# What does nipping mean?



## alitali (Jun 28, 2007)

I bought my first rat a few days ago. She doesn't seem to be afraid of me, but when I try to pet her she nips my finger. It's not hard though. And yesterday when she tried to climb on my hand she bit my palm as well. Again, lightly. She doesn't seem agitated - she bruxes and her ears and wiskers are up and alert. Does anyone know what LP is trying to tell me?


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## Forensic (Apr 12, 2007)

Well, there's the 'I thought you were food, but I guess you're not" nip, the "hey, I'm here!" nip, the "heehee, let's make Mommy jump!" nip, the "Grooming Mommy!" nip, ....


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## Poppyseed (Feb 1, 2007)

Sounds like she's trying to get you to hand wrestle. As long as it doesn't hurt go along with it, put your hand on top of her and tickle her. She will love it! Bert and I do that all the time. If she starts biteing too hard squeek. They know their limits, they will just play XD


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## twitch (Jan 4, 2007)

if she's not nipping hard then don't worry about it. just mark it up as a little quirk of hers. she could be doing as poppyseed said as well and trying to get you to play, so try that out. with my two hand wrestlers though they'll toss their heads and bounce near my hand then run away to get me to play with them. its really very cute and so much fun to play. sometimes i'm not sure who is having the better time, me or the rat. *grins*


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## iwuvmyrat (Jul 18, 2007)

My rat does the same thing, maybe she is grooming you? That's a wonderful thing, it means she feels close to you.


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