picking up rats

[amanda]

I now have 2 baby girls They still wont let me pick them up, I have been putting my hand in the cage and letting them sniff my hand, they have the occassional bite too. I have had my girls, Maisy and Gracie for 5 days now.

Thanks in advance.

[Kim]

By the sound of it the person you got your rats from at the pet expo didnt socialize or handle the babies much.

None of my babies are biters, unless they smell food on your fingers then they try to eat it not realising its just a smell.

None of my babies are shy either, sure I understand then taking a few days to settle in and get used to new smells, sights and sounds, but 5 days is a long time for a properly bred and handled baby to take to settle in.

Could you please PM me as I would like to find out who you got the babies from.



There are 2 ways you can go about trying to get them friendlier.

1) Continue doing what you are doing and let them learn to trust you in their own time.

A bad point to this is that they may take forever to come around and may in fact never come around completely.


2) You can force them to interact with you, by actually picking them up, even when they dont want to be picked up, and holding them gently inside your top and try to always have a hand in contact with them at all times.

A bad point to this is that it can cause more stress to the rat.

But a good point is that the rat may get used to being handled quicker than if its just left alone to do it on its own time.


Which ever way you choose, always hand feed them treats and special foods through out the day and night when you can, first on a spoon if they are too scared to come near you, but later on your finger.

You may get a few bites at first if they want to get the treat and get away from you.

But by hand feeding them they learn that your hands are good and wont hurt them. Remember your hands seem big and scary to them.



As I said though, if these babies came from a good breeder then you shouldnt be having these problems with them, and like I said, to me it sounds as if the breeder hasnt handled them much at all and hasnt socialized them.

Although another reason they could also be this way apart from not being handled much or socialized is that its a learn or genetic trait from the parents.

Learnt traits are ones the babies learn from watching their mother. If the mother was a very shy, nervous unfriendly rat then the babies may have learnt that trait from watching her reactions.

If its a genetic trait then it could have come from either the mother or the father, or from both parents.

Genetic traits are fairly impossible to change as its a trait that is in their genetic make up.

Learnt traits can be broken but it can take a lot of time and sometimes you can never get them to be the very friendly squishy rats that they should have been.

I hope that your babies come around with time and that you do end up with 2 very loving rats.

[amanda]

Thanks for all that info Kim


I got the girls from a pet shop, I was there buying things to put into their cage and seen them sitting in the cage at the pet shop, I felt sorry for them, they looked sad, am being the sucker I am, I always fall for the animals like this. I knew about buying from a breeder but when I saw these two girls I could not leave them sitting there, so I bought them, went home, set up their new home and picked them up the next day.

I have been handing them treats and they take them and go put them in their beds and come back to see if I have any more.., So cute.

Gracie, the smaller one, Has started to hold my fingers and lick them, Maisy still has a little nibble, It's not hard tho.

They don't seem scared when they see me, and as soon as I come home from work and they hear my voice, they come out of bed to ''say Hi''

Once again, Thank you for all the info and I will try your suggestions.

[ceara]

It sounds as though you're making good progress!

Most pet shop rats don't tend to be at all well socialized unfortunately, and often come from feeder breeders I"ve had good and bad experiences with pet shop rats. There's a pet shop in Adelaide that I know and love (P&K Pets). They breed their own rats and socialize them very well indeed - whenever I've looked at their rats, they usually come out to say hello and start with the licking and nibbling of my hands if I put them in the cage, which is great!

My lovely Bella came from them and she is the best socialized baby I have ever seen, and is utterly fearless of everything and everyone (and very friendly!)

[ithinkismellarat]

i want to buy from a breeder because of this very reason, but they seem to be very hard to find...

[mariposa0283]

Jul 16, 2009 14:23:33 GMT 10 ithinkismellarat said:

i want to buy from a breeder because of this very reason, but they seem to be very hard to find...

ditto to that.... i got 3 rats from one of my hubbys friends on the gold coast a month or 2 ago and they are much more social than the ones i bought 2 years ago at petstores.

[Claire]

ruby my rat is a shy girl and i would call her and her sister rosie name and rosie being a very outgoing girl use to rush out and lead ruby out to me but since rosie past away ruby has gone back into her self whithin a day and it took me weeks with rosies help to get her to tust me and come to me i have to pick ruby up from her bed inwhich she hides now form me once i pick her up she fine but how do i get her to come to me again?

[skitch]

Pet stores seem to really fail at socializing their rats in most cases . I live in Adelaide and I'm yet to find a petshop that can do it right.

Most unsocialized rats seem to be a little freaked by the thought of being picked up, but once they're out of the cage and actually 'on' you (it's best to hold them against you, it makes you feel secure) they will settle down. I find the best way to pick them up is by scooping them up with one hand and supporting them with the other. They made struggle and possibly squeel the first couple of times you do this.. but dont be put off, you just have to make them realise that leaving the cage to have a cuddle is a very positive thing!

[sublimity]

Im still having trouble with our rats. We got them a month ago and they are still extremely wary of our hands. While they will take food from them they hastily retreat back to the safety of their house. They were both pet shop rats because I couldnt find any breeders in Brisbane.

Im just grabbing them out of their cage and holding them or sitting in the shower with them and letting them sniff me or hide near my legs or w/e.

Im hoping that maybe as they age, they might settle down and not be so skitty and scared.

[christie]

To help with getting more used to you and your hands, try offering them baby food on a spoon. That way they cant just take it and run, they have to sit hear your hand to eat it. When they don't seam so scared of that then offer them baby food right off your finger. They might nip at first not realising its food they have to lick though. (my guys still do this sometimes without thinking and it doesn't hurt at all)

[sublimity]

Thats a really good idea, I might try that tomorrow (need to go buy some baby food). We tried them with pieces of soft wraps tonight and they loved those but again just came, grabbed and retreated.

[wulfyskingdom]

Oh I just had an idea... perhaps leave a blankie in or on the cage so it has their scent on it. When you get them out, get the blankie out with them so they feel secure?

If the baby food doesn't entice them, try something a little stronger like a tiny bit of yoghurt on your finger tip.

How old are they at the moment?

[wulfyskingdom]

When rats get more comfortable with you, but they just dont like being picked up, I find with my "awkward" boys, i put my hand out flat in front of them and let them spend a moment sniffing it, then i put my other hand behind their rump and gently push them into my open hand. I dont like snatching rats out of their cage and try not to pick them up from above, i think it's fair that they have warning that something's going to lift them up. Especially skittish/new rats, might revert to instinct and think its a predator swooping in to grab them.

[sublimity]

Well i didnt get to the store to get any baby food but we tried some vanilla yogurt on a spoon and once they got a lick of that they couldnt get enough, even the timid one who we have yet to get to come near us couldnt resist. After they got the taste and appeared to be in love with it we put some on our finger and they happily sat licking it off.

Once it was all gone, any time myself or my son put our fingers near the cage they practically ran over to sniff them looking for remanents of the yogurt. It was great to see them coming out for once.

Im not sure exactly how old they are, but we have had them for a month.

Here are some pictures of the boys with one very happy 9 year old . Henry is the brown one and Pepper is the black hooded one.





These were taken about 5mins after the yogurt.. we had the doors open and hands in the cage for that. But it was amazing to see Pepper come up to the cage and right up to my sons finger considering up until now he has been extremely timid and when you have held him he has just jumped out of your hands or struggled to get away.

[christie]

Oh that's great to hear, just keep doing that once a night or so and they will love coming to your hands even more The way to a rattys heart really is through its stomach lol.
That's certainly a cute photo of your Son, glad that he is so happy with them.