my rats bite?

Question

when i go put my hand in there houses obviusly there territorial and bite so how do i teach them that im not trying to hurt them im ALWAYS nice to them and they never bite me when there not in there house even when i put my finger infront of there mouth they wont bite its only when there in there little houses and why wont they bite when there not in there houses but they do when they are in there houses one more thing thank you every one for answering my past repetitive questions i keep on asking cuz i always get new answers

Answer 1

While approaching the cage call their names and tell them you are coming for a visit. Gently knock on the hut and wait for someone to answer the door. Offer a house-warming gift, ratties love yogert chips. And leave the premisses. This will get them use to your presents before you even start the bonding exercises.

Biting is not the norm for pet rats. Rats are not suppose to bite. Babies, especially those around 5 to 12 weeks of age are gentle creatures and would rather explore your hand and nibble rather then bite. I've even played with rats in a pet store that were bred by a feeder breeder and these babies were so well-socialized that I brought a couple home.

Here are the reasons for rats that bite and it all has to do with pet store rats:
* Babies were born at the store. Mother was so over-protective/territorial/ne... that she bit any one who came near. Now, of course when the rat bites, the hand is quickly with-drawn from the cage. This is our knee-jerk reaction for self-preservation but to the rat she has succeeded and therefore will continue this habit. Her Babies learned from their mother to bite. BTW ethical breeders would never have bred a rat with this potential to bite.
* No one at the store liked rats so the rats were never handled and therefore missed that crucial stage of proper handling during that growth period of birth to 5 weeks old.
* Employees mishandle the rats. They pick up the rats by their tail, or they drop the rats from a height.
* Employees and customers alike harrass the rats. Teasing them, chasing them with their hands, pinching them, and otherwise terrifing the rats while the rats are in their cage.
* The rats can become terrified/nervous if they are placed beside other animals in the store that the rat would either be the prey of, or the predator of.

Do you know if your rats had to endure any of the above?
How old are your rats?
Did the rats pick you out? Did you let the rats come to your hand and you picked out the two same-sex rats that seemed the friendliest towards you? Or did you let the employee chase a couple of rats around the cage until he caught two? The latter is very terrifying to rats. Imagine yourself being ripped away from your family and friends in that manner.

Rats are very curious and will nibble, sometimes hard when they are babies. They don't know the strength of those little teeth, but they don't break the skin when they nibble. Feeling teeth on your skin can be unnerving and your knee-jerk reaction would be to pull your hand away. It's easy for the teeth to accidently break the skin when this happens.

Is there a smell that lingers on your hands? Food, a strong smell of cologne, or perfume, or soap, may intice the rats to be too forceful in their exploring your hands.

If you just got your babies then they are still very frightened of their new surroundings. The hut is their safe haven and they are being very territorial about it. Being removed from the only life they knew, placed in a new cage, surrounded by new sights, new sounds, and new smells, and then being ignored for two days, is no way to build trust with your new babies. Now they are nervous and don't know what to make of you. "Are you friend, or foe?", Are you going to eat me?"

Here are some things you can try to help bond with your ratties.
What has worked for me is just placing my hand in the cage without moving it. I let the rats' natural curiosity get the better of them and they come to me to investigate. At this time, they probably don't want to eat from my hand so I don't bother. In time, their curiosity will be satisfied and they will go about their business in the cage. Now I fill my hand with the food that I normally feed and approach the trust training in the same manner. When they are eating from my hand I then substitute the regular food with a treat. First offering it from the tips of my fingers and gradually moving it up in my hand. This causes the rat to climb into my hand to eat it. When they are comfortable with this I now raise my hand, each time getting them used to being higher and higher in my hand, the training goes on, in baby steps, until they trust me enough to handle them the way I would like to.

More information. The following Bonding, Trust-training, techniques were written by experts on both Holistarat and the Ratlist, both Yahoo forums. These techniques, and my own method, have worked for me since I first got into rat keeping 11 years ago.
Bonding with your rats:
http://www.rattyrat.com/guidebook/bonding.html
http://www.petinfopackets.com/rats/ratinfopacket.html
http://members.aol.com/juliesrats/behavior.html
Forced Socialization:
article just below bonding.
Trust training:
http://search.yahoo.com/search?search=Trust+training&ei=UTF-8&fr=ks-ans&ico-yahoo-search-value=http%3A%2F%2Frds.yahoo.com%2F_ylt%3DAqFmYLsucJ9Ju1A_wytuo5cazKIX%2FSIG%3D111gjvvgj%2F*-http%3A%2F%2Fsearch.yahoo.com%2Fsearch&ico-wikipedia-search-value=http%3A%2F%2Frds.yahoo.com%2F_ylt%3DAjrR1DDgyctRMOV346dKZz4azKIX%2FSIG%3D11ia1qo58%2F**http%253a%2F%2Fen.wikipedia.org%2Fwiki%2FSpecial%253aSearch&p=Trust+training

And this link will help you understand your rats' behavior:
http://www.ratbehavior.org/

Just give them time. Before you know it, they will be your best friends and trust you for everything.

"one more thing thank you every one for answering my past repetitive questions i keep on asking cuz i always get new answers"
You are welcome Heather. I'm always glad to talk to others on rat-keeping, no matter how many times they ask their questions :)

Answer 2

Its possible that you are startling them when you put your hand into the house while they are in there. If thats the only place that they bite you, perhaps you need to encourage them out of the house before picking them up or playing with them.

Answer 3

Try talking really sweet to them before reaching in to grab them. Talk like you would talk to a baby. Are you nervous when you put your hand in there from previous bites? Rats are extremely perceptive to human emotions. If you are nervous, it makes them nervous. Stay calm and they will be calm. They may just be trying to rest and are sleeping when you put your hand in their houses. Try to let them be when they are sleeping. I know it is hard because you want to play with them and rats are nocturnal, meaning they sleep during the day and are awake a night. Trying sweet talking them out of the houses before just grabing them. Good luck.

Answer 4

Wow. Just don't bother them when they are in their little houses! Simple. Even pets need some quiet time and some space that is "theirs". How would you like it if someone kept poking and grabbing at you when you were curled up all nice and snug in your bed? Might you bite them if that was your only defense?

Answer 5

develop a signal with them that will let them know that you are going to touch them. they are not hard to train at all they are quite smart. once they learn the signal they should stop biting. mine nips at me when i startle him. when they do bite make a loud eeeeeek sound. it's the same sound they make when they are hurt.

Answer 6

Dude. Periods exist for a reason =)
That was one long paragraph in one sentence.

Anyway, I'm pretty sure it'd be hard to teach a rat not to bite, seeing as how it's a rodent. Maybe feed them? Have a piece of food in your hand when you reach in. Then they might associate that with you being friendly and not the enemy.

Answer 7

rats are very hard to train. the best you can do is just not bother them when they are in their houses, unless you need to extract them for cleaning the cage, a bath, etc.
if they are not biting you at any other time I wouldn't be concerned, they just want to be left alone when they are in their houses.
are they female rats? if you are female and so are they, they may feel especially threatened by you. consider having a male friend or family member your rats trust take them out of their houses for you