i ve got a biter!

Question
Hi Sandra,
I bought two female baby rats last week. While one of them is lovely, the other one keeps biting me. If i put my hand in the cage she will come up to it and bite. I've read that you should try to handle them as much as possible, but there is no way i can pick her up. I've also tried wearing gloves but she will just bite it. Do you think she will ever grow out of it, or should i try taking her back the pet shop?

Answer
Hi Stephanie

Thanks for taking the time to write to find out what you can do about your new baby biter. You didn't mention her name so I will call her "Chomps" no pun intended, of course :-)

For starters, do not return her. She will never learn to trust humans and will continue to bite and only become more aggressive due to mistrust. I believe the issue with her aggression toward you is fear because she does not trust you. Unfortunately, with pet store rats, they are not bred for quality health nor temperament. Baby rats should be handled from the day they are born. They are born mistrusting humans. Are you kidding? Humans spend more time killing them with traps and poisons than they do caring for them so why would they trust us? To a rat, every living thing is an enemy with the exception of their own species.

So, you need to gain her trust. The other rat is fine, so thats good. Not all rats take this long to learn who they can and cannot trust.
I had a "Chomps" once. I brought her home from the dog pound where she was being held for quarantine (most ridiculous thing I have ever heard! Rabies quarantine on a captive baby rat of all things and rats are not natural carriers of rabies nor has there been a case of rabies reported in the United states where rats transmitted rabies to a human!
So, I talked the warden into letting me have her and brought her home. Meanest thing you ever saw...and I was also told she was not a fancy rat but instead was a wild rat that was part of a pack of wild rats sold illegally as feeders. Long story. However, she was wicked mean and used to snuffle, growl and hiss at me and dart out toward me biting down as hard as she could. She was just 11 weeks old at the time but it still hurt like there was no tomorrow!
So what can you do? Well I can pretty much guarantee this will work. I had already studied animal behavior with a special interest focusing on rats so I had a head start. I had to get my baby rat to trust me.
Rats are smart, we all know that. They remember everything from the positive and especially the negative so they don't have to repeat the same mistake twice.
For starters, stop trying to pick her up and forget the gloves. For some reason rats like to bite socks (and toes in the socks! OUCH!) and gloves. This will just upset her more and give her one more thing to fear. Not only does she fear you but something else new to fear coming at her: your gloved hand.
You need to find a quiet room where nobody will disturb you and bring the cage in it. Make sure its a small area so the rat doesn't have alot of roaming room. A bathroom is ideal but rat proof it first. Check under cabinets for any open spaces she may be able to squeeze under or she will find a way to get away from you and go right in the hole and be gone, possibly stuck inside the walls or under the house. This would be a disaster...so be sure the area is totally free of any escape holes etc...keep toilet lid down of course, and drains shut, even though she wont have access to the shower, tub or sink, I am paranoid. Put a towel under the door so she cant squeeze under the door either.
Next, you will need some bribery snacks! Cheerios, rice chex squares, even the new yogurt flavored cheerios are good, or anything like that she never had before. Reserve these snacks ONLY for trust training and no other time. This will just confuse her.  You can have toys out for her to play with such as shoe boxes to hide in and crumbled pieces of paper, paper bags, toilet paper rolls etc...so she has things to explore once she comes out of the cage.
So now we are ready for the first trust training session.

Day (1) Bring the cage and treats into the bathroom, shut and lock the door. Room should be totally safe and secure and rat proofed, ready to go.
Open the cage door and do nothing. DO NOT reach in for her. Get her attention so she knows the gate/door to the
Next, open the door to the cage and just sit there. DO NOT reach in for her. Call her by name, snap your fingers, coo softly to her but get her to realize she has an escape...see what she does.
She may do nothing at all and chose to hide or sit there all alone and not come out. You can let this go on for as long as your patience allows. If she doesn't come out after so long, try again the next day and the next.
                                                                                                                                                                                                        
Finally, when she does come out, still, do not try to reach for her or pet her or pick her up (unless of course its necessary) She may come out of the cage but run right back in again, or stick very close to the cage, but she will always want to be near her safe zone.
When she finally comes out of the cage, you can reward her with a treat that you have saved especially for trust training.
After a few days getting used to coming out of her cage and being rewarded for it, she may even start to come to you too. When she does and she doesn't bite at you, reward her with a treat. If she bites you, put her back in the cage without the treat and end the play session.
She will eventually realize that she is rewarded two ways, with treats and also play time, which she will eventually come to cherish her time out of the cage. When she is put back without a reward  for biting, she will eventually realize that she doesn't get the treat and loses her play time. Rats are that smart and learn by repetitive behavior. The reward system is used for many training methods as well.
She will soon learn to trust you once she gets to know you and will connect you with treats and play time, two things she will love during her life time.

She will grow out of it and will realize when she bites you she gets put back in the cage and that is not getting her the good things she wants

I have faith in little chomps that she will soon be sitting on your lap taking treats happily. On the other hand, female rats are never really ones to slow down and are forever curious, unlike males,who, ask they age, turn into big lugs and will be happy sleeping on your chest for as long as you allow him to sleep there.  

Hope this helps and if you have any questions at all please feel free to do a follow up. I am glad you are willing to work with her and not give up on her and return her to the store.  I am a firm believer that once you adopt a pet, they are yours, through sickness and health, through biting and chewing, through tearing up your best lamp shade to getting droppings on your good carpeting...pets are pets that you open your heart to and provide a safe and happy forever home for, no matter what...till their death do you part.

Regards

Sandra