Joeys behavior

Question
I just got two rats on Sunday 2/9/09 Joey ( a fancy blue male) and Jack (a black and white dumbo male) both unneutered.  We got them at petsmart and they both seemed perfect for us.  The first cage was TOO small so after the second day we got them a new cage with 4 levels a slide, ramps, tunnels, hammocks, igloo, ladders and toys!  Jack loves it always exploring, chewing climbing and will even crawl onto our hands and allow us to pick him up.  I set up a playground in the evenings for them made of cardboard boxes I cut out tunnels and houses and it's there own little rat town!  Again Jack loves it and has a ball when we play with him and he gets to play in his own little town.  Joey on the other hand is still terrified to come out of his cage sometimes he will let me pick him up and enjoys the town i make them but still is always hiding and running.  If you put him in the top of the cage he will climb down only to go straight to his Igloo where he spends ALL of his time day and night!  He takes treats from me and I think he just needs time however my boyfriend wants to take him back.  He is not very active it is near impossible to get him out of his igloo and does not trust us.  In time I sure this can change as i know he has to learn to trust us.  We have noticed however that he also sneezes quite a bit, first we thought it may be my perfume or sent but its pretty constant everyday he is sneezing!  I already Love him so much I can't imagine taking him back and getting a new one :(  I have talked my boyfriend into keeping him until Tuesday to see if he warms up at all to us and ventures out a little more rather than always sleeping and hiding!  Is this normal for a male rat or is my boyfriend right is my little ratty boy sick?!?!? Please help I want him to be happy and healthy and I want to keep him a part of our family!

Answer
The frequent sneezing; is it accompanied by any kind of nasal or ocular (nose or eye) discharge? Does his coat stand a bit on age, and do you notice flecks of red "stuff" resembling blood on the bedding, walls or hammock? If not, he may be having a little stress cold and it's probably nothing to worry about unless it continues for over a few weeks or gets worse. Then yes, he may be sick and treatment is very simple and usually the most expensive part of that vet visit is the office visit (ranging from $50 to $100 depending on your location).

As far as him being shy --- do you know where the PetSmart rats come from? They have a huge warehouse distributor. You walk into a building the size of home depot and there are cages lining the walls (and usually not very big cages -- one mama per lab cage, usually bred while nursing). These rats are never handled, from the time they're born until the time they're weaned and sent to the stores. They spend days traveling in boxes with air-holes poked in them to the store they're due to be delivered at. They're picked up by people in gloves, poked and prodded, and then tossed in plastic "receiving" bins to spend a three day (improper) quarantine. At that time they're moved out onto display in the glass cages. The store employees are not allowed to handle them outside of the time they show them to customers and when they're cleaning the cages.. it's considered a lack of responsibility to the rest of their job. I know this all -- because I worked at PetSmart on a lower-level Management level for several years. It's sad how these rats come to be.

My point is, he's shy because he's probably never even SEEN people. Jack may have been at the store longer and been handled more often; thus his outgoing-ness. Joey probably was a recent arrival. He needs time to settle in and then a lot of trust training - treats, kind words, cuddled. Pick him up while you're doing housework and make him sit with you. Eventually, he'll come around.

If you take Joey back to the store, two things will happen. One; he'll go back into a three day quarantine and be by himself in the back room, sans having someone coming to feed/water/clean twice a day. Then he'll be put back out on the sales floor. If he doesn't sell and becomes a full-blown adult there and is still nervous, the company will say he's too skittish to be sold, and they'll send him back to the vendor. At which point the vendor decides two things - they'll either put him in as a breeder and he'll be bred until he's an old man and dies - or they'll euthanize him on arrival.

I encourage you to read on rat trust training and go about it that way. Give him a couple weeks. If at that time you can't make any progress, contact a rescue and give him to them -- they'll give him a much kinder fate than the pet store and vendor will.

Good luck!