Unsure what to do

Question
I had rats for years (primarily black little boy rats taken from the feeder cages when they were very very young).  I hadnt had a rat in nearly four years when my boyfriend got me one.  (She was going to be abandoned by her family that decided they didnt like her.)  They didnt know how old she was but said she was young.  She was very frightened when she first came home with us and I tried to hold her a lot but I discovered I somehow developed an allergy to her urine.  I dont know what to do, my kids love her but are two and one and cannot take care of her and so she never gets held.  Recently she has taken to biting.  Aggresive biting at that separating her teeth as she does.  She has tried to bite numerous times but only got me once.  How can I hold her more with my allergy? Any solutions?  Also I think she might be going blind (she is white with pink eyes.)  Her vision seemed fine when she moved in with us but lately she has to sniff and feel around for us when we feed her.  She doesnt see us even if we are an inch away.  Any suggestions?  (Her name is Nepthys).

Answer
I am so soooooooooooo soooooooooo sorry for the delay!  Sometimes they get lost or re-sent and because I receive 15 or more questions per day its easy to get them lost in the shuffle.

Forgive me. I am usually much more professional than that!

Now, about your girl!  
You are SO not alone in this, trust me. So many people are allergic to rat urine its unreal. Sometimes I have a reaction to it and I have handled rats both for my own pleasure (as pets) and professionaly (at the clinic(s) you would think I would be immune.  It depends probably on the concentration of the proteins in the urine which is what we react to the most.

What happens is, their super sharp nails may leave tiny itty bitty scratches on our skin we cant even see or feel. If they have traces of urine proteins on their feet, it will go into the microscopic cuts and can cause our skin to turn red, itch, welt, blotch up, you name it.  Treat it like an allergic reaction just like you would if you were in contact with poison ivy or poison oak etc.....wash off the area and apply benadryl cream or 1% cortisone  Hydro-cortisone which I like best.

To PREVENT it, simply wear long sleeves and keep rattie off your skin like your neck etc.... our hands usually dont react to their urine proteins because the skin is much more tough on our hands.  Also, keep a box of unscented baby wipes handy to wipe your skin off soon as you have contact.  I also wipe off their feet before taking them out of the cage.  Doing this should wipe off any residual contaniments.

Hoepefully this will resolve everything and you can handle her more now. This should help with her shyness too. It may take a bit of time though but you can read on my site how to get her to trust you etc.. on the page about trust training shy or biting rats.  As for her vision, does she sway her head back and forth? (which is normal to do)  Rats have bad vision anyhow and can adjust to blindness. I have had bliknd rats, partially blind rats and even a rat with one eye who was my favorite rat ever. I just lost him in June :(   You can read more info on my website here:

http://www.allexperts.com/expertx.cgi

Also, good job rescuing her!