Pet Forum / Mammals / Rats / July 2005

Michael, interesting subject line!  When I was new to rats, and got my first
rat Maggie last summer, she lived alone for a couple of months while she was
being spayed and waiting to move in to the boys' cage.  During this time I
felt bad for her and would have her out on my shoulder every night for at
least an hour so she could get some good contact.  I noticed that sometimes
after a while she would start biting at my fingers so I took that as the
"put me back" sign and in the cage she would go.

As things progressed, if I was not paying attention, her biting at my
fingers would turn to "chewing at the hangnail" and actually biting OFF the
ends of my fingernails.  I really started freaking out, also thinking that I
had a man-eating rat on my hands.  After posting about this (though not as
interestingly as you did!) I was told that this is GROOMING, and a sign of
affection.  It makes sense.  Rats will groom each other, and if they love
you too, they'll groom you.  A think like a callous is an anomoly, that is,
it feels funny to them tompared to the rest of the foot, so in rat terms
they're doing you a favor if they remove it.  "Biting" them back won't do
any good because they would just think "oh, he's grooming me back".

I also have the rats out at night on the bed (just did this last night) and
they were all over me.  We did "rattie taco" (wrap them up in fleece) and
"rattie jumble" (grab all three and squeeze) but I do have to sort of watch
out what they're doing to me while they're on me.  Sometimes if they get too
crazy I sit on a chair next to the bed while they run around - esp. if I'm
having a snack at the time that they want to share.  Last night Maggie stole
a potato chip right off my plate.

One thing you can try, which I did when they started getting nippy at treat
time, is if they start to nip, go "eeee" in a high pitch, and that's
rat-signal for "I don't like that".  Mine learned pretty fast with that.
You just have to know their language!

Good luck.  I'm sure others will have some good advice for you too.

Meghan

LOL, when looking at the subject line, I thought, not another troll.;)
But... yes, some rats really do like to nip at the toes and fingers. It
is definitely not having a taste for flesh. You can correct them, not by
biting them back, lol but by having a handy little box or very small
cage near you, and when one does this, pick him up firmly say no and
place in empty box for 5 minutes, no longer. Then return him to the play
area. Keep putting him or them in the box each and every time they do
something unacceptable. Preferably, not together, they would need their
own box if you have more than one doing this at the same time. They need
to relate, nipping toes to unfavorable solitary confinement with no toys
or food either.

Joanne
Owned by 19 rats.