# My rat is gently placing teeth on my fingers? Makes me nervous!



## Topple (Jan 11, 2018)

Hey all,

So things have improved drastically since my early panicked posts about my (now 8 weeks old) rat babies! They are not afraid of me anymore, will willingly come out of hiding to see me (or rather, to see if I have treats, I suppose) and let me touch them on the head, but not anywhere else. Is that weird? I would imagine being touched on the body is less frightening than being touched right on the face, but they seem to disagree. Anyway, that's a side note.

Two of my boys are very gentle with me. One of my rats (Splinter) is still a good boy, he's just more unpredictable. When I have my hand in the cage, and the rats are sniffing all over it, he sort of comes in for a "slow motion bite" of my fingertip. I can see it coming a mile away, and usually give a little "HEY STOP THAT" and he will pause, for about two or three seconds, and then come back to try again. It doesn't stop until I remove my hand from the cage.

Sometimes with all three coming up to me, I lose track of Splinter, and he actually gets in a nip or two. Only, I don't think it's really a "nip" exactly. It's definitely not aggressive or scared, but very slow and curious and deliberate. If I didn't see his mouth on my finger, I'd swear it was just his paw touching me - don't even feel a pinch. He just places his teeth barely touching my skin and then stops. I still make a quick EE to get him to stop, and it works for a moment, but it doesn't seem to deter him at all in the long term.

How do I stop this? Little shrieks (EE) and jerks of my hand don't seem to stop him at all. I've started really scrubbing my hands before I go in to touch them, and even bought a new unscented soap, but for whatever reason, he just wants to put my fingers in his mouth. I'm starting to get really nervous that he is just "testing the waters" before trying to go in for a real bite one of these days. It makes me nervous to handle him. Should I just let him nibble on my fingers unless he starts biting harder? Sorry to be so crazy, but those teeth look long, and it does make me pretty scared to see them touching my skin.


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## Shadow <3 (Jan 25, 2017)

Lots of rats are teethy, especially when young. I personally find it adorable, and with my girl Cookie (a frequent but gentle mouther) I will sit still so she can nibble and lick my finger. It's like a tiny massage, and so so sweet! (Funny note: when she was younger, Cookie would gently pull your hand into the cage! Really freaked out my mom the first time it happened to her. Now Cookie just gently sniffs at the cage bars, although I never tried to change the behavior so I'm not sure why she stopped).


If he's slow about it, I'd reckon he's not trying to bite. My biter girl (Blackberry) would lunge quick as a whip, one second she'd be looking at your hand and the next there'd be blood. You could usually tell if she was going to bite because she'd freeze, creep forward, and follow your fingers with her head. But it all happened so quickly that unless you really paid attention to her body language, you'd get bit.


If you really don't like it, just gently shove him away when he mouths you. Thas the method I've used to discourage rats from biting my socks, and it's much more effective than trying to use sound. Within just a push or two, the stop targeting my socks and just ignore them.


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## Kelsbels (Aug 12, 2015)

I just rescued two rats a few days ago. They're both 1 years old and very sweet. The previous owner said the roan one tends to bite, but when I put my hand up to her she only test bites. Like Shadow says, it's kind of a baby behavior. They're exploring with their mouths, which isn't a bad thing, but if you aren't prepared for it it can look like a bite. On top of our girl doing these test bites she has ruby eyes which means her eyesight isn't as great as her sister's. Rats have excellent control of their teeth, so if they want to bite you they can, but normally they wouldn't want to hurt you.

This previous owner said that the roan drew blood, but I could imagine they pulled away quickly and got bit.

My girls had grown out of using their teeth/mouths when they started getting older, but I think our rescue rat has held on to it because she wasn't in a situation where the family took into account her needs.

I like how this was written, and it also made me aware when a rat is being aggressive versus curious. 
http://www.joinrats.com/EarnTrust/RatsUsingTeeth


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## Lunchy (Aug 28, 2017)

I wouldn't say it's anything more than curiosity - some rats just prefer checking stuff out with their teeth  I find that my rats lick the skin, but any loose skin or hard bits (nails for example) they'll usually test nibble. That article that Kelsbels seems to summarise it pretty well

Edit: just sat and read that full article and it's really well written and displays loooooooooooooooooooooads of reasons why a rat might use their teeth rather than their hands, or licking or whatever. Definitely give it a read


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## athenianratdaddy (Dec 20, 2017)

I don't think the rat is trying to bite you. Rats have extremely precise and close control of their bite so if the rat wanted to bite you, you would know it. It would happen hard and fast and you wouldn't have time to pull away. Personally I find it kinda cute that he's resting his teeth on you. I guess another one of those particular rat behaviors. I understand how it's scary though, getting bit ain't fun!


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## TinyDragon89 (Jan 13, 2018)

I had a rat many yrs ago that would ride on my shoulder and nibble my ear and lick my cheek. Sweetest little thing ever, she was my heart rat. It made me nervous too at first (she was my first rat) but after awhile and it never hurting, I just let it be.
There is definitely a difference between the nibbles and the bites, I got bit the first time 2 yrs ago. Scared the heck out of me when it happened and totally hurt like a b**** lol


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