# New Rat Keeps Biting My Ears!



## Little Bit (Jul 25, 2014)

My boy Gadget, whom I've had a for over two weeks now has now bitten my ears three times and given them a seriously hard nibble a few other times, I squeak and tell him no when he even gets near them, but then he'll hop on my shoulder, show no interest in my ears then just bite! He does not bite anywhere else, just my ears, and only during free range time, not during me handling him. He still doesn't trust me entirely, but he does like me, as he likes to sit in my lap during free range time and refuses to even go near my boyfriend. I don't want to live in fear of him biting my ears though! It hurts and it's a mess. I don't wear any jewelry aside from one necklace and he doesn't really bother it so it's not earrings. I'm not sure what it is/


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## Pandorascaisse (Mar 12, 2014)

Hm. This is going to sound pretty strange, but what about swabbing your ears with hydrogen peroxide? (I know some people use it regularly for ear infections/cleaning, but some people don't and are always shocked when I suggest it, haha).

There might be something on/in your ears that he doesn't like - but the hydrogen peroxide will dissolve any wax or anything you might have on/around your ear. It'll also probably smell pretty not-pleasant to him, so that might deter him as well.

Just be sure to wipe off your ear with some soap and/or warm water afterwords to make sure he doesn't ingest any if he does decide to nibble.

It's the best "safe" deterrent I can think of, until someone more experienced presents a better idea


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## Little Bit (Jul 25, 2014)

I'll give it a try, honestly my boyfriend and I are starting to think that he's part wild or something. He's never been overly friendly, and I don't mind that, honestly I just want him to stop biting my ears! 

I have heard of the hydrogen peroxide thing, I've actually done it before. The thing is he bites the lobes, and he only ever does it during free range time. If I'm walking around with him on my shoulder he'd rather try skydiving than mess with my ears. He hops up onto my shoulder and will hang out, not bother them, then bite! If he's independent and never fully trusts me, that's fine, I can deal with that, it's who he is, but I'd like my ears to remain intact. :\


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## rubysrats (Jul 28, 2014)

One of my boys is obsessed with licking my ears, i'm always having to pull him out of there! He can get overly excited with grooming too (licks and nibbles quite hard). I wonder if he might like your ears. Is he biting hard enough to break the skin?


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## Little Bit (Jul 25, 2014)

Yes, he's broken the skin a few times and there's always blood all over both of us. He does not groom before hand, nor examine them, he just bites them.


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## Rat Daddy (Sep 25, 2011)

Bop him with love in your heart. And shout NO! Don't punish him, but make sure he knows you ears are not treats. He doesn't sound aggressive, just confused.


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## ksaxton (Apr 20, 2014)

This might look silly, but you could wear earmuffs to protect your ears  whenever mine try to bother me and I'm not in the mood I just push them away 


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## Little Bit (Jul 25, 2014)

I'll feel bad bopping him, but if it's what I have to do. :\


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## jeriibearii (Jul 26, 2014)

My little girl Maya (I've had her about 2 wks now) is the same way. A little skiddish but still friendly. Jumps on me, grooms my hands, etc except she has bitten me twice in the nipples! I was wearing a shirt obviously but no bra and was just holding her.. She did it and I was so shocked (obviously!) that I grabbed her and just put her in her cage. Luckily I don't think it's harmed our growing relationship.. But I do remember to put a bra on now! Just thought I would share.. Some times you'll never know what's going on in your little ratty's mind lol!


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## ksaxton (Apr 20, 2014)

jeriibearii said:


> My little girl Maya (I've had her about 2 wks now) is the same way. A little skiddish but still friendly. Jumps on me, grooms my hands, etc except she has bitten me twice in the nipples! I was wearing a shirt obviously but no bra and was just holding her.. She did it and I was so shocked (obviously!) that I grabbed her and just put her in her cage. Luckily I don't think it's harmed our growing relationship.. But I do remember to put a bra on now! Just thought I would share.. Some times you'll never know what's going on in your little ratty's mind lol!


The same thing happened to me, and my rat has never bitten me before! It was the weirdest thing! Now I remember never to let her crawl up my shirt if I'm not wearing a bra 


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## isabelleharris (Jul 15, 2014)

My oldest girl does this. Shes bit my ear on the upper part and drew blood. I was shocked and confused but shes tried many more times. She not allowed near my ears anymore. She doesnt like being held so im ok with it


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## mimsy (Jun 8, 2014)

Mine don't bite, but they hate it if I don't clean my ears. If they get waxy they will try and scrap it with their teeth. And though it doesn't draw blood or anything it's not comfy. So..I keep my ears clean lol and no problems.


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## Little Bit (Jul 25, 2014)

Well 20 minutes into free range time, and a gentle flick later no bites yet! He doesn't like getting on my shoulder after I flicked him but that's ok. He and Gizmo are begging baby puffs from me. They shouldn't be getting so many, but I'm using it as a bonding experience for them, especially Gadget. He's learning by touching the treat container I'll fish one out for him. He's even groomed me a bit, it was probably because I had lotion on my hands but hopefully this will open some doors for us.


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## Bronte18 (Jun 2, 2014)

Please do not bop him on the head, that is one of the silliest things I've ever heard being recommended on here especially since there may be a reason since it is directly the ears and no where else which would suggest that he's not doing this out of aggression. Anyway, there are many factors that could be causing this, my baby girls are extremely interested in my ears also and love nibbling on them when they are out, if I don't like it I will not allow them to sit on my shoulder or they will have a time out, as soon as he does it say NO in a firm voice and place him in his cage (don't start screaming no or don't say anything else during this time) after 10 or so minutes go back and try again, he will finally get the point that it is not acceptable. I've been able to tame one of the most aggressive rats who was badly abused and neglected in to a sweet loving little boy without ever having to inflict pain or bop him on the head, that's the answer for someone who's not willing to be consistent and work hard to achieve an end result. I hope things are improving and good luck.


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## Little Bit (Jul 25, 2014)

Last ten minutes and no bites. This is the first time he hasn't even nibbled since he started this whole biting thing. I still don't trust him and keep a very close eye on him when he's on my shoulders but it's a start. He's even letting me pet him some while I type this. Hopefully this is the start of something good. He's not big on people, and I don't think he ever will be, but as long as he's happy and not biting me, we're good. He also just laid down on his side, closed his eyes and let me stroke him. I'm amazed!


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## Little Bit (Jul 25, 2014)

Quick video of him letting me love on him. He was much more relaxed the first time, but I wanted to share. Gadget is my independent crazy who doesn't need me. The voices in the background are my boyfriend and our friend Spencer making a pillow for Spencer's Gf on my sewing machine. He even went limp when I picked him up to go back to his cage. It's like a 180!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=euK79EiCTnQ&feature=youtu.be


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## webspinnr (Jul 27, 2014)

My boy suddenly went after my lip a couple times the other day, drawing blood. I remembered RatDaddy's advice about bopping but not hard enough to cause pain and bopped him on the head, then held him close and cuddled him. He never bit again. Sometimes rats just like to test to see what you'll let them get away with. Although my experience with rats is limited, RatDaddy's advice and threads have ALWAYS worked for me and experience with other training tells me that putting them in the cage if they bite would be a BAD idea unless you were CERTAIN they are so well bonded to you that removal of you IS upsetting to them. Otherwise you're literally training them to associate making you go away with biting and they could start to see getting to go back to the safe cage and not be bothered a reward for biting.


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## Rat Daddy (Sep 25, 2011)

The head bop (with love in your heart) was actually developed by my daughter when she was 5 years old. It wasn't meant to punish a rat, it was just a little girls honest way of communicating she didn't like something our rat was doing. It definitely wasn't hard or with malicious intent, and I was just about to put my foot down and put an end to it when our rat got the message and instantly changed what it was doing... and there were clearly no hard feelings. Usually the play wasn't even interrupted, other than NO! bop, behavior corrected, play continued uninterrupted. 

Yup, it looked like a pretty silly idea to me too that a rat could understand something as simple as a little bop and correct it's behavior on the spot... If I hadn't seen it with my own eyes I wouldn't have believed it, but it works a treat until the rat realizes you aren't really ever going to hit him for real then it stops working... So don't use the technique too often or your rat will call your bluff and you can't hit him or her for real. That would be wrong in most situations.

Some things might seem silly to us humans, but they do work with rats. And if I think about it, my rats are best friends, but they still pounce on or push each other every now and then when they are annoyed at one another and want to get their friend to stop doing something they don't like... I guess it's just one of those rat things.

Remember, it's communication and not punishment and always tempered with love in your heart. Your just saying NO in a way a rat can understand not getting vengeance.

I never tried rat time outs... I never even tried them with my daughter... As a psychology major from the 1970's and 1980's, when rat running was the thing to do, I never saw a single study that even remotely suggested that caging a rat for time out would improve it's behavior.. If there's something more recent, I'd be interested in reading it and if time outs work for someone they should keep doing them...


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## Little Bit (Jul 25, 2014)

Urg! Last night he went after my boyfriends ears since he gets a swat for messing with mine. I think it's just a thing he does. How can I teach him just because my ears are off limits, doesn't mean others ears are fair game?


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## webspinnr (Jul 27, 2014)

I think it's just repetitive bopping and consistency. Generalization occurs in dogs too. When they learn sit for instance, they learn what that motion means in that room you taught them in. You have to take extra steps to go around to new locations to reinforce that the training means the same anywhere. It may very well be the same for rats. Only give him to people who wouldn't be traumatized by a ear bite, understanding of the risks. However I am not sure if it would be a bigger deterrent if you did it every time because you're Alpha or if it'd be more effective for whomever got bit to do the bopping. On one hand they may not respond as well to a bop from another because they don't know the person but on the other they might learn that all humans have a say over them. I don't know enough about rat psychology to know which way thg would go.


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## Rat Daddy (Sep 25, 2011)

Rats don't generalize like humans or dogs do. When you teach a rat that your chair is chair as in come to chair or go to chair, they think that your chair is chair... and have no clue what you would call any other chair... they don't draw the association that humans do as they don't particularly sit on chairs... When I taught Fuzzy Rat not to eat a wire, she just turned around and snipped another one. One wire was safe but all of the others in my office were at risk... It's not your rat being stubborn, it's just the way your rat understands the world.

So it's not cool to bite your ears, but other ears are still fair game... Which you might have to fix one ear at a time...

But rats can generalize... Fuzzy Rat learned it was fine to pee on pavement, so whenever we put her on my wife's black textured leather chair, which looked like pavement, she peed on it, same with my black textured telephone. Black with a rough texture was good to pee on, that she could generalize... She didn't talk on a telephone or sit in a chair, so she didn't see any distinction there. Fuzzy Rat was that rare rat that was almost 100% consistent in how she behaved, if she did something once she pretty much did it the same way over and over... which made it much easier to understand her thinking. Why would she only pee on one telephone and one chair? Then one day outside when she went to blacktop to pee, it all made sense... But it's an association that took me quite a while to make. And it's been over a year since Fuzzy Rat passed away and the "1" key on my phone still sticks.

So now you have to teach your boy your boyfriends ears are not snacks too... and likely keep him away from other people's ears. Remember, rats learn very specific things and they generalize differently than you do.

Best luck.


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## Bronte18 (Jun 2, 2014)

Well from my experience of owning rats I've trained rats to discontinue behaviours without bopping, therefore proving that there is no need for bopping in order to get your point across. I've also graduated from a psychology class and soon to be getting my masters. Doesn't make a difference what education you have it's all about experience. My point is there is other ways than swatting a rat on the head, I just think people give up too easily. Also when I say time out I'm talking about putting them in a bare travel carrier or a small cage not their original cage. I'm sure thre are plenty of rat enthusiasts out there who have also tried the no bopping theory and had success.


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## Bronte18 (Jun 2, 2014)

Method not theory ugh!


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## ksaxton (Apr 20, 2014)

Bopping never worked for my rats either. I tried, and they just didn't understand, and they didn't care they were getting bopped. Naydeen usually doesn't listen to me unless I use my "mom is serious" voice. One of my rats is a hopeless case, he is constantly getting into trouble and no matter what I try, it all goes in one ear and out the other. I just have to keep after him, it's the only way to stop him. Whenever I see him about to do something bad, I run over and physically stop him. Maybe ever time your rat tries to go for the ears, you can push him away or set him somewhere else. 


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## Rat Daddy (Sep 25, 2011)

As I said, I have no issues with folks that have methods that work for them. And very likely there are many ways to communicate that a rat will understand. That said, I really have never seen a study that used a time out to modify rat behavior. It might make for an interesting master's thesis though. I certainly would be happy to read it with an open mind.

And yes, with rats that know I'm a soft touch and would never hurt them the rat bop is more of an annoyance to them than a real deterrent... When Fuzzy Rat was chewing through the carpet I tried bopping her at least 10 times and she didn't even look up much less stop digging through the carpet... she finally stopped, looked up at me annoyed and weebled away only to finish her hole down to the floor as soon as I walked away. She wasn't quite as sure my daughter wouldn't bop her harder and when I actually wanted to get Fuzzy Rat to stop doing something I called my daughter... I suppose it was the nice dad vs the disciplinarian mom thing. Strangely all of our rats absolutely love my daughter above all else..

For the most part with normal rats the technique works well and it works fast. It involves no pain nor does it cause lasting hurt feelings. I haven't used it often myself but I've seen it work a treat over and over... I also generally raise my voice first and in most cases that works too... 

Certainly I believe that punishing your rat is wrong as it is likely to cause your rats to fear you because they may not associate the punishment with their behavior and therefore wind up becoming anxious, nor do I advocate rat abuse of any kind as in inflicting real pain or injury for any reason... I prefer rewarding good behaviors before discouraging inappropriate ones in most cases...

If bopping or even swatting in extreme cases makes someone uncomfortable and they have another method, by all means they should do that... It's just one tool in the tool box to use or not use... 

My dad used pipe wrenches, C-Clamps, socket wrenches, ring and open ended wrenches, pliers, and two bench vises. He hated vice grips and got to be 91 years old, he called them a cheat... I have 5 assorted vice grips and they are sometimes my tool of choice although I have all of the other tools too... I think my dad borrowed my vise grip once as it was the only tool for the job, and I actually prefer to use the right wrench for a bolt that isn't stripped, but when my vice grips can make my job easier and faster I don't hesitate... I once had an exhaust clamp break and I clamped the pipe back into place with a vise grip in order to get home, 3 years later I found the same vise grip still holding up the exhaust pipe having forgotten about replacing the clamp when I got around to it, and that tool is still in my box... I suppose it might be a cheat, if you look at it that way. I could have towed the car home and put on the right clamp, but clipping on the vice grip and driving with it for 3 years worked just as well. It saved me a $100.00 tow and a $2.50 clamp, so I might argue it was the right tool for the job.

Whatever gets the job done... IMHO, no tool is a cheat if it works faster or requires less effort, and that's coming from a guy with a 6 horsepower compressor and air tools in the basement... and yes, my dad had a breaker bar and a six foot pipe extension to do the same job. Either way the lug nut always came off. 

I might still have my great aunt's rug beater somewhere in the attic, I once tried the rug beater just for fun and it did work as I choked on the dust, but I'll use the Electrolux any day, call me a cheat if you want.


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## Cj_nycfootball (Jul 27, 2020)

Bronte18 said:


> Well from my experience of owning rats I've trained rats to discontinue behaviours without bopping, therefore proving that there is no need for bopping in order to get your point across. I've also graduated from a psychology class and soon to be getting my masters. Doesn't make a difference what education you have it's all about experience. My point is there is other ways than swatting a rat on the head, I just think people give up too easily. Also when I say time out I'm talking about putting them in a bare travel carrier or a small cage not their original cage. I'm sure thre are plenty of rat enthusiasts out there who have also tried the no bopping theory and had success.


Hurf durf I am better than you all, I have a degree in HUMAN psychology. My answer is the only possible solution to ever exist because I’m the best!


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## Rex the Rat (Apr 7, 2020)

Cj_nycfootball said:


> Hurf durf I am better than you all, I have a degree in HUMAN psychology. My answer is the only possible solution to ever exist because I’m the best!


And why is Rat Daddy any better?


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## a1phanine (Mar 27, 2018)

Heh I pin my boy nimbus when he does the naughties, just pretend you're a bigger rat and do what they would do


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