# Picking Them Up:)



## Shakakhan (Apr 9, 2007)

Erm...Hi!
I Was Just Wandering Does Anyone Have Any Advice On A Good Way To Handle Rats For The First Time..Because Im Nervous About Being Bitten..
Any Advice Would Be Nice Thanks!


----------



## Night (Feb 23, 2007)

I pick rats up by supporting their whole body. I put my right hand under their chest, and my left hand supports their back legs. 

P.S. - you only need to capitalize the first letter of a sentence


----------



## Shakakhan (Apr 9, 2007)

Thanks but i ment im nervous about being bitten and when i have tried picking them up (like you have said) they sturggle to get free..i dont hurt them in any way..i feal like they dont trust me but when i open the cage door they seem ok lol 

(took your advice looking better lol)


----------



## Night (Feb 23, 2007)

Just curious - why are you so afraid of being bitten? Not that it's something people should LIKE or anything, I'm just curious.


----------



## Shakakhan (Apr 9, 2007)

well some people dont like being bit - i just so happen to one of those people


----------



## Night (Feb 23, 2007)

I know that. What I mean is, have you been bit in the past by a rat or something? If you're fearful of your own rats bitting you, that's kind of strange.


----------



## Shakakhan (Apr 9, 2007)

Yeah i had a bad rat bite on my wrist you can still see the cut. It was quite painful so im fearful of that happening again


----------



## OnlyOno (Apr 4, 2007)

well your little rat might be able to sense that you are afraid of being bit, and it makes them nervous and then they don't want to be around you. if it helps, pick them up with a towel and just spend some time with them. let them explore on you and sniff you and get used to you. it will calm you down and that will calm them down too.


----------



## Night (Feb 23, 2007)

I echo what OnlyOno has said.

How long have you had your rats? Are they newbies, thus why you're afraid they'll bite you?

I've had numerous rat bites, one serious one that landed me in the ER at 3 AM. While they have made me a little wary of handling rats I don't know, I know my own rats won't nip or bite me.


----------



## lilspaz68 (Feb 24, 2007)

Its unusual for rats to bite anything other than those scary hands and rat bites are not as common as everyone thinks. I have been taking in difficult rats on purpose and have gotten a few bites in the last while but I hadn't recieved many in the years before...2 maybe in 8 years?

For myself, if you have scared little rats, I get them accustomed to me and my hands before trying to grab them. I let my hand rest in the cage so they can explore it and get to know my smells etc while its not moving.
Once they are hopping up on my hand I will close my hand slightly but they can still escape. Chasing them around the cage will not help one bit. You could get them used to you by offering them yummy liquidy food off of a spoon so they have to stay near you to eat it.

When I finally start working with scared spooky rats who don't like being picked up, I usually scoop them up (supporting their body and legs like Night says), and then smoothly/gently pull them into my body so they have the support of my chest. After awhile rats learn to trust this method quite well and will relax when you pick them up, confident that you wont' drop them and they aren't going to be dangling from your hands (most rats hate this and will struggle).


----------



## Stephanie (Mar 25, 2007)

lilspaz68 said:


> Its unusual for rats to bite anything other than those scary hands and rat bites are not as common as everyone thinks. I have been taking in difficult rats on purpose and have gotten a few bites in the last while but I hadn't recieved many in the years before...2 maybe in 8 years?



LoL my boys bite all the time jackson constantly nips me and every one of my other rats is always biting my hubby iriquois has made him bleed so bad i thought he would need stitches one time. Fizzgig just bit him last night and fizzgig tries to bite me all the time and i am too quick. We have had at least 15 bites in the past two months.


----------



## Nazarath (Feb 20, 2007)

I've never been biten by my rats. Sometimes i get aplayful nip if i've been eating something and they think "oo that smells good". If you want you can wash your hands before you pick them up. I have yet to meet a rat that thinks soap tasts good lol.


----------



## Stephanie (Mar 25, 2007)

i also use sanitizer it smells nasty to them but won't hurt them either LoL the sanitizer works well for my hubby since he works with wood and constantly smells like a big chew toy LoL


----------



## stockhart (Apr 9, 2007)

I had the same problem when I first got my rats  I started by picking them up individually, and sitting with them next to their cage. I wore a big baggy jacket that I left unzipped and found that they loved hiding in it, which got them very confident around me and found me as a source of protection! 

Also, about picking them up - I found that grabbing them from behind (but make sure that they know you're there first!) around their hips, then supporting their chest with your fingers is a good way of picking them up without them being able to turn around and have their mouth near you!


----------



## Wench (Apr 5, 2007)

Nazarath said:


> I've never been biten by my rats. Sometimes i get aplayful nip if i've been eating something and they think "oo that smells good". If you want you can wash your hands before you pick them up. I have yet to meet a rat that thinks soap tasts good lol.


Haha, I have to hide the soap when Doris comes into the bathroom to romp while I'm having a bath. She runs for it and tries to eat it.


----------



## lilspaz68 (Feb 24, 2007)

Stephanie said:


> lilspaz68 said:
> 
> 
> > Its unusual for rats to bite anything other than those scary hands and rat bites are not as common as everyone thinks. I have been taking in difficult rats on purpose and have gotten a few bites in the last while but I hadn't recieved many in the years before...2 maybe in 8 years?
> ...


Ummm are your boys hormonally aggressive? Did you have these boys from babies?


----------

