My first girls - Taming!!

Question
QUESTION: Hello!! My name is Ana, i am from Brazil but im living in Texas now. Since i left Brazil, I've been missing my family a lot and I decided to keep my mind away from upset feelings and fill it up with usefull stuff - so I got pets. I have a leopard gecko - Nina - that i LOVE so much and now I got two rats, two little girls from petsmart.
They are very scared of me i believe, they dont come out of the cage or anything. I gave them toys, i try treats but nothing seems to work. I want them to come to me, i wanna take care of them, the best i can, but i feel kinda upset when they run away from me or hide in the end of their hide and dont come out just because im there. They dont bite, never did. They just seem to dont like me...
I just wanted some tips - they are my first rats, I dont want to fail with them, i already love those little things.
Thank you very much for your help and God bless you!!!
Hugs

Ana

ANSWER: Hi Ana

Welcome to the US and welcome to the world of rats too!

Seems your new rats have not been properly socialized, which means, the breeder that sold the rats to the petstores did not handle the rats enough so they are scared of people. They are scared of their surroundings and of you, not sure of your intentions.  Patience is a must in this case and a soft voice and slow moving gentle hand is another thing that they need to see.  Do not try to pick them up. This will only threaten them more and make them insecure. Your hand needs to be a friend to them and right now they have no idea what it is going to do to them.  Lay your hand flat in their cage and allow them to smell your hand. Be sure to wash them good  before doing this in case they smell food etc...
Do this often, and softly talk to them, saying their names, praising them etc...
Meanwhile, they need a safe and secure play area. Petsmart sells really nice small animal play pens that is a big 3 foot tall fence that spreads out and forms a large circle or extends from one end of the room to the other, however you want. The key is to provide a safe area for the girls to roam when they are ready to come out. They need playtime with you and they need exercise outside of their cage so as they get to know you, this will follow next.  They probably will slip through the bars on the small animal playpen so for now you wont benefit from buying it but when they are bigger it will be great.
What you CAN do is make a temporary playpen wall out of cardboard. Flattened cardboard boxes are idea and you can tape them together with heavy duty tape or if your clever, cut notches in them to fit them together so they interlock.  I am not that clever so I used to tape mine and set it up in a big huge square big enough that that it would surround the cage which is important so they can come in and out of the cage at their own leisure during playtime, and also big enough for you to fit in there sitting down along with some toys etc...and they can be homemade toys such as boxes with holes cut out for doors and windows and cardboard rolls from toilet tissue or paper towels if they are small enough that is....also a favorite thing for them to do is explore, so you can fill a shoebox with old rags or socks and hide some cheerios inside...they will have fun digging for the yummy treat!
Anyhow, once they get used to your hands, they will start climbing on your hands and probably nibbling at your fingers. They are not biting, just exploring with their mouth just like young human babies do! Eventually they will climb onto your hand and the first time they do this you may be tempted to grasp the rat and hold her but this will backfire and send her fleeing for safety again.  Oh I forgot to ask, do you have a little hidey house in their cage for them to hide? Rats and other rodents need a safety zone where they can run and hide when scared. Petsmart sells igloos and other plastic houses for this purpose.  ALso provide them with soft white paper towels to destroy and use to make a nest.  Pine and cedar bedding should not be used since the phenol oils can cause health problems. Instead, use aspen or carefresh. When they are older you can even litter train them...but right now they may be too young, I dont know how old they are.
Also, their diet should not be the seed mixes these stores sell. They are nowhere near healthy for your rats. In fact, check out my website on proper diet and how to keep your rat healthy:

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

Ok back to trust training:

Once the girls are used to you and start coming right out to you and sit on your hand, you can start cupping them in your hand and holding them in the cage. They will probably jump out and beware, rats are fast, super fast, which is why they need kept enclosed in a play pen or rat proofed area! If they get away it may be hours before you find them and sometimes there are small holes they get in and either get up inside the walls or get stuck or lost. Its devastating for this to happen which is why it should be prevented at all costs.
Once they trust you, you can open their cage door and let them see they can come out to play in the play area.  If they finally let you touch and pet them, but wont come out of the cage, bring them out and show them they can run back in the cage if they feel the need. THey may run in it again but come back out on their own, or they may peek out the door but not have the nerve to come out just yet. Again, if they allow you to at least pet and touch them, scoop them up and put them on the floor of the play area. You can put them on your lap and pet them and talk to them and they may run and hide but thats ok, eventually they will be nosey and want to explore and will come out.

The keyword is patience.  Rats by nature are shy and docile little creatures and do not trust humans or other animals because they are the most preyed upon animal and they know the dangers the lurk around every single corner.  Very intelligent, they do bond with their keepers so much that they can actually miss them when they are not around.  I had one reader write in and say that her rats were acting strange after their main keeper moved out. They were suffering from depression and she had to establish their own routine with them and form a new bond with them and they will be happy that they have a new daily routine. Rats are creatures of habit and learn from repetition.

I can almost promise that these girls will eventually come out of their shell, but it takes time. Dont think they dont like you because thats not what it is. They are scared for their own safety and once they realize it is you that provides them with safety and food and everything else that is good in their lives, they will bond with you so much so that some owners have reported that when their rats are older they want comfort from their keeper when they are sick and even prefer to pass away in their owners hands and will actually hold off and wait till their owner is by their side before they take their last breath.  If this isnt a deep bond of love and trust, I dont know what is!

If you have any questions please feel free to ask.  Again, look over my website. It has tons of info for new rat owners!

have fun and enjoy your new girls!

Sandra

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

QUESTION: Hi Sandra,
Thank you very much for your answer...
Let me tell you what i have...
I made some research before buy my little girls, so I have a nice cage for them, I also have the fence to let them out, they have their vitamin water and food, and i give them vegetables and some fruit. Vegetables I give every day, fruit just every other day. Every day i spend as much time as i can with them and I open the cage's door, i talk to them, I give them food in my hands and they take it. They sometimes run to their hide to eat, sometimes they don't.
I have some little box that i put some old socks inside, and they took the socks and dragged it to their hide. They pushed out the bedding (it is the carefresh since the beginning) and put the socks inside their hide.

When you said "Anyhow, once they get used to your hands, they will start climbing on your hands and probably nibbling at your fingers" they already do it. They climb until half of my hand, not more than that. They let me rub them inside their hide, but never outside. Sometimes my rat (Cream is her name) pushes my hand out of her hide. It seems that she is jealous when im trying to rub on my other rat (Cookie) or she hates my hand... Its kinda .. like.. she is wrestling me... i would say...well i don't know.
Cookie already left the cage one day but she didn't get too close to me.
I sit with them and i read a book, i give them treats while im sitting there, but i don't see anything changing... maybe its just because i would like them to love me as much, i don't know...
do you think i am missing something or do you think im going the right way???

Thank you again for your time.
Muito Obrigada - thank you very much

Hugs,

Answer
Well heck, your doing everything right so it will come naturally.
They are still young and need time to adjust and get used to things. They will come around eventually.
I had a "Cookies and Cream" before...they were little mice though instead of rats!

Anyhow, thats funny they push your hand out of their house. Its not because she is jealous really, its just that they dont want anyone else invading their space.

What you can do next time playtime takes place and not read a book.
Remember when you said the one rat seemed like perhaps she was wrestling your hand?  Baby rats love to wrestle and they sometimes wrestle each other and play chase.  
Try interacting with them this way...once they are out and realize your there, without being too aggressive with them, tap them on the bottom, give them a little push, see if they want to chase you back or wrestle with your hand etc.... just as long as they are right with the fact your hand is there first and all is well.  When I sit with my rats during play time I usually lay down by them and talk to them, pick them up and brush them with a baby brush, give them an examination, which is very important, by they way, to do this each day, esp when they get older. You should look over the rats for any lumps or discharge, check their teeth for proper alignment, etc....and since girls are prone to mammary tumors, its a good idea to check for any lumps especially after they are 18 months old.

Which reminds me....have you ever thought about having them spayed?
Female rats that remain intact are very prone to developing mammary tumors after they go through menopause, around 18 months old and up.
The reason is because estrogen levels soar at this time and they are what fuels the growth of these often benign tumors. If they are spayed between 3 and 5 months old, chances of developing them later in life are very very low.  Also, females are prone to nasty uterine infections and often will have bleeding which is not normal since female rats do not bleed during their heat cycle.

Just a thought, not anything that is an absolute MUST, although I will never own any more girls unless I have them spayed because I have seen so much in my years of working with rats and having my own.

Anyhow, I do feel your on the right track. You have all the right intentions and are well prepared.  Just let them get a bit older and they will come around.  If you interact with them while they are out of their cage they will surprise you one day and climb up on your back and all over you as if you were some big play toy for them!!

Do you have any names of vets in your area?  If not, you can give me your zip code and I will find an exotic vet for you for future use. Its a good idea to have someone lined up so if the time comes the girls need a vet you wont have to scramble to find one.  An exotic specialist is the best vet to have for rats.


Feel free to write any time you need to!!

Sandra