[LilCritter]

I was wiping down the tiles I use to hold down the fleece liners in the cage and Mola was following my hand in a very focused manner. Suddenly, she pounced and got the inside of my right ring finger. I'm pretty sure that she was after the wet tissue because she always tries to steal those whenever I use them. She barely grazed me and the cut is 2-3 mm long. Right after, she started licking me after I pushed her away and lightly bopped her nose.
She's put her teeth on my before, but has never bitten down. Whenever she does put a finger in her mouth, I always push towards her and make a kissing/angry rat noise and she backs off. Sometimes, she looks uncomfortable right before she does this (but again, she never bites down) and I just push towards her until she stops and then I leave her alone for a bit. Other times, it's been right after I've given out treats or put food in the cage, so I probably smelled like something yummy.
The breeder (who I have gotten all my rats from) said she was a very sweet girl, and she's never shown signs of aggression. She sometimes shows behavior indicating that she is uncomfortable when I am petting her, but that's to be expected as I've only had her a week.

Anyways, is there anything I can do to stop her from mouthing me and going after the tissues? I'd like to be able to wipe things down without her accidentally biting me while she's going after a baby wipe.

 

[mimsy]

The current situation sounds like you are correct though and she was probably just going for the rag and accidentally got your finger. Mine go crazy for anything like that-feathers, ropes, tissue, rags ect that's moving. I've never had any of mine get me though.

How old is she? I'm guessing she might be quite young since you've only had her a week? If that is the case she might just be being a normal mouthy youngster and will outgrow it on her own.

 

[LilCritter]

She's 4 months old actually. The 2 month old I got with her is still quite mouthy and I've been using the same steps to make sure it doesn't become a habit that isn't outgrown. She's very sweet most of the time and already runs up to the cage to greet me with sniffs and kisses. Also, there was no aggression at all. I'm relatively certain that she's always the one moving the fleece rags around the cage too, so she most likely just wanted the tissue for herself. LOL

 

[mimsy]

If she isn't showing aggression and not being too bossy, she might just be naturally more mouthy than others. Does she have pink eyes? It might be just my experience, but my albino who is a little over a year or so is really mouthy, especially after I've eaten something she deems yummy. she doesn't bite but I get a tooth scraping sometimes. I take it her as her sight is poor so she must go to extra lengths to figure out whats up. Socks can be a little iffy-she's not bit down and left a mark, but she has bitten down more than I'm comfy with on my toes if they have socks on them. Boo, a boy I had many years ago was a pink eyed siamese who was toothy as well, never hurt any one, just used his mouth more than my dark eyed ones.

 

[nanashi7]

Just continue to bop them consistently when they mouth. Ignoring them or whatever won't work you want to actually be very hands on and pushy with them - if they get mouthy take a moment to bop their noses and tell them no sternly then continue about what you were doing.

 

[LilCritter]

mimsy, Mola is a BEW with a kind-of-spot on her right shoulder... She does tend to be mouth-y. The first thing she does is grab my fingers and scrape them for any scraps, whatever may be there.
nanashi7, I've been pushing hem backwards and bopping them on the nose while making that kissing, angry rat noise. It usually gets the message across very well.