# Friendly rat randomly attacks face :(



## perhapsimabandit (Dec 3, 2011)

Hello! I have had a pair of female rats for about 6 months now and they have both been super friendly and cuddly. I have had them since they were maybe a month or two old - not sure on their exact age though.

Today my dad was hanging out next to the cage letting the girls sniff around and say hello. He wasn't grabbing them or even picking them up, they came out to explore by choice. Anyway, one of them was sniffing around his glasses and suddenly went for his eye. It was gnarly and it took a minute to get her off of him - not your typical nibble or bite then flee. It was obviously an aggressive, not fear based, bite. Luckily she bit the loose skin just above his eyelid, but there are several bites and a nasty gash.

This is my second pair of rats and (up until now) I thought I had done a pretty good job of socializing them. They have never bitten anyone before and they have been handled by a bunch of different people throughout their life.

I've been reading and it sounds like maybe a hormone issue? 
Thinking back, she did something similar to me a while ago, but I brushed her off. I had actually assumed that she was going to steal my glasses rather than bit me, but maybe she was after my eye too?

If there a reason she would go for eyes specifically? This behavior worries me a lot and I don't know what to do about it. I am concerned about bringing her out again if she is going to randomly attack people - she's such a nice rat though (and one of the best shoulder cuddlers ever!) I don't know what to do and I am really upset that she did that. I didn't really discipline her much as I was worried about Dad (he was bleeding everywhere) but I will be sure to shoo her away next time she is near my face.

She has also been running on her wheel non-stop since it happened, these are rats that get playtime every day for a few hours.


----------



## Kinsey (Jun 14, 2009)

Starlings tend to go for eyes because they're shiny- perhaps that could be a cause?


----------



## mink (Jun 24, 2007)

Wow, sorry I don't have much of a clue here. I've had rats for 11 years now and have only seen a couple cage-aggressive or grabbing through bars cases. 
One girl I had was very sister-defensive, could never ever seem to be cornering one of her sisters, or she would lash out. 
What was her cage-mate doing at the moment? Maybe she felt her friend was threatened? They can also make all sorts of noises at a frequency we can not hear.
Did he just finish eating cheese doodles and rub his eye or something? Maybe the rat was determined to get what she thought had to be something edible?

Sorry I can't be more help.


----------



## perhapsimabandit (Dec 3, 2011)

That is a good thought, but I believe her sister was back in the cage at that point; the cage opens so they can have access to the chair (and whoever is sitting it it) at their leisure without having to drag them out of the cage (a method I devised after one of my old rats got very cage aggressive in her later years. Not a problem these two have, you can reach in and pet and do whatever)

I read on one other forum that some rats tend to nibble at people's eyes, something about eyelashes being really attractive/hunt-able? Anyone heard about that before?

In the rat's defense, I tend not to let them get too friendly with my face, I had stopped watching and she was playing with the elastic cord on Dad's glasses then got too close. It was a _very _aggressive bite though, not your normal nip and run (I think I said that already but MAN, I have never seen a rat do anything like that).

I don't think dominance or anything is an issue, as I can take food away from her with no problems. The only other thing I can think of is that she drew blood on the first nip and decided it was delicious. *sigh* I guess she just won't be a shoulder pet anymore 

Thanks for the suggestions/support - I just can't believe my little friend has become an eye eating monster!


----------



## 1a1a (May 6, 2011)

I had a rescue girl who'd flip and bite like that, she got my eye 3 times and my boyfriend on the ear once (he was sleeping, she came up and bit him). I thought maybe it was a dominance thing, I still loved her all the same but didn't put my face up to her too much after the first couple of bites.

Reading around, rats go for eyes and lips because the skin is very soft, there have been instances of infants being "eaten" by rats (just the face really, possibly they survive to tell the tale as long as the parents realise and intervene quickly). In the rats' defense, some suggest this is because the human face may smell a lot like food the human has been eating. At the end of the day, I just have to sadly concede that some rats are more domestic that others.

As for the shoulder sitting, my biter was no good at that so I never got to test it but I would maybe persevere with shoulder riding but be sure to admonish her any time she even so much as sniffs at your face. If she's like my biter, it's not an all the time thing but an occasional flip out and forget your manners thing.


----------



## lilspaz68 (Feb 24, 2007)

Eyelids have these lovely little things attached to them called eyelashes. If you have even seen the singlemindedness of a rat going after a feather toy (which is a bird/prety to them), you will understand why they go after eyelashes... 

Rats are not allowed near my eyes for just that reason, and if I let one sniff my face, I know them well and am prepared for anything. Its predatory, not aggressive.


----------



## Kiko (Sep 18, 2009)

This is why rats are no longer allowed near faces in my house, one rat was going for my BFs beard and chomped his lip :/


----------



## perhapsimabandit (Dec 3, 2011)

Update: Blue has suddenly gotten very lethargic - hunched over, puffy fur, doesn't want to come out. I noticed she was less than excited to run around and explore when I had her out a few days ago, but I figured she was picking up on some post-bite apprehension I had about handling her, and I have been giving her lots of cuddle-time since then.

Cut to today when I went to feed them: she was VERY slow and wobbly and looked horrible! If I didn't know any better she looks like she was starving. She went up to the food dish and grabbed a bit but didn't seem to chew or swallow, she sort of just punk her face into it. She has been disoriented-looking and non-responsive to cuddling, although she did try to get out of the cage and onto my lap earlier. She is now curled up with her face between her front paws.

Could this be a response to trauma or could she be sick (which may have caused her to bite in the first place). She is not sneezing and has no mucus around her eyes. The other rat is fine and healthy looking.

Finally, since she did bite dad - are there any diseases that would cause her symptoms that can be transferred to humans? If she passes away I will get her necropsied of course but I would prefer that it didn't come to that.


----------



## lilspaz68 (Feb 24, 2007)

Your dad is just fine. There's nothing transmissable from a bite.

She sounds very sick, and she also sounds like she has pituitary tumour but if she is that young (8 months) its a very rare occurence. She does need a vet ASAP.



perhapsimabandit said:


> Update: Blue has suddenly gotten very lethargic - hunched over, puffy fur, doesn't want to come out. I noticed she was less than excited to run around and explore when I had her out a few days ago, but I figured she was picking up on some post-bite apprehension I had about handling her, and I have been giving her lots of cuddle-time since then.
> 
> Cut to today when I went to feed them: she was VERY slow and wobbly and looked horrible! If I didn't know any better she looks like she was starving. She went up to the food dish and grabbed a bit but didn't seem to chew or swallow, she sort of just punk her face into it. She has been disoriented-looking and non-responsive to cuddling, although she did try to get out of the cage and onto my lap earlier. She is now curled up with her face between her front paws.
> 
> ...


----------



## ratjes (Mar 26, 2011)

Colud it be that tear fluid is salty and that she needed some salt? Just thinking from her point of view. And yes, no animal near my eye just to be sure.


----------



## Kinsey (Jun 14, 2009)

I allow my rats to get near my face, although since I've had them so long I trust them not to bite me. They love to lick me, though.

She needs to go to the vet if she's acting like that  She is very sick.


----------



## lilspaz68 (Feb 24, 2007)

ratjes said:


> Colud it be that tear fluid is salty and that she needed some salt? Just thinking from her point of view. And yes, no animal near my eye just to be sure.


Rats don't need salt, they already get a lot of it from their diet...and its not good for them.


----------

