# Rat handling



## WhiteWidoW (Aug 29, 2013)

Hi!

I've been 3 weeks doing the immersion training to my little rats, I put both in my bed and i give them treats and play with them. Now i can handle the female and she seems to like to be handled but the male hates it. What should I do? Should i handle the male? He's not interested on me...


----------



## nanashi7 (Jun 5, 2013)

Some rats just don'tt enjoy handling. What exactly are you experiencing?


----------



## WhiteWidoW (Aug 29, 2013)

During the immersion he seems to come with me just to search food and when I try to handle him he tries to scape...


Sometimes during immersion he runs under my arm, he hides his head with all the body out and I can pet him with no problems


----------



## Xerneas (Aug 6, 2013)

I have a girl like this. She will come to me happily and crawl all over me and sleep in my shirt and let me pet her but she just despises being picked up and will tear apart my arm.


----------



## nanashi7 (Jun 5, 2013)

My boy is just too hyper to be held. He has his own terms to live by. I think this is what you're experiencing.


----------



## WhiteWidoW (Aug 29, 2013)

The first foto is that he does sometimes, he just hind his head and I can pet him.

The second one is later, he felt asleep on my hands while I was petting him.


----------



## nanashi7 (Jun 5, 2013)

Falling asleep on you, there's no better way for a rat to say I love you


----------



## WhiteWidoW (Aug 29, 2013)

Really? I think he's just so lazy  

Thank you


----------



## nanashi7 (Jun 5, 2013)

I wouldn't sleep during a bank robbery unless it'd been a day or two. I'd be too scared they were gonna eat me or kill me. Around those I trust I am super sleepy


----------



## JLSaufl (Jan 20, 2013)

I think he looks happy. My youngest rat (about 8 months) loves to be by me, to sleep next to me or sit on my shoulder, fall asleep on me, etc.. but he dislikes being petted, picked up and otherwise snuggled and cuddled. He reminds me of a young cat, he wants to do his thing. It used to really frustrate me because my other two are big cuddle bugs, but I figured since he never bit me or anything like that he really was happy and loved me.


----------



## Rat Daddy (Sep 25, 2011)

He's hiding his head for protection out of fear. How long are your immersion sessions? Three weeks at 8 hours a day seem hard to imagine.

Immersion relies on long sessions to make progress and establish communication, not lots of short ones that reinforce fear and distrust.


----------



## WhiteWidoW (Aug 29, 2013)

He's scared of me then?

My sessions are long, 3 hours maybe, at night, sometimes longer...


----------



## Rat Daddy (Sep 25, 2011)

He's not necessarily afraid of you as he is hiding his head under your arm, it looks more like general fear or fear of the photographer and he is looking towards you for comfort, unless he's trying to sneak under your arm to get away. It's hard to tell in a still photo.

He may also have vision problem that is causing his anxiety. I'd focus on him and try to get him to trust and communicate with you. I'd try a really long one on one session to break the ice. Some rats don't get cuddly and some come to you really screwed up, but almost all learn to trust you and become easily handled.


----------



## WhiteWidoW (Aug 29, 2013)

A really long session can't be annoying to him? he sleeps in long sessions...


----------



## nanashi7 (Jun 5, 2013)

Nope! My rats enjoy coming out and napping sometimes. I've had my girl escape to cuddle in bed.


----------



## Rat Daddy (Sep 25, 2011)

You are asking your rat to change the way he thinks about you. This is big, people have trouble changing their opinions. Basically you have to work through the barriers and get him to really know you.

Trust training often failed because it was done in short sessions... it went something like this....

You tried to handle your rat....

It bit you...

You put it back in it's cage and went to get a bandage...

You repeated the process the next day....

Same thing happened....

Your rat learned all it had to do to get rid of you and go back to it's cage faster is to bite you more quickly.

Your rat has to know you are sticking with him, you are not backing down or going away. You can't be avoided or ignored or chased off. Then he has to realize that you are not scary or dangerous and that you are trying to be his friend and reach out to him. Most of the time you will actually see a rat start preening, and it may preen for a long time while it re-thinks everything it thinks it knows about you. Then he will come up to you and offer to play, or perhaps jump around you to test how you will react, then very often he will cuddle on you and even fall asleep. When rats bond they often nap together. When he wakes up and he isn't dead or harmed, most likely he will be your new best friend.

It's very much like when you make a new friend. You meet someone, sometimes you fight but over time you get to know the new person and bond over something you share. You don't fall in love speed dating, it happens on a romantic cruise or long weekend in the countryside. It takes time to work the kinks out of a relationship and to get to really know one another.

Will he be annoyed at first, sure! Have you ever seen a guy that doesn't get annoyed when you first try to change his mind about anything?


----------



## WhiteWidoW (Aug 29, 2013)

Noo! My rat NEVER bited me, just sleep all the time!!! My immersions are 3 hours long everyday...


----------



## WhiteWidoW (Aug 29, 2013)

He tries to scape when I handle him and later fall asleep. It's so cute but I don't know why he do it. He tries to scape, he does not seems to like to be handled or touched , he tries allways to scape but he's next to me if I leave him in my bed.

Right now I had him running in my bed like 2 hours and now he's sleeping between my back and the wall (there's enought space) He's never aggresive and he accepts treats, I do allways the same sound when I'm going to give them treats and both come to me









Come on look at that! He's sleeping on my hand in the middle of the street in open air!!! I think that the problem is that he hates to be handled and I would like to know if that's possible to change. He's allways moving around when i handle him but later he gets tired and sleep. It is possible that he moves around searching for cover? 

It's a really lazy boy, he moves so slowly, he never runs & he's allways sleeping if he have a chance


----------



## nanashi7 (Jun 5, 2013)

You sound like you have a happy rat, honestly. If you want him to allow you to handle him more though just make handling fun, walk with him places he doesn't normally get to see like the kitchen or give him treats while you hold him. 


Sent from Petguide.com Free App


----------



## nanashi7 (Jun 5, 2013)

Try making handling nice for him, treats or he gets to ride to new places. 


Sent from Petguide.com Free App


----------

