My Emikos a Nibbler

Question
QUESTION: Hello! My name is Sarah, and I have recently bought a beautiful female rat named Emiko. I've never had a rat before and am still learning how to care for her. I use to say hello to her and put my fingers through the cage to pet her nose or head, I know now that it's not the smartest thing to do. And it caused her to start nibbling on my fingers whenever I try to feed her or take her out to give her attention. We are worried that she will starting biting hard enough to draw blood. We've stopped putting our fingers on the cage itself and have stopped feeding her little treets like carrots from our fingers. However I am wondering if there is anything we can do to break our little Emiko from becoming a  bitter and hurting someone. If you could give us a little advice we would be very greatful! Thank you for your time.

Sarah and Emiko

ANSWER: I need a little more info. Can you describe her nibbling? What exactly is she doing? Rats are exploratory creatures and they go over our hands with what we in the Rat Fancy have come to call, "love nibbles". Albeit, some rats do this a little more painful then others, but love nibbles never break the skin.

I can help you further when you give me more info.

As a new rat owner I would like to invite you to Holistarat, a pet-rat forum
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/holistarat where you can learn from many other rat keepers on a daily basis.

spazrats
http://spazrats.tripod.com



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

QUESTION: Thank you so much for responding. Here is the information you requested. What happens exactly is that I put her on my hand to hold her and then sometimes she gets to my fingers and it looks as though she sniffs them, then nibbles very gently. its almost as if she mistakesn (she has never broken skin). Then sometimes when I use to stick my hand in her cage to pet her she would put her front two arms on my hand and try to nibble at my fingers again very gently. if you need more information please do not hesitate to ask.
Thanks again
Sarah-and Emiko  

Answer
You have just described "Love Nibbles" Sarah. That's all that Emiko is doing :)

Next think ya know she'll be trimming that mole, clipping your cuticles, and trimming your eyebrows. She's grooming you and your other family members because she has accepted you all as her colony members (her mischief, as a group of rats is called). Enjoy it.

If the nibbles get too rough, just squeak really, really loud, like a hurt rat would. This should startle her into backing off.

spazrats
http://spazrats.tripod.com