[fer_fer]

I've had my 2 2-month old girls for about 4 weeks now. I've gotten to the point of opening their cage door and having them come out on their own into their playpen where i sit with them, and they both will crawl on me a bit. They will also take food from me and one of them will let me pet her a bit, although i don't think she exactly enjoys it.
I've been trying to get them used to me holding them but it's been pretty difficult. The calmer one, Ophelia, will sometimes allow me to quickly pick her up but then she's squirming the whole time. I tried putting her in my sweatshirt pocket but she just climbs back out. Picking up the other one, Thisbe, is completely out of the question. She's really fast and really slick and definitely won't allow me to pick her up.
And i've had one more problem with Thisbe. She's bitten both my and my boyfriend's ears! Hard bites that drew blood. Even though she is more skittish she's the one who will run up my shoulder (i think just to see if she can jump over the playpen and escape! she's escaped twice already!). But now i'm afraid when she crawls up there that she either WILL escape or pierce my ears!
So, sorry for the long story, but does anyone have any advice on how i can eventually pick up my girls and make one of them stop biting our ears?

 

[DonnaK]

Hi fer_fer, welcome to the forums!

(Sorry for the late response!)

Girls are almost always extremely wriggly and would rather be off playing than being cuddled and petted. Try handling them when they are sleepy, they are usually much more tolerant at that time.

One of our girls has also bitten my ear a couple of times, to the point of drawing blood. She hasn't done it in a while, but I'm still weary when she gets near my ears that I cover them, so I'm afraid I don't know what the answer to this problem is. I would say though that exposing the back of your hand to them is a good idea, because they have less to get hold of if they do nip you - I always cover my ear when that particular one is on my shoulder, and she has not bitten the back of my hand yet.

My best advice would be to not allow her near your ears until she has settled down and is more trusting of you and will allow you to handle her. Don't take this as a failure on your part, as it's not unusual for rats to take weeks-months before they trust you implicitly. The best you can do in the meantime is be consistent with her/them, handle them daily, try not to do anything to startle/scare them and protect yourself! They will come around eventually, with lots of love and consistency.