New pet rat from pet store

Question
I just bought a pet rat from a mall pet store earlier today, and I want to make sure I do everything that is right for my pet. I did not do much research before buying my pet, which I acknowledge as a mistake, or I would have known that pet stores are not the best places to buy pet rats. I am mainly concerned about my rat learning to like me and also whether it has diseases or not. I bought food, bedding, a water bottle, a cage, a plastic ball for it to roll around in in my room, and a couple special treats for it to eat. I do not know its sex because the pet store staff told me it was too early to know, but what I recently researched told me this is incorrect. Another mistake one of the staff made was putting her hand in the cage after touching a snake. This terribly frightened the rats and made them very skittish. Another staff member had to take out a rat for me, and it wasn't until the third rat that they could get one out. I don't know how old the rat is so I don't know if it should still be weaning or not. Also, the bars on the cage I bought were too wide and the rat got out, so I had to put it in the little ball and find something else to keep it in. The only thing I could find was a plastic container with a drawer at wal mart that I put holes in the top of. I have the drawer open slightly. The rat keeps coming up to the opening and scratching at the walls like it wants to get out. And it tries to dig at the bottom of the container. I've tried holding it and it bit me twice. It hasn't made any hissing noises or anything unusual like that, but it shys away from my hand. It has eaten some of the food I put in the container for it. I had to put water in a little self-made dish. I was planning on keeping it in the plastic container until it got a little bigger then transfering it to the cage, but I'm really at a loss as to what the best thing is to do for it. I want to take good care of it and make it feels at home, but I know it is not happy. What should I do?
P.S. I am not going to feed this rat to a snake. I know you said you would not help people who are planning on doing that so you can be sure that I will not.

Answer
Hi Tori

For starters, you are going to really cause the rat to get sick by keeping it in the enclosed container even if you have holes punched in the top. Rats need plenty of circulation so here is what you can do....either buy a cage with small enough bar space (they sell them at petsmart or petco) or buy what is called HARDWARE CLOTH and its a roll of mesh that you cut into pieces and put it on the cage so the rat can still see out etc...but cant get out and there will still be air circulation.  I am afraid if you don't do this (get the rat out of the plastic container) the rat will get very sick usually  with lung disease. The rat already bites,imagine how it will be after it gets sick etc...
You can save the container to keep rat supplies in it:)
Water is important for all living things and dishes are not good for rats so this is another reason why she needs a cage so you can have the water bottle for her.

Also,the pet store, as usual you have found,is incorrect about not being able to sex them till they are older. Rats can be sexed on day  one if you know what to look for. Check out my webpage and there are pictures of rats as babies that you can compare to see what sex your rat is.

Meanwhile,you need a safe place to play with your rat since they are fast and can get loose fast as you have found. You can make a wall out of cardboard (like a playpen) and sit in there with the cage and the rat, because you are going to need to trust train your rat to teach it not to be so skittish. Rats need to be held the day they are born to get used to people. Obviously they didn't do that with these little rats.
Here is an article from a previous post on how to trust train your rat:

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Right now, this very second, do not reach in for him to pick him up or anything. The part about how they need to be touched and held  when young is correct, but it also implies they SHOULD have been socialized well before they left the store and by day two after birth is when the breeder should be getting them used to humans. I suspect this was not the case with these rats, or at least the breeder did not go out on a limb and work with the shy rats, which in turn, end up the biters as they grow older. Yet another reason why pet stores are not always the best place to buy rats and if you bought them from a breeder, shame on the breeder for selling you a biter and not working with him first.
So now you have him and you love him but you fear him (and he fears you , trust me, thats what this is all about!!)
So again, no more trying to hold him or touch him, not the way you have been doing , that is.
Do you have a safe place for them to play during the time they come out of their cage or have you not gotten that far yet?
The bathroom is a good start..if you can carry their cage into the bathroom and lock yourself in and the room is totally rat safe and there are no holes or nooks and crannies that the rat can use to escape into the walls (often under cabinets or behind toilets hiding under pipes etc...)
If you cannot use the bathroom, make an enclosure out of cardboard. Dapperat.com has the RAT  RUN and its a cool, cheap and easy way to make a cardboard barricade to keep rats inside safely. Be sure you and the cage can both fit inside.

You will need treats, cheerios, rice chex, something like that, and use it ONLY during this time, no other time.

You will open the cage door and thats that. Let the rat know the door is open and sit back.  Allow the rat to come out   and do NOT try to pick him up.
I am not sure how many days you will need to sit and wait, but it may take a week, maybe less, maybe more....you can also make a trail of the special treats reserved for trust training to get him to the cage door....his curiosity will eventually get him to want out.

After he comes out, be sure there are play things out for him too...you can take this time to talk to him but do not pick him up. If he should bite you for any reason, put him back in the cage and stop.  Try again the next day.  
However, if after the play session ends and he does not bite you, reward him with the special treat when putting him back. Eventually he will realize the bite gets him back in the cage and without reward but if he doesn't bite you, he gets the reward.  Trust me, they are that smart that they recognize rewards and patterns. They live their life in repetition.
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I wrote this for another reader and his biting rat, but it applies basically to all shy rats!

here is the URL to my site where you can read up on pet rat care. Dont feel bad you did not research them first....so many people dont which is why they come here for advice that we (the other  experts and I, that is)are happy to give.

Here is the url to my site: Please check it out to learn about rats and their care:

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

Rats need to play and this is a great way to make fun toys for them. Also, scroll down for the RAT RUN which is the cardboard wall I told you about....great way to make a rat playpen for your new rat.

http://www.dapper.com.au/toys.htm#ratrun


If I left out anything or you have more questions please feel free to write to me any time!