I got 3 rats a couple of months ago... they were really young when I got them, maybe 4 weeks old max. Two white & cream hooded (they look nearly identical... one's fatter than the other though lol) and a white & smoky black hooded.
The black hooded rat - who was named 'Tinkerbell' by my sister - is an incredibly jittery little guy. He jumps at everything, from the light going on right down to one of the other two rats scrabbling around in the cage or knocking into the cage wall. When I have Tink out, he makes a beeline for cover, and stays there for ages. After a while he'll get a little bolder and try to find an even deeper, darker hiding place. At the end of playtime when I need to snag him to put him back in his cage, or if I stick my hand into the clothes drawer they play in, he'll give me a solid bite, drawing blood.
The other two are fine. They'll come up and nibble on my fingernails, lick my fingers, run around over my lap, etc. but Tinkerbell is just so scared of everything that he's hard to play with. Today I took him out and plonked him on my shoulder, and when I sat down, he just stayed there frozen, then soon as I made a movement, he leapt and zoomed down my arm and into the ratty clothes' drawer in half a second.
He doesn't bite my hand unless I'm going into his hiding place, but that's often unavoidable (eg. he goes and hides behind the pile of junk computer parts in my cupboard and I can't dismantle it to reach him). He won't sit on me long enough to get 20 minutes of playtime out of him to try and tame him. Is there anything else I can try? And why would he be so timid when the other two are so bold and adventurous?
These are the 3rd lot of rats I've kept. I originally had a pair of males, then when they were gone I got a pair of females, and now I'm back to males, though I went for 3 furries this time round. I've never had a problem with them being timid.
The black hooded rat - who was named 'Tinkerbell' by my sister - is an incredibly jittery little guy. He jumps at everything, from the light going on right down to one of the other two rats scrabbling around in the cage or knocking into the cage wall. When I have Tink out, he makes a beeline for cover, and stays there for ages. After a while he'll get a little bolder and try to find an even deeper, darker hiding place. At the end of playtime when I need to snag him to put him back in his cage, or if I stick my hand into the clothes drawer they play in, he'll give me a solid bite, drawing blood.
The other two are fine. They'll come up and nibble on my fingernails, lick my fingers, run around over my lap, etc. but Tinkerbell is just so scared of everything that he's hard to play with. Today I took him out and plonked him on my shoulder, and when I sat down, he just stayed there frozen, then soon as I made a movement, he leapt and zoomed down my arm and into the ratty clothes' drawer in half a second.
He doesn't bite my hand unless I'm going into his hiding place, but that's often unavoidable (eg. he goes and hides behind the pile of junk computer parts in my cupboard and I can't dismantle it to reach him). He won't sit on me long enough to get 20 minutes of playtime out of him to try and tame him. Is there anything else I can try? And why would he be so timid when the other two are so bold and adventurous?
These are the 3rd lot of rats I've kept. I originally had a pair of males, then when they were gone I got a pair of females, and now I'm back to males, though I went for 3 furries this time round. I've never had a problem with them being timid.