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Aggressive mouth grooming? (yes, MY mouth!)

6K views 11 replies 10 participants last post by  Cremo! 
#1 ·
So here's a strange phenomenon...

Senna, the more affectionate of my two rats, enjoys being petted and grooming me in return by licking my hands and nibbling off bits of dead skin here and there. Recently, however, she's started doing something a little more alarming (and painful). When she's feeling like grooming me, she'll climb up my chest, grab my lower lip (either with her very sharp little claws or in her teeth---she's definitely not attacking me, she just doesn't seem to understand that this HURTS) and start to pry it open. For a few days I stopped her at this point, mostly due to pain, but one day I decided to let her continue and see what she was trying to do. She managed to get my mouth open and then---she bit my tooth!

What?! I don't understand what she was trying to do. Do rats groom each other's teeth? Did I have something particularly delicious-smelling on my breath, and she thought my tooth was food? My other rat, Plumcot, likes to occasionally lick and nibble on my lip and chin, but she's never done anything like this.

Does anybody else have experience with an aggressively mouth-grooming rat? I love her to death and I love it when she grooms me back (it's a very bonded feeling) but this is going a little too far!
 
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#3 ·
A couple of my boy like to clean mine and the boy's teeth/mouth, but they've never been as agressive about it as your Senna. The only time they ever bit while cleaning was when they were really young and didn't seem to know any better. What we'd do is take them away from our mouths and sit them down for a moment. I guess they figured out that if they got too rough they were made to stop. Now the only time they get bitey when grooming us is with my fingernails, I've had them chew parts of my fingernails off before.

I guess you could try what we did and see if that helps or I've heard of people making loud squeaking noises when a rat grooms too rough, but with a rat in your mouth I don't know how well that would work.
 
#4 ·
"Rodentistry," ha! Oh, I know people who kiss their dogs, and in my estimation, a rat's mouth (and the rest of a rat's body) is MUCH cleaner. According to an article I read recently, the human mouth is actually about the dirtiest most disgusting thing around, so really it's worse for the rat. :p

But yeah, definitely not going to let it continue---it hurts! I like the idea of making loud squeaking sounds (which I pretty much do anyway when something hurts me). Sometimes Senna and Plum get into a scuffle in their hammock and I hear loud squeaking from the one that got overly roughed-up, and the squeak usually ends it.
 
#5 ·
My rats have been trying to "improve my oral hygiene".
I decided to let them and see what they'd do.
Cow tried to actually climb into my mouth.. :S
She was about halfway in when I pulled her out..
Pinky constantly nips at my lips.. which kind of hurts, and I pull her away whenever she does it.
Crystals has only tried once but got bored right away. xD
 
#12 ·
So here's a strange phenomenon...

Senna, the more affectionate of my two rats, enjoys being petted and grooming me in return by licking my hands and nibbling off bits of dead skin here and there. Recently, however, she's started doing something a little more alarming (and painful). When she's feeling like grooming me, she'll climb up my chest, grab my lower lip (either with her very sharp little claws or in her teeth---she's definitely not attacking me, she just doesn't seem to understand that this HURTS) and start to pry it open. For a few days I stopped her at this point, mostly due to pain, but one day I decided to let her continue and see what she was trying to do. She managed to get my mouth open and then---she bit my tooth!

What?! I don't understand what she was trying to do. Do rats groom each other's teeth? Did I have something particularly delicious-smelling on my breath, and she thought my tooth was food? My other rat, Plumcot, likes to occasionally lick and nibble on my lip and chin, but she's never done anything like this.

Does anybody else have experience with an aggressively mouth-grooming rat? I love her to death and I love it when she grooms me back (it's a very bonded feeling) but this is going a little too far!
My rat does this too, and it hurts to the point where I have to rip her off my lip. I got some scratches on my chin to her scratching me. I'm pretty sure all young rats do this. I don't know. My rat Remy doesn't do this, she likes to lick me but not like that. Cocoa on the other hand does like to do that. I think it's a sign of love because when she was scared of me she never did that when I picked her up, but now she does that whenever I start to pet her. I think it's a sign of love and affection.
 
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