# Help with very aggressive rat



## venusfrusciante (Mar 8, 2018)

Hi everyone,
I am coming up on week 3 as a new rat owner, and things have been going very well except for one rat who is just way too aggressive.

A little backstory: So initially I bought two baby rats, probably 2 months old or so. They were feeder rats, and the guy who helped me did not even let me socialize or even get a feel for which rat I wanted. He yanked them by their tails and literally threw them in the box. It broke my heart to see how he treated them. 

Anyways, I had everything set up, and when I opened the box one just bolted out and when I tried to pick him up he bit me so hard I bled all over my carpet. I freaked out because I didn't think a rat could bite me so hard, but luckily without incident I got the other one in the cage. I tried frantically to catch the little guy, but he would hide in places I could not get too such as under my cabinets. 

The next day, I decided I needed to get a new rat so Gimli, the original, would not be lonely. Luckily the second time I went this other employee actually let me put my hand in and choose a friendly rat. I named that one Legolas. As soon as I put Legolas in the cage these two rats became best friends right away which was quite a relief on my end. 

I left food and water by this drawer the renegade rat loved to sleep in, and as the days went on I familiarized myself with where he really liked to hide and chill. The main place was the drawer and the closet. He would also walk around my bed and groom my hair but the minute I woke up and moved... he would bolt. I tried several times to get him to the cage by grabbing his tail, (it was the only way I could get him without him bolting away/noticing me), and each time he would bite me and run away. 

Now about a week ago, I was rat proofing my room, when I saw him cornered in my closet, I managed to get him in the cage and he just kept running around frantically trying to escape. After a while, he settled down, and there was no aggression towards the other rats whatsoever from renegade rat, so I thought okay, I can tame him. I read a bunch of posts on this forum and tried socializing him, but every time I even got my hand in the cage he would bite really hard. I have at least 8 bites from this little guy. 

Now fast forward...he started becoming bolder and braver with me, and would do things like mess with the litter box just so I could open the cage. Well last night I opened the cage, and he bolted out. I let Gimli and Legolas free roam figuring maybe with playing with him this would coax renegade rat in. Sure enough, I left the cage open and he slowly walked in. I closed it right away and when I opened again to give him a treat he ran away again with a piece of lettuce! Now this rat, runs so fast, and is so smart..I feel like Nathan Lane in the movie mouse trap. 

As of now, I barely hear him, and I will leave the cage open with my supervision to see if he will run back in, but I am just so tired of this cat and mouse chase. He really scares me even when he is in the cage, every little movement I make he just runs like Usain Bolt into hiding or he comes towards me ready to bite me. I am really considering returning him and it breaks my heart, but I just cannot deal with this situation anymore. I don't even think I could get him in a shoebox if I were to return him. I know that as a new rat owner I have a lot to learn, but I just hate how this has all turned out. Gimli and Legolas are so bonded with me already. I trust them completely with free roam and I am so in love with them. I just wish it was the same with the renegade rat. Any help would be greatly appreciated, sorry about the long post I am just very stressed out and out of ideas.


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## Shadow <3 (Jan 25, 2017)

I would stop giving him free-range until he adjusts to the cage. Or at least, so it in a very small and contained area. As of now, he might not even consider the cage his home yet. I mean, he literally lived elsewhere for a week, which, rat time wise, is a long time. Now before I go into this, I have to ask how old he is. Male rats between 4 and 8 months of age can become horminally aggressive - this is NOT their fault and completely due to testosterone. If you get a hormonal boy neutered (removing the testicles and thus the testosterone - which is the source of aggression) and wait at least 2 weeks, hormone levels will drop back to normal and that previously hormonal rat will go back to their previous self (which in most cases isn’t a biting rat!) If your sure it’s not hormonal aggression, I can give you what worked with my girl Berry. First off, I’d say stop reaching into the cage. That’s the perfect way to antagonize a cage aggressive rat, and if he’s anything like my Berry he will walk right up to the door and lunge as soon as your hand gets anywhere near hin. Instead, I’d take a step back. Get out a metal spoon and some liquid treats, preferably yummy ones like meat baby food. Then slather some on the spoon and offer it out to him. His keeps you safe, while teaching him that biting everything first is a bad idea (rats hate biting metal) and that your presence near the cage is a good thing. Then you just work on that level, and once he begin to look forward to your liquid treat delivery you can place some on your fist/knuckles (these hurt and bleed less when bit!). Once he’s fine licking these off, you can move to using your fingers to offer out the liquid treats. And really, that’s all there is to it. Make sure he never gets a chance to bite (I always made sure my Berry’s mouth was full before I touched her/moved stuff around the cage - a rat with a full mouth can’t bite!). Over time, this will become a new habit, as will the association of your hand with yummy liquid food. And at some point, he’ll learn to not bite. This can take a while (over 2 months in Berry’s case), but I find it worth it. The issue with returning an aggressive rat back to the store is that he’ll probably never be bought. I would never purposefully buy an aggressive animal (to be honest), but I feel like once I bring one home it’s my responsibility to try everything first before giving up (not saying your giving up, just that there’s still methods left to try!) I also want to note that even if you had handled him at the store, you might not have experienced his aggression. When I picked my Berry, it was because she didn’t nip, bite, or show any signs of aggression. It wasn’t until she got home that I got to see that side of her. But even so, I’m glad Igot her because she’s turned out to be a pretty awesome rat. She’s not very human oriented, but very bonded with my other 3 girls. And she enjoys learning just about any backwards tricks you can think of (walking backwards, walking back in hind legs, backing around circles, backing up a wall, you name it!). She’s also my most communicative rat - she’s taught me to put her up when she climbs my shoulder, and she can find her home from anywhere in the house (I swear she was a homing pigeon in a former life ) Anyway, I encourage you to keep trying. It can take a lot of time and effort, but I’ve found it to be worth all of it.


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## venusfrusciante (Mar 8, 2018)

Shadow,
Thank you so much for your thoughtful response. I will try the spoon trick. Well the thing is I can't tell you for sure how old he is, I got him at a pet store and they were all feeder rats. In fact, when I got him, it was the guy working there that just randomly picked him . You are right in that he doesen't think his cage is his home because he literally lived in my room for a good two weeks before I finally caught him . Now the thing is, he is on the loose again...and I don't know what to do other then keep the cage open and see if he goes back in. He does not make any noise at all as far as squeaks or just rat noises which concerns me. He is very very skittish, so hopefully once I get him in I will try the spoon trick but he really bolts when I come near him. The thing is whenever I am sitting on the ground by the cage he never comes out, he only skittishly comes out when I am on the bed and its quiet. I would imagine sitting there with the spoon trick would be very hard given that he is petrified of my presence. Even if I get him back in the cage he will most definitely run away again he is just so fast and quick to do that. I think he senses my fear when I reach in, but after all those hard bites that bled I just get really scared when he sniffs me bc I know a bite is coming LOL. That's crazy how Berry seemed fine and then just became aggressive. She sounds like an amazing rat! massive respect to you for taming her I want to name the renegade rat Aragorn but I just really hope I can tame him, I feel so bad that he is in limbo right now. I find random poos from him and I just hope that accumulation of urine especially won't stink up my room. He is too clever, but I hope he will go back in so I can try your trick. Thank you again  you are a life saver!!


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## venusfrusciante (Mar 8, 2018)

Update: I had my foot by my bed I was just watching tv and he ran up to my pinkie toe and bit it ...TWICE!! I really don't know why he hates me so much...I finally lured him back into the cage just now so I will try the spoon tomorrow, hopefully he won't escape again.


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## MRM (Dec 26, 2016)

So glad you got him back in the cage!

If you think he will escape or won't come up to the spoon because he is scared of you, you can first try some meat baby in a small dish and leave it in his area of the cage for him to try at his leisure. Then, once he tries it (and loves it) try putting the spoon through the cage bars. That way, you won't have to worry about him escaping and you'll work towards accomplishing multiple goals: no biting, no biting through the bars, and trust in you!

I would definitely keep trying with him. Since he gets along with the other two rats, he is worth the extra effort. Now, if he was extremely aggressive to your other boys and was causing harm to them too, that might be a different situation for some people. I would continue to work with him though. I swear I think even the grumpiest rat can come around with time and patience.


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## Brittykb (Aug 23, 2017)

venusfrusciante said:


> Hi everyone,
> I am coming up on week 3 as a new rat owner, and things have been going very well except for one rat who is just way too aggressive.
> 
> A little backstory: So initially I bought two baby rats, probably 2 months old or so. They were feeder rats, and the guy who helped me did not even let me socialize or even get a feel for which rat I wanted. He yanked them by their tails and literally threw them in the box. It broke my heart to see how he treated them.
> ...


I have 2 male rats that were feeders and from very beginning the one has been super mean. He tries to even attack me through the bars! Ive had to have stitches from him. Id just say once you get him in the cage keep him in there for awhile. Maybe get gloves and try handling him in the cage. Mine has never came around but hopefully yours will

Sent from my SM-G930W8 using Tapatalk


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## venusfrusciante (Mar 8, 2018)

Thank you for the tip...I will try that I have been trying and he has been fortunately doing A LOT BETTER! I have being petting him and he seems to close his eyes and just stay and let me pet him which I assume is good. I even held picked him up a couple of times and he did not bite! which is a HUGE breakthrough for me. He is still very skittishy though and sometimes just hides away from me. Unfortunately I picked him up today and he jumped out of my hands and out of the cage so he is out again. I think he will permanetly think that my room is his home. I know he will come back , it will just be such a pain to lure him back in again. I just always feel so bad that I keep him imprisoned in the cage. And then I let my guard down and boom! he escapes again LOL.


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## venusfrusciante (Mar 8, 2018)

Oh no I am so sorry to hear that! How long has it been? that sounds super mean I thought Renegade was the worst of the worst initially but yours sounds evil LOL! I do have gloves, but as of now its been almost 1 week without a bite incident. Sometimes though when I can tell he's angry or scared I put them on as a safety precaution because man all his bites bled and hurt terribly. I still have marks from some! But I think putting on gloves makes him more scared because he knows I am scared lol...so I try to remain as calm as possible and so far its been working...I just let my guard down petting him today and he escaped again. Oh boy, wish me luck!


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## blackjack (Feb 5, 2018)

I hope you can truly tame him. He doesn't sound so much mean as terrified. If he had no socialization and was handled like that in the store, it's not surprising. I'm sorry he got away again just as things were starting to really improve and he's even let you pet and handle him. Good luck. Hope you get him soon.


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## venusfrusciante (Mar 8, 2018)

blackjack said:


> I hope you can truly tame him. He doesn't sound so much mean as terrified. If he had no socialization and was handled like that in the store, it's not surprising. I'm sorry he got away again just as things were starting to really improve and he's even let you pet and handle him. Good luck. Hope you get him soon.


He's back in, after a while usually when I let the other two free roam he runs inside LOL. He bit me today after I was tidying the cage I guess I let my guard down too much around him. Its been a month now and I really don't understand why he is so terrified of me especially considering that he sees how loving I am with the other too I guess it takes two steps forward one step backwards with him.


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