Rat behavior for a 3 month old

Question
Sandra,

Hello. I purchased a female Dumbo rat from a breeder about 3 weeks ago.  Lilly is 3 month old and I am curious about her behavior.  This is my third rat and the other two that I have purchased were probably 6 months old and from a pet store and their behavior was not anything like Lilly's.  She will not let you hold her, she runs and hides under the towels in her cage when you approach the cage, she's kind of crazy.  When you do hold her she scrambles to get away and jumps from our hands. I was just wondering if this is normal for a 3 month old rat or did we get a "bad" apple?  I am considering taking her back to the breeder.  The breeder told me that she has been "hand raised" and held quite a bit. I can't see that being the case.  I have her caged with my 2.5 year old neutered male that she seems to have adjusted to.  She snuggles with him and took to her when I put her in the cage.  What are your thoughts?  Thank you for your time and I look forward to hearing from you.

Christie

Answer
Hi Christie

I dont believe the breeder for a minute.  I just brought home three males that are 4 weeks old and these boys are so tame its unreal. They come right to me, climb into my hands for me to take them out of the cage, come right to me when they hear my voice, are always trying to get out of the cage etc.... now they do NOT like to be held for long periods. They are babies. They want to get down and explore and be nosey. But they dont run and hide from me, either. They were carried around almost since birth by older children (ages 12 or so) which made these little babies super tame.  

However, I am for the under dog. In fact I told the breeder I would take the most shy rats from him because I have experience with rat behavior and understand the way a timid rat thinks. I have extensive experience bringing the most shy rats out of their shell and also have even trained a very aggressive wild rat that was a biter, my little one, Holly, years back.  She was a demon rat, I swear, and within a week she was the most polite little rat ever.

I dont suggest returning her. Your a rat lover, so put yourself in her shoes.  She is scared and unsociable.  Its not the fact she has any problems behavior wise or she wouldnt have accepted the male cage mate like she has.  She is people shy. You will have to work with her and change your approach in order to gain her trust.  If you return her, she will probably never come out of her shell and spend her life unloved by humans because she wont allow herself to accept them as her friend and bond with them. I fear the breeder will probably keep her but she will just exist a lonely life.  Its not the little rats fault.  She doesnt know any better.

What you need to do is stop trying to pick her up for starters. Speak softly to her and offer her your hand with a treat in it. Offer her something she cant resist. You can get some baby food and put it on a spoon and offer it to her. She may resist several times and you may sit there for 20 minutes waiting for her to come to the spoon to see what it is.  Once you get her to do that, start with other treats that you use ONLY for this time.  Yogurt drops or even a piece of sweet cereal (wont hurt once in a while) but again, these treats should be used only during the trust training time.

Have a rat safe area for her to come out to. You can use cardboard and construct a wall out of it, making the area as big as you want. I make a big circle with it and put the cage in it so when they come out they are safe and cant get out. I provide toys for them etc...
You can see an example of this on my webpage, GETTING STARTED URL here.

http://www.freewebs.com/crittercity/trainingshyorbitingrats.htm

Anyhow, once she has started to trust you, she will want to come out of her cage to explore. Continue to NOT pick her up, but keep offering your hand, palm side up, so she can come to your hand and sniff it. Be sure its washed and doesnt smell of food or other animals.

Please read my website on trust training a shy or biting rat for more info but I think you can appreciate where I am coming from. Just remember to keep the room quiet, talk softly but call her name often, move slowly around her so she isnt spooked and dont force yourself on her.  She is probably sensing your frustration and even some disappointment that she isnt the super outgoing rat everyone wants to have. Trust me rats can pick up on negative energy just like a human infant can.  New mothers often are nervous with their babies and when they are extra fussy and cry or even scream for hours, the new mom is usually totally overwhelmed, exhausted from lack of sleep and very tense. Infants pick up on this and often this makes them even more fussy.  Ask any new nervous mother with a fussy child and they will tell you that the baby screams for them but when they hand the baby over to someone else such as Grandma, who is usally much more relaxed, the baby falls right to sleep. This is because baby picks up on moms negative energy but feels Grandmas calm demeanor and becomes more relaxed right away.  Rats are exactly the same way. This applies to biting rats too.  If the rat feels you are scared of her she will feel threatened and may strike out by biting you to keep you away.

Anyhow, I am sure this will end up working out for you once you gain her trust. Soon as she feels your more positive with her she will start to poke her head out. Patience is key when dealing with rats like this.   I once adopted four lab rats that were poked and probbed the entire life. They were a year old when I got them and hated me. They would hide and bite me if I tried to touch them.  I totally understood and did not blame them one bit. After all, they only knew humans as a source of pain and discomfort and wanted to avoid me until I proved to them I was not the same as other humans. It took several months and all but one of them ended up trusting me, but not 100 percent, either.  They would come out and would play in the play area, but did not like to be picked up at all. They would freeze up as if they were waiting for me to do something to hurt them. It was pretty heartbreaking to be honest and I never blamed them for not liking me.  They did start to accept treats from my hand which was a milestone for them, but they still only let me love them from a distance. The largest one, Twizzler, was too aggressive and would attack not only me, but the other three rats too and had to live alone. I hated that for him. I was going to neuter him to see if this would calm him down but he passed away suddenly before I had the chance to neuter him.  I felt bad that he never warmed up to me and he never felt loved by humans. He died alone in his cage from heart failure due to heart problems that he was born with. I had a necropsy done because I wanted to know what took his life so suddenly.
From that moment on, I always felt sorry for the shy and scared rats and always would pick the most timid rat out of the group to bring home to be my companion.  I wanted to make sure every timid rat learned to be loved by humans and so I have always had shy rats as pets. THey were not shy with me but were always shy  with strangers since I was the only one they would interact with on a daily basis (hubby wont allow himself to get attached to  my rats after he was attached to one of my boys, Peanut. Peanut died and it broke my husbands heart. I remember him sobbing and he told me he would not allow himself to go through this loss every two or three years since rats dont live long, so he keeps his distance from them now. He used to go and get Peanut and bring him in bed with us to watch TV. Peans would fall asleep on my husbands chest and they were buddies. So....that said, I am the only one that interacts with my rats and when I have shy ones, they only come to me.  

Please let me know what you think about trust training and also if you have any questions, feel free to ask. You will be allowed a few follow ups but sometimes it cuts you off and you may need to start another message but thats ok. You can ask as much as you want.