Nipping rat

Question
QUESTION: My 12 month old female rat bites me when she feels cornered or afraid. It only started to happen after there had been disturbances in the room such as loud nioses. She's always been a nervy rat unlike her adventurous sister. Half the time she's freindly and wants to come out and see me, especially when her sisters around. I haven't been holding her or pushing her and she seems OK. What should I do? Should I try to hold her again? I really need some advise on the matter.

ANSWER: Any chance her eyesight may be failing? I notice this happens a lot when rats begin to go blind - they don't see it's you and will bite to compensate, but are otherwise very sweet, giving and loving rats. I wouldn't push her, but rather begin conditioning her that you come with treats and she needs to trust you. Just work with her a bunch on trust and you should be good to go.


Good luck!

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: I made a terrible error in my question she isn't 12 months she's 12 weeks. I have only had her for a month and a half. If that makes any difference?

Thank you  

Answer
Well that rules out eyesight for the most part. But I'd still work on trust training. If you google "trust training rats" you'll find a few great articles and websites, namely:

http://www.fatratcentral.com/interacting-with-rats/trust-training-rats/

and my personal recommendation;

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