He Bit Me!!!

Question
The bedding I use is Crittercare: Superior Odor Control 10 Liters. I also use news-paper. My mom got them a treat food instead of their real food once. I still giving it to them until my mom gets them the normal food. It's called Mixed Berry & Nut Treat: Wild Harvest. 8 in 1. I use a 24" by 24" and the height is 48". I have 2 male PEW rats, one is an older rat. His hair isn't straight it's messy. The other one is younger and smaller. His hair is fine and straight.
The big older one always bites since I got them both on August 29th at Petco around 8:00 PM They were still in the box for about an hour because putting that cage together to so long. Once my mom put her nail through the bars and he almost bit it off.This time I was feeding him and he bit me in between my index and middle finger knuckles. It was bleeding a lot and I spilled most of their food. The other small rat isn't like this he likes me and I always pet him but I think the big rat is jealous everytime he sees me petting the small one. I'm scared to go near the cage when he's there. And I don't know what to do. I also have a small Pomeranian dog. She tries to get to them but they're high up that she can't reach them. Can you please tell me why he bites and how it can stop.PLEASE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Answer
Hi Aishah

I am sorry your having problems with your rat biting you. I will tell you that rats normally do not bite when they are properly bred. When buying rats from stores such as Petco, the rats are bred mainly as feeder rats which means that the breeder doesn't concern herself/himself about their health and also temperament (personality) since they are not meant to be pets and are meant to be snake food. The petstores buy the rats in bulk from breeders who bred hundreds of rodents for many stores and it is impossible for them to play with them and socialize them from birth, which is one way to be sure the rat is nice around humans. Rats, by nature, do not trust humans or anyone else outside of their species since they are prey for so many predators out there.  A breeder that breeds rats for pets will actually begin to hold new born rats the day they are born so they get used to people. Sometimes they are naturally nice but sometimes they don't learn to trust and will bite to protect themselves. Again, this is not common with a well bred rat.

The biting rat sounds like he may be a Rex PEW because of the way you described his fur as being "messy"!
If it looks like it may be wavy or curly and it is separated so much in areas you can see his scalp/skin. There isn't anything wrong with his fur, it is just the type of coat that he has. I think rex rats are very cute.

Now about the biting...lets try to resolve this best that we can. There is a chance that your rat may have such bad vision he may be partially, if not totally blind. If this is the case, he is biting because he cannot see what is coming toward him and he is being defensive.
You can easily test your rat to see if he is blind by simply  moving your finger toward him to see how he responds.
Also, be sure to wash your hands before you handle your rat especially if his vision is impaired.  He may smell food on your hands and this will confuse him and this will also cause him to bite. Do not try to pick him up or even attempt to share treats with him if he is backed into a corner. This will trigger him to also be protective and will prompt him to lash out, which is to bite. Feeding through the cage bars is a favorite of rat owners and most often it works fine, but some rats that are visually impaired may also mistake a finger for food when placed through the bars.
Does this rat get along good with the other rat he lives with? Young rats love to play wrestle, chase each other, roll around in a ball pinning each other down. This is fun and healthy and normal play for young rats as long as there is no hard biting or blood drawn. When rats fight and are truly angry, they will usually stand up on their hind legs and push and shove each other. Some may hiss and even growl in a strange way that is hard to describe. They also spit when they hiss. They tend to puff their fur up also so they appear larger in order to intimidate the other rat. I would suggest that it could be a case of aggression from poor breeding and too many hormones and having him neutered would solve the biting problem, but if he gets along with the other rat, aggression isn't the issue.

Before we continue, please let me know how he gets along with his cagemate and also check his vision to see if you notice how well he can see.  Remember, rats have horrible vision by nature but lets be sure he at least can see at his normal capacity first.

I will wait until I hear from you and we will go from there so we can try to stop him from biting and turn him into a loving little rat like all rats are!

regards

Sandra