Cage Territorial Rat

Question
QUESTION: I bought a female rat, Blanca, from Petco exactly one month ago so my neutered male rat, Amelio, could have a friend. Of course, they are completely in love with each other, they are always either playing or snuggling. Blanca has been afraid of me from the beginning, cowering in the corner, though she would let me message her behind her ears and eventually close he eyes and relax she has also been a bitter from the beginning, though the bite was always soft. She was also very sick when I got her, she had tapeworm and of course respiratory problems so I had to give her doxycycline and baytril twice a day orally. I tried to put them in yogurt but she wouldn't touch it. I would also give her a yogurt flavored cheerio right after the medicine because it was traumatic for both of us. I always did my best to make it quick and painless. After about 3 weeks of quarantine is when I introduced them and ever since then Blanca's skittish behavior has gone from bad to worse. She is now much more brave since she has Amelio. When ever I put me hand in the cage she lunges at me, and she has drew blood twice. I have been trying to trust train her, giving her pieces of cheerios, and she always takes them from my hand so gently. But if I just place my hand in the cage away from her, she will walk up and bite it aggressively. I have also been taking her into the bathtub with cheerios where we get along great! She will fall asleep in my arms while bruxing. Though while we're in there she poops a ton and tries to bury herself in my pant leg which makes me think she's still frightened, but she almost never bites in the bathtub, only when she's in her cage. It is clear that she was not properly socialized at Petco, unlike Amelio who loves Everyone and is always giving kisses. My question is how to deal specifically with territorial rats? Could it also be that she is protective of Amelio? Even when I'm petting Amelio she doesn't seem to like it and will come toward me and open her mouth to bite.

ANSWER: You have yourself a very protective female rat. You hit the nail on the head when you said she is protecting Amelio and her home on top of that.

The problem is, she still sees you as an outsider and has not accepted you as part of her colony yet.  You said she was scared of you from the start.

We have to go back to the time she was shy of you. What type of interaction do you have with her besides bathing her?  BTW, if she really doesnt like the water, there is no real need to bathe a rat at all unless they have a problem that they cannot groom themselves. Seems her fear pooping is a sign of saying she is indeed scared and is not having much fun if she is hiding in your pants. Some rats just simply love it and run around spashing away, but thats not real common, either.  
THe really dont need baths, and believe it or not, rats like to smell themselves. In the wild they leave a trail of urine so they can smell their own scent and find their way back to their colony. Unless she has a real problem, I would refrain from the bathing...however it not a medical demand rats not be bathed, just my opinion.  Not sure if you felt you "must" do it or that you simply like to do it.

Anyhow, back to the topic at hand (dont mind me, I blabbler AHHHLOT! :D

Ok so lets just say she doesnt like getting baths, and this is when you and she are interacting. Bath time. I will say for the moment anyhow, she doesnt like baths .  She associates YOU with the baths and gets negative energy from it.
Next up: She had been sick you said and you had to give her some less than tasty antibioitics. I am going to assume the vet clinic did NOT add flavoring to the medication. We always add different flavorings such as strawberry or orange or banana or even cherry. It can make the most nasty injectable baytril taste good to the most finicky rat ever.
Next time, you can melt some chocolate ice cream and put the meds in that.  THe little bit of sugar wont hurt and the bit of chocolate wont hurt either and in fact, its important the meds are taken so the benefits outweigh the risks!!
So anyhow, there you have yet another negative interaction with her: the medication and the  struggle you may have had with her to get her to take it.
She is remembering these incidents and sees you as some kind of threat yet.  You have to put yourself in her place and see what she sees and this will help you understand her better.  
She is content in her cage with her boy that she is obviously protecting and she is the mother hen.  You and this little girl must bond elsewhere outside of the cage.  

Tell me about Blanca's  play time out of the cage. Does she come out on her own?  Do both rats have a designated play area that is safe and is rat proofed and has toys for them to interact with during playtime out of the cage?

Let me know your routine. I know you havent had her long so you may not have had time to really establish anything solid yet, which if that is the case, I can help you can on the right track. Rats learn from constantly repeating things and they appreciate a pattern, something to look forward to at the same time each day. Once this is established, she will be waiting for you eagerly at the same time every day because her internal clock will adjust eventually.  
The goal here is to get her to realize it is YOU that is the keeper and you are there to take care of both her and Amelio.

Let me know the few things I asked and we can go from there. We will get her on the right track, dont worry.


Sandy



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

QUESTION: Hey! I'm so sorry I didn't clarify, I do not give her a bath and I never have, I only take her into the bathtub (without water) because I live in a dorm and it's the only safe place I can take her to interact with her and train her to trust me. I sit in the tub with her and let her walk all around (which is when she unloads massive dumps everywhere) and then I gently scoop her up and she falls asleep in my arms and I message behind her ears. I usually spend 45 minutes to and hour hanging out with her in the tub. Other than that we really don't have much interaction because as soon as she goes back into her cage with Amelio, she bites. Playtime for them is always in the cage. It's a four story cage, 30"L 18"W 30"H, so they run up and down and back an forth, and climb on the inside and outside of the cage, though my friends and I play with Amelio outside of the cage frequently, letting him run from arm to arm and explore my rat proofed dorm room. :) Blanca has come out of the cage on her own and when she does she is very bold in her exploring behavior and doesn't seem frightened at all, though it is seldom when she comes out the the cage. She pretty much sticks by Amelio's side and tends to do what ever he's doing.
Everything I've described above is done on a daily basis. Though I have only taken Blanca into the bathtub twice so far, starting today I was going to make it an everyday activity for her and I in the evening. BTW I also use strawberry yogurt cheerios designated specifically for trust training in the bathtub and not while she's in the cage. I use different flavored cheerios when she is in her cage as I'm trying to remind her that my hand is still her friend. It's just been so frustrating because I use to be able to reach and and wrestle with Amelio and wipe the bottom the cage with a cloth while Amelio nibbled, licked and chased my hand around. But now I'm too scared to do those things because when I do Blanca lunges at my hand and bites. :( It breaks my heart. If only she understood how much I love her. Also, I forgot to mention, the medications did have syrup in them, one of them what grape flavor I know, and she would lick her mouth like she liked the taste, though I know she hated being held still and having the serenge in her mouth. :(

Answer
OOps sorry.....I was thinking she was taking a bath, not playing in the tub!!

Something to consider and I always tell people about this...and that is to set up a play area that allows them to come in and out of the cage during their play time but still be contained in a specific area. Someone on another site, the Dapper Rat, has a great idea to build a wall out of flat cardboard. It should be tall enough so they cant jump it (at least 3 foot or taller) and you can make it as big as you want. You can make a huge three sided pen and have it connect to each side of the cage and allow her to come out on her own..let her decide to make the first move and to feel that you are a part of play time.  I didnt know you were in a dorm room. The dorm room may feel too overwhelming for her to roam which is why she may not come out much on her own but if she were to be more confined to one area with her own toys to explore (paper bags, boxes with holes cut out,even my favorite, old socks or rags with cheerios hidden in them!) my rats love honey nut cheerios and the yogurt ones too although they are high in sugar,a few here and there will not hurt.   

ALso, with the medicine: Next time, just show her the syringe, put it by her mouth and give it a little push on the plunger, she may hold it and suck it out if she likes the taste.  My rats hold their syringe while I push the plunger and after its gone they pull it from me and fight over it.  LOL

The way I trained my wild rat, Holly, was a bit different since she bit me like mad (I mean bit the heck out of me till blood came and I have nerve damage from her deep bites!) she totally did not trust me at all being wild on top of that.  So what I did was, I had her in an enclosed area and I opened her cage. When she came out if she bit me, back she went.  If we made it for at least 15 minutes with no biting, she got a cheerio (this was ONLY used for her training so she could learn to associate it with a reward and not a daily treat)  she started to learn that her coming up and biting the heck out of my knee would get her sent back to the cage pronto and time out for playing was over. Within a week this rat stopped biting me and became my best friend. People swore I switched rats thats how much she changed.  LOL

You said she is fine out of the cage so we have to get her to become your trusting friend outside of the cage and learn to come to you on her own rather than having no choice but to have to sit on your lap etc...or roam a big area during free time since it seems she is too overwhelmed to really come out for play time if she stays in the cage with him.  Take him out too...let her see how he trusts you. Rats often pick up on other rats energy too and if she sees he responds to you in a positive way OUTSIDE of the cage she may also pick up on that.  Also you said you are scared she will bite you and she knows this also.  Invest in some rose pruning gloves. Heavy duty suede gloves so thick that thorns from a rose bush wont pop through. We used to use them when we would have to deal with scared cats at the clinic.

How is she today, the same or is that a no brainer on my part? LOL!