I'm honestly very stressed out about this because I don't want to harm him in any way.


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## sgreenlovesyoutoo (Aug 6, 2014)

I'm not a rat expert, but since no one has replied I will give you the little advice I can give:
Since he's allowing you to pet him, I would say he'll be your friend soon if you're just persistent and get over the biting thing. He hasn't bit you yet, so I doubt he will unless you make him scared. If you really have to, wear padded gloves. You won't feel a thing in those. 
And you should get him a friend but I hear the process of introducing a new rat is very complicated so you'll have to read up on that. If you do get a new rat, get one from a breeder.


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## Mrs.Brisby (Jan 4, 2014)

How old is he? The longer you wait to get another rat the harder it will be to introduce them. What kind of cage is he in? If it makes you feel any better rats have been bred for a very long time to be docile creatures. Just think about lab rats, they were bred to not bite even when being jabbed with needles. If he hasn't displayed any aggressive/scared behavior that would suggest he might bite you, then I would stop worrying so much. With the exception of rats that have medical problems which affect behavior, rats do not bite randomly. They will give you plenty of signs and warnings. You should read up on rat behavior so that you can understand him better. Maybe that will put your mind at ease.


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## eururongs (Aug 6, 2014)

Thank you guys very much for responding at all. I appreciate it a lot. The encouragement is nice to hear  As for his age, he's a few months old is what I was told by the employee at the pet store. They weren't very specific but I'm assuming 3-4 months? I plan to adopt a rat or go through a breeder for the next one. At the moment, he's in a single level cage with a hideout area and a few toys. Nothing extravagant just yet, but I've got another very large, three level cage stashed at my parent's house to use when they can ship it to me. I know that he's more than likely not going to bite me ever but I'm an extremely jumpy person in general (unfortunately) so it's just one of those things I'm paranoid about. It's silly and he hasn't shown any signs of aggression whatsoever so far. Again, thank you guys so much!


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## PawsandClaws (Jul 22, 2014)

I would only suggest that you hold off on getting him a friend until you feel comfortable with him. On the subject of being afraid of him, I would just bite the bullet and start handling him with your hands. The quicker you are able to feed him from your fingers, pet him, touch him etc the faster he will get accustomed to being handled by you. If you are still afraid of him you might want to consider re-homing him before getting him a friend. Rats are not pets for everyone and as much as I hate seeing a lone rat, the idea of two rats you are afraid to touch is not very appealing either. I sympathize but I think you need to do what is best for him and try very hard to conquer your unease. Good Luck.


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## RadiantRatties (Jul 28, 2014)

If you are that afraid of him, he can tell. And your anxiety will just add to his. Just try to be brave and grab him. Tell yourself that you will not be afraid of him, and if he can't sense your fear, he will be less afraid of you as well. 


Sent from Petguide.com Free App


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## DustyRat (Jul 9, 2012)

You could also watch some YouTube videos on pet rats. Look up Howcast. This guy has some good videos on rats.


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## eururongs (Aug 6, 2014)

I ended up trying to handle him with my bare hands today and he bit me. It wasn't aggressive though it did draw a bit of blood, and I'm sure it was because my hands smelled of food. I'm no more scared than I was before and I plan to take him to visit with someone tomorrow who has offered to help show me how to handle him. He's acting like his usual self still and crawling on me occasionally, so hopefully I can overcome this. I don't want to rehome him unless it's my last option. He may not be super attached to me just yet, but I definitely am (even if I'm scared of him).


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## PawsandClaws (Jul 22, 2014)

Having someone show you how to handle him sounds like a good first step. I am glad his nibbles are not going to deter you from progress. It is great to hear that you are giving it your all. I am sure that things will improve for the both of you. Have you tried feeding him baby food on your fingers or a spoon?


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## Jaguar (Nov 15, 2009)

For future reference, the list for the 3 post rule updates once per hour - if you made your 3rd post at 4:15, you'd have to wait until 5 for full permissions. You should be good to go now, but I've moved this thread to behavior anyways.


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## Rat Daddy (Sep 25, 2011)

It's true a certain sense of confidence keeps you from getting bitten. But if in doubt wear heavy gloves or oven mitts.

I worked with someone some time ago who was afraid of her rat and then got him a friend so now she was afraid of two rats, it wasn't much of an improvement. It was a pretty strange immersion session as she spent the time hiding in the corner as her rat poked at her to make friends... it eventually worked out though. 

Getting someone with experience to help you will be a very good idea.


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## eururongs (Aug 6, 2014)

Thank you for informing me of the rules! I apologize for having been so impatient. 

Things have been going well today! He has nipped at my hands a few times, but it's all been after I've fed him. He seems to be getting a bit more accustomed to me and I'm definitely getting more comfortable around him. Thank you all for your advice.


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## PawsandClaws (Jul 22, 2014)

Congratulations on the progress! I hope things keep going up for you


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## Lita (Jul 10, 2014)

When we got our first two I was so scared of being bitten. Eventually I just stuck my hand in the cage and let them nibble and investigate. The worst is Cricket but she is the youngest and she can be way to rough sometimes. I boop her nose and she has learned really quickly not to. I always viewed rats as less bitey then hamsters but still rather nippy. Took me a few weeks of having our girls to think diffrently. Thankfully my fiancee was less worried and they got lots of attention while I trained myself. Now we have five girls and I am not afried of any of the new girls. And we've only had these new ones a little over a week. I get being scared of being bitten though! I thought I was a really bad rat mama at first. Someone probubly mentioned but I learned the hard way, never feed through the bars! XD yeah...made that mistake after i thought Cricket had learned to be gentle...and within two days she would randomly dive for my fingers if they were by the bars. XP so now I am retraining her for that. Thankfully none of the others have bad manners.


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## eururongs (Aug 6, 2014)

We seemed to be doing well and he was out of his cage and sitting next to me and I went to pet him and he lunged for my hand and bit my finger pretty badly. I'm not really sure why (my hands were clean and he had been fine before) but I now feel as if I'm back to square one, or even farther back. This is the second time he has done this now and I'm terrified to handle him. I'm worried that he may not ever be comfortable with me and I'm really not sure what to do.


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## PawsandClaws (Jul 22, 2014)

I just wanted to ask, how is his eyesight? My older rescue boy Bear is 2 years old and has severely bad vision so that any sudden petting will spook him enough that he will nip. If you move slowly with him and give him a lot of vocal cues to your presence then Bear will not usually bite but I thought it might be something worth considering with your boy.


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## eururongs (Aug 6, 2014)

His eyesight seems to be on the normal side. He can see treats and my hand and he chases pieces of fabric around when I play with him. I was speaking to him before I pet him and when my hand touched his fur, he leaned away then turned to lunge. I was petting towards his middle back. Is that an area that he may not like to be touched? And is it possible that I was disturbing him? 

Honestly, I get the feeling that it may be _me_. I returned to where I got him from and the woman who had handled him before was petting him and he began bruxing and his eyes boggled and he seemed so happy and calm, but when I get him out, he's jumpy sometimes and it could be that he's not fully used to me just yet. I'd hate to assume, though.


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## Mischief (Jun 27, 2014)

The situation may be different for you, but I have a jumpy/nervous rat as well that I'm working with to get her used to me. What I do is I wait until she's settled herself in a spot she feels safe (a drawer in my end table, under the hidey I keep on top of the cage, tucked away in a towel, etc.) Then I place my hand near the opening of the space, leaving her enough room to leave if she's too afraid. Then I slowly move my hand towards her. It's very important my fingers reach her face first, because she sways her head a lot and I know that means she has poor vision. It's important she can smell me coming before I touch her. When I do eventually touch her, I just use a finger to gently massage her by her head and neck. Eventually I can start petting her with my whole hand, a little at a time. If I want to pick her up, I gradually move my hand like a scoop under belly, petting her the whole time. It takes a lot of patience and time, but she's slowly becoming more comfortable with it. Just now she groomed my fingernails for me while I did it.  When I first started handling her she squealed every single time and would leap from my hands. Now she still tries to get out of my hand, but she doesn't squeal and doesn't cut me up in the process.

Just remember that he has a personality, just like people. Some people like to be approached one way, some people don't like that particular way. With some time and understanding I'm sure the two of you will learn more about each other and figure out what works and what doesn't. Just give it time, and definitely try engaging in some activities to build your relationship.

EDIT: As for what you were saying about his previous handler, I'm sure he remembers her and that would be way he was more comfortable. Rats absolutely bond to people. Don't worry too much, with time I'm sure he'll bond to you as well.


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