My mean Rat?

Question

I have a rat and she is so mean every time I put my finger in the cage she bites it and draws blood My two yr old brother puts his finger in there and comes out screaming with a bloody finger what do I do???

Answer 1

How long have you had her?? How often do you handle her?

The most common reason for rats biting is being fed through the cage...this tells them that whatever comes through the bars is going to be food, so they end up biting, then when you stick a finger in their, they'll bite and bite hard when you pull away so they aren't loosing thier food...

You need to start feeding her ONLY through the cage of the door...make sure she knows that she will only get food if the door is open..
Try putting your hand upto the cage, far enough away that she cannot bite it but she can smell it...
Then slowly move forward...untill you can put your hand against the cage...
She should see what you are doing and just smell your hand..
If she does bite...DO NOT PULL YOUR HAND AWAY!!! The worst thing you can ever do is pull your hand away, wheather they are biting because they think it's food or if they are afraid...you never pull your hand away, it sends the wrong message...
After a while, you should be able to put your fingers in the cage without her associating it with food and biting you...eventually she'll just lick your fingers...
Also, make sure you don't have the scent of any food on your hands when you handle her...

As for your brother...just keep him away from the cage untill you break her biting habbit...either keep her in a room with the door shut or up high enough that he cannot reach her...

Hope this helps...GOOD LUCK!!!!

Answer 2

Stop putting your finger there! But seriously, she could think you are food. Have you fed her through the bars? I don't tink any rat is really mean, just scared, confused or unknowing.

I have had some biters in my time, loved them. Would take awhile to get them to come around, but when they did they always were the most affectionate.

I do not suggest getting rid of it. Passing it to someone else does not solve the biting problem. We live in a throw away society, things do not go as planed and we get rid of the problem instead of working it out. If you are able to find a person experience in the care of biting rats that it may be a better home, but don't just return it, give it away, etc.

I don't feel like typing anymore, but if you have any specific questions feel free to e-mail me.

Answer 3

If you just recently purchased the rat from a pet store, my recommendation is to return it at once. Rats that have been raised for pets are very tame and do not bite. We look for certain characteristics before selling our pet rats. The rat can't run away, try to bite, or sway the head back and forth. These are 3 traits that are common in rats that bite.
Males make the best pets overall. You may have a female that is pregnant. Females bite when expecting or protecting young. I had a female jump up to attack me recently and she hung on. I now have a permanent scar.
Two year old shouldn't be handling rodents and I am only saying this to educate. Rodents are the highest carriers of salmonella. Children aged 5 and under, place their fingers in the mouth too much. You should even use Germ X after handling a rodent. Unfortunately, rats, mice and hamsters are bred in large facilities. We only purchase our pets from local breeders.

Answer 4

Is she alone in her cage? If so, she's bound to be stressed out and bored. Rats need friends. Get her another girl rat for company and she may be calmer. Rats need a ton of handling to be comfortable with people. If you haven't done this while it was growing up, it does make it a little more difficult for it to learn to trust you. It's just like a dog if you think about it. A puppy with no hands-on attention with not grow up to be a friendly dog. Don't be loud or have fast movements around your rat, at least not till you've got her to trust you a bit. They're skittish little things, but they do make adorable pets if you give them the attention, time and a ratty playmate. Check out ratclub.org for tons of tips and info.

Answer 5

This is not common for a rat. i owned two for their lifetimes-which is short-and found them to be the most friendly pets i have ever owned. Its not the same thing, but i just adopted ferrets and i sort of just committed to handling them often so i could temper my reactions to the biting and not show fear or distress when bit/nibbled. I suppose that was also my approach when i got the rats and experienced the nibbling. Alot of handling and patience and we get to an understanding. i know that sounds weird but handle it alot alone so its not stressed. But some people don't like to be condtantly bit so find it a home of some sort, part ways and try it again with lots of holding and alot of the other stuff people are answering.

Answer 6

don't put your finger through the cage wires!!! Rats think that this is food. How do they know better. She isn't "mean" if she doesn't bite you like that when you have her out.

Answer 7

She might be annoyed, my friend's rat bit her because she poked her finger in there. What would you do if someone kept poking fingers in at you? Especially if you were a somewhat blind rat, guessing it's food. Or harm. I'd bite too! I'd try holding her and talking to her.

Answer 8

I'm guessing you haven't held her much since she was a baby because it sounds like she's just frightened from lack of human contact. Either that or you just got her and her last owners we're abusive. Flick her in the nose (softly and quickly or she will just bite you again) when she bites and remove her from the cage and pet her. Dabbing a bit of vanilla extract on the tip of her nose with a q-tip might help.

Answer 9

Move her - your two year old brother doesn't know better and his bite could get infected.

If she's that mean you're probably gonna have to find another loving rat home for her.

Answer 10

your rat thinks that you are offering food. Never feed your rat through the bars of its cage.