# Rate biting, out of curiosity? What should I do about it?



## Bored (Sep 9, 2014)

I swear at times my rats act like a bunch of little rattweilers.
They don't bite when I'm holding them.
But if I put my hand in the cage they will come up and somewhat surround my hand and take turns nipping at me.
I figured maybe they are all just fat and think I'm offering treats, or they are all working together to defend the
herd from intruder, or maybe they want to nibble on me out of curiosity to figure out what I am.
But what should I do about it? Should I just let them nip at me till they decide I don't taste that good and figure out that I'm not food?


----------



## Bored (Sep 9, 2014)

I meant to title that thread, Rat's biting, out of curiosity? What should I do about it? Not rate biting haha.


----------



## nanashi7 (Jun 5, 2013)

Are they gently using their teeth and not causing pain? They may be grooming you. If you tell them what hurts they'll learn how to do it


----------



## Jackie (Jan 31, 2013)

I make my best high squeak impression to let them know if nipping hurts me.


----------



## ratty213 (Aug 16, 2014)

I just got my first two ratties and I also asked almost the same exact question. I just pulled back and firmly said no and they stopped. It may be that they are just test chomping to make sure your not food or they could also be grooming you which is more of a nibble and it means they accept you they should stop eventually. When ever I put my hand in the cage my rats run up to my hand and lick and nibble at it.


----------



## Bored (Sep 9, 2014)

Its really soft, but a little uncomfortable when they all come out and want to do it all at the same time surrounding my hand.
A few times one or two might get over excited and go it for a bit harder of a nip, and then run off and hide in the closest hiding spot.
Its so gentle I just let them do it sometimes, and I almost expect licking to start sometime. Not sure if thats a good thing to just let them get in the habit of doing that, Or if I need to make it stop.
I can handle letting them check me out up till one of them really goes in for a nip. If I can tell who did the nip I'll try and let that one know not to do that so rough, but with more than a few its hard to tell who's doing what.


----------



## nanashi7 (Jun 5, 2013)

Haha preaching to the choir. Twelve do it to me. Just say "ow! No!" And they should get the message.


----------



## Lita (Jul 10, 2014)

Our girls like to use their teeth. Only one licks, the rest will come nibble and chew on nails. If they get to hard I usually tap their nose and say no. Really gentle tap, none of our girls are really hard biters anymore. Cricket, the previous youngest, is pink eyed and she bites hard if you go through the bars, since she expects treats. (My fiancee gives them things through the bars regardless of what I say) if they arn't hurting you I don't see a reason to make them stop. I have a major fear of being bitten and had to get over that with the rats, I figure thats just their nature.


----------



## Bored (Sep 9, 2014)

I went with the new mind set that maybe it is grooming, and not just protecting their territory and the herd. I just let them do it more than usual and now I think some of them are grooming, some might be playing and others are confused and think I'm food or offering treats, it also appears that when one or more thinks treats are being offered no one else wants to miss out on getting food so they quickly surround my hand. I can definatly tell that some of them are going in for a good chomp of finger, like my bigest female Twiskers who is the sweetest and most calm while holdinng her, she also grooms everyone else in the herd as if she is mother rat to everyone. I also allow Twiskers more roaming area than the others becasue for some reason I just her more. Every time she gets scared she runs back to me and jumps on me, which is kind of a good feeling that she knows I am safty. When some of the others were actually being nice and I think grooming, one was licking even. But Twiskers came over grabed ahold of a finger tilted her head and took a chomp. I've also noticed that for the most part it seems that the more I let them groom the harder and more pressure they are using. I'm more scared of the bigger rats when they come up quickly, and I don't like it when any of them are going for a finger tip. A knuckle or finger meat and hand meat isn't as creepy but when I can feel teeth on a nail and the finger tip skin where the finger print is and there is getting more and more pressure or I feel scrapping teeth on the nail I don't like it and feel like those teeth are going to decide to go in the finger tip one of these times. A couple of them seem to be getting better about it. I guess I need to keep working with them. I kind of assumed that to tame a rat all you have to do it hold it a bunch till it knows your not trying to hurt it. So I've done that and bonded a little with each of them, some alot more than others. But now I guess I need to start cage bonding too, if thats even a thing. When I first got rats and had just a few of them one thing I did to bond with them was bag bonding, where I had a sack and I put three rats in it so they had the comfert of each other, and they got to hide in the sack, but were still sitting with me. I would roll the top of the sack so I could see them and they would get curious and one by one they would crawl up to the open end of the sack sniff around, look at me and then crawl back in like as if the sack was a den. They use to nip at me when I'd place my hand in that sack too.


----------



## Lita (Jul 10, 2014)

I would suggest as well that you need to train yourself. Rats seem to really like nails, our girls will get very into nail chewing sometimes. Don't know why they like nails so much but they do seem to attract attention. Our newest Tea loves my nails and sometimes moves to my finger by accident. And it is freaky with their teeth and the fear of them biting when you dont expect it, but I fully belive being tense and worried about it can make it worse. With Cricket we got her young, 6wks or so, and as a baby would be she was very nibbly. She was much more hyper and nibbly then Ellie, the first girl we got. And I am naturally skiddish. So I put my hand in the cage with just her and held my hand so it was lightly cupped and I just let her go. If she got to hard I'd bop her and she'd stop and look at me and then go back in being much gentler. I did this with and without treats so she saw that not all hands had treats. I still watch them, as I am not an expert in rat laungage and so I will miss signals, but I am not fearful of being bitten anymore. Also remember they are tougher then us, and a small nip to them hurts us a lot more.


----------



## nanashi7 (Jun 5, 2013)

Start training them for treats. Treats only come when you say "treats" and in the flat of your palm. 

Agai, don't forget to tell them what hurts you. It sounds like you are on the brink of understanding how smart and empathetic rats are but I would read through the sticky on rat immersion.


----------

