[staarlight]

I've had a new rat for, about.. four months, and she refuses to eat out of her cage. She doesn't enjoy socializing, and this is not for lack of trying. She hates being held, doesn't really enjoy people, and she only likes to sit on my neck when shes out. Monroe is nearly 7 months, and I have her out everyday, for atleat an hour or two. When I try to take her and Belle [my other rat] out, she runs to hide. She doesn't even like to sit in my hands or anything. She'll freak out, and scamper up to sit on my shoulder. If given the chance, she'd rather get off, and run around and hide, running away when I try to catch her.

How can I attempt to get her more socialized? I realize this might be her personality.. but yeah.

Oh, and I should mention that for the first two or three months of her life, she was never handled, as she was supposed to be fed to a snake.

 

[DonnaK]

Well, girls are usually more hyper, preferring to run around and make mischief over being handled and cuddled and such. I wouldn't worry about the eating out of the cage, thing. For the longest time our girls had no interest in food when they were out of the cage - there were far more important and interesting things to explore to even think about eating!

The one thing I found that worked great with our older, less socialised rat was letting her and her cage mate out onto the couch with me for a couple of hours a day (morning and night), where they couldn't get off and had no choice but to be sociable and play. After just a week and a half I could see an immense difference. Now she is my little cuddle-butt and stays out for hours at a time! :lol: And if a noise spooks her, she comes running back into my lap.

 

[dkirschling]

This a good guide for socializing rats. I followed these tips for a few weeks and had a lot of progress. I generally spend 20 minutes two or three times a day just holding my rats, it addition to playtimes and miscellaneous fun.

http://members.shaw.ca/ratanist/Socializing_Rats.htm

 

[OnlyOno]

ha, i *wish* picasso would only eat in her cage! i keep finding noodles in my drawers in my nightstand and dresser, lol. she makes a game of trying to trick me into letting her out of her cage with a noodle. i don't think the food thing is a problem, but def try playtime where your rat has no choice but to get used to you. you can sit in a bathroom with your rats, where it's boring and there's nothing to play with, and thus she'll have to crawl on you and such. keep treats on hand, etc, so she knows you = good. good luck!

 

[ladylady]

I hide treats behind my ears, in my mouth, in my hair...Lola is far more tactilie with me now, just be carefull as she does bite my ears although not hard

 

[staarlight]

:] Thanks guys, I'll try out the bathroom, and also some of the tips on that website!

 

[ichuanam]

Our rats are young and are getting quite comfortable with sitting being petted. They are not sure about the romping around in the open and prefer to sit on you or hide somewhere shady. They definatly wont eat anything outside their cage though. My wife has been giving them a bit of toast every morning while still in the cage and now they are starting to look for it. We took them out this morning and they were not interested in the toast on offer but as soon as they were back in the cage they snaffled the toast from her hand.