she bites for no reason!

Question
Hello!
     Well my question involves my female rat, pepper. I made the mistake of just buying one, despite all the advice i was given. She is quite active in her cage, and she will come to the bars of the cage to greet me and i will feed her a treat through the gaps. But this is the problem: if i put my finger next to the bars of the cage she will try and bite me, and if i put my hand in the cage she will try to bite it. I have had pepper for about a week and a half. I want to do anything i can to socialize her as she is just a sweet rat with a bit of a temper.
Thanks

Answer
Hi Matt

I recognized the problem  the second sentence of your message:

"I will feed her a treat through the gaps.
There is the problem. You feed her treats through the bars!

Rats have terrible eyesight and they also remember things through repetition. She is used to treats coming through the bars...and chances are that she is expecting food and NOT a finger when you reach through to touch her!  She sees your hand now as a source for food so she tries to bite. Does she have red or pink eyes, by chance?

 If you have only had her for a week and a half and she is already coming to greet you when you visit her, she is showing she is very social and no signs of aggression at all. Stop feeding treats through the cage bars and she wont expect it anymore and will stop trying to bite through the bars expecting to be getting treats!

Hope this helps!