My usually sweet 3 month old rat inflicted some serious bites on me last night.?

Question

I have 2 female siamese rats. The smallest one appears to be the alpha rat which is fine because her sister dosen't seem to mind too much. However last night while out for play time my little alpha rat for no apparent reason nipped my finger and then when I tried to move my hand away she locked onto my finger inflicting a very painful and nasty puncture wound and a bruise from the force of hanging on. She then ran up my chest to my face and bit me hard on the lip. My husband waited a few minutes while i was bleeding profusely from my lip then picked her up to return her to her cage. She then bit him hard on the thumb. This is the first time this has happened she is usually a sweet, affectionate and spunky little thing but never has she even attempted to hurt either one of us. I'm really upset and concerned and would really love to hear from someone who knows about rats. How do we handle her and this behavior and what can we do that this dosen't happen again.

Answer 1

I had a female rat once who did the very same thing. She was always very sweet, and then one day, out of the blue, she would run up to me and bite me in my finger, and she drew blood. It happened very fast. And it happened at least once more that she would draw blood from me. Every since that first incident started, she would always go after my hands and fingers, very determined, and I knew she was out to bite me. Needless to say I became very scared of her and could hardly handle her. I would always hide my hands in my sleeves when picking her up, or wearing thick gloves. I tried to handle her as little as possible.. but I wasn't happy. And I had no idea why she became so vicious all of a sudden. She had 2 female cage mates and was never agressive to them.
Then one day I had enough of this hiding of hands and being scared of her, and I figured an aggressive animal might be crying out for lots of loving and attention to turn around. I tried to be compassionate for her behavior. One day I carefully took her out of the cage (hands hiding of course).. but I would go sit down with her on my lap. I carefully started petting her with my hands in my sleeves at first.. petting her back.. then her head... she would just sit there and soak in the attention. Then after some time as I was sure she wasn't going to do anything vicious, I slowly took out one finger and petted her back, her head, crawled her ears.. etc. Eventually I had my full hands out and was petting her. I took a long time with her. Every day I tried to give her as much one-on-one attention as I could, and guess what:
The miracle happened, because she literally changed over night. She ended up being one of my sweetest rats i've ever had. She was always eager to see me when I came home, waiting by the cage door, and whenever I would hold up my hand in front of her, instead of biting me, she would always very lovingly lick my fingers, very gently.. and she never even so much as tried to nip at me ever again. She was such a sweet girl and I ended up loving her very much and had many many nice moments with her, until she had to be put asleep from severe respiratory distress at age one and a half. I am so glad I took the time to give her the loving and attention she craved so badly, and I am glad that I had her. She was a pure joy!
Try doing this with your rat.. chances are she will turn around, so long as you show her you love her very much, rather than pulling back from her and not handling her. Your baby is angry - she just wants to be loved! Good luck!

Answer 2

I agree, she may have been frightened by a sudden movement or strange sound although none of our rats have ever bit for this reason. It's also very possible that she's not feeling well & should probably be checked out by a vet. You don't need to be concerned about rabies, btw.
Rats are very smart & affectionate & don't usually bite so I hope that your painful experience never repeats itself. We've lived with many rats & have only had 1 incorrigable biter-- coincidentally an alpha who was smaller than her gentle cage-mate-- no matter what we tried. She's over 2.5 years now & still tries to bite every chance she gets.
Good luck with her & your other girl. Siamese rats are so pretty. She's still very young & there's every chance that this won't become a habit.

Answer 3

Well you got yourself a terrier :) We have Jack Russell Terriers, so I know where you are. She is also young! Terriers are VERY smart, but very independent. They were bred to hunt, so they would rather work alone than with people. They take a lot of patience, consistency and determination. You need to exercise her a little more. She has a lot of energy and she is taking it out on your stuff. You also need to get her appropriate chews. I would suggest the Nylabones, they have different hardnesses and last a lot longer. Please do look into a puppy class of some sort. Terriers are hard and you might need some help learning how to deal with her independence. She is going to need a job and a whole lot of exercise. Also look into clicker training and crate training. All terriers are naughty, people just think they're cute and don't know what they're getting into.

Answer 4

She does not have rabies and not playing with her will make it worrs (sp??) Next time she bits you, hold her by the neck scroff (sp??) and hold her there show her what she did and tell her "no bad bit" She is doing this because she thinks she is the boss of you to and not just her sister you, did somthing she did not like. Good Luck Forgive her is the best thing to do. O for a bit wear gloves and play with one rat at a time this many help!!!!!

Answer 5

Dont be put off whatever you do, it sounds like something spooked her, you have to think of it from the animals point of view, biting is a defence mechanism, it could be anything from a noise, to somebody moving to fast, Remember animals have different hearing to us, so she couldve easilly have heard something that eaither you couldnt hear, or you wouldnt have noticed.

I know its very hard not to be frightened to have contact with an animal who has bitten or attacked but you need to keep at it.

I have a house rabbit and usually shes the most laid back little animal you could find, but after i had her for over a year she just went for me one day, shes never ever done it since, so just dont be put off and good luck!

Answer 6

The major bite on your finger could have been from you moving your hand away fast...the 1st bite could have been a certain smell on your finger, a noise that scared her, or a bigger problem...I had a rat named Two-Tone for 2 years (then he died :( ) he was my very 1st rat and very calm, sweet, gentle, and loyal (he'd sleep on my pillow, stand on my shoulder, and I played with him everyday...he had never bit (not even a nibble) until a few days before he died it was like he had amnesia or alzheimers diesease. We had him on the back of the sofa and when I got ready to take him back to his cage he turned around quickly when I touched his back and he backed to edge of the sofa...I could see it in his eyes he didn't know who I was...I tried talking to him gently telling him it was ok but when I tried to pick him up he bit me hard between the thumb and 1st finger. I sat on the couch and started crying (not so much from the pain but because he bit me and he had never done it before) I could see from the corner of my eye he was sort of jumping forward then backing up a bit getting closer and closer to me, then he sniffed my hair and got on my shoulder and everything was fine, but I cried all night that night because I knew there was something wrong...2 days later he died he was having convulsions :(

so you may want to take her to a vet and see (we couldn't afford one :( but if I'd had the money I would of took mine)

Answer 7

You're not going to like this answer, but have her put down. She will continue to bite people, maybe a child next time, and could spread infectious diseases. It's one thing to love animals, but human safety has to be the first priority! Pets are suposed to give us companionship and enjoyment, not serious injuries.

Meanwhile you should go to a doctor to be checked for rabies and tetanus.

Answer 8

wow, i've never had this problem before, but maybe you smelt strongly of some sort of food but that doesn't seem likely in this case for some reason.... if she bites you again to that vicious extent, something may be wrong with her, so i would either take her to the vet, or put her down....

Answer 9

Take her to the vet. Any drastic change in behaviour means that there is something wrong with her.

Answer 10

You need to get that little sucker checked for rabies!!!