# Tail Grabbing?



## Afwife83 (Mar 28, 2012)

So the new rats are a little nervous with me, (totally understandable), new people, noises, smell, cage, and who knows what conditions they came from). Since they got the all clear from the vet, I put them in with my girls. Intros went great! They've all been sleeping in one big ratty ball, eating together, no fights. So I built the ferret nation saturday night. Today I decided to pull up a chair, open the top doors, and just lean in and sit there, with my head on my arms, so they could sniff and explore me, should they choose to. One did, one just watched me for awhile from the safety of house, and came out a little to sniff in front of me. Well I notice Athena grab Lily by the tail with her mouth as Lily was coming out, and wouldn't let go until I pushed her a little. Then she did it to pepper, then Lily again. Then she cam out and climbed around on me, and went back in. She only did it when they were walking out of their little house, not when they were wandering around. Has anyone else seen this, or know what it's about? She's not biting them, or drawing blood, or hurting them. It's weird. I've never seen her do it until now.

ETA: I found this via google, but maybe someone here knows more?

*Pulling
Some rats will use their mouth to grab on to another rat and they will try to pull that rat with their teeth. We've seen some of our rats do this, but we have no idea what it means. Maybe an attempt to entice a cagemate to play, or a motherly instinct to bring babies back to the nest?*


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## PipRat (Jan 24, 2012)

I've seen my rats do this to each other. Pulling on their leg or tail. I actually posted a thread about it too! The rat being pulled didn't seem to really mind and no harm was done. I think since you've experienced it too, it's probably pretty normal.


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