[Tedology]

Hello all,

Last night I spent some time near my boys' cage...just hanging out with them. I was excited because they actually climbed out of their hammock and finally came to interact with me.

I had my hand in there and wanted to see if they would walk on it. Well, they started biting at my finger tips and fleshy parts of my palm. Nothing painful, but I am wondering if that should be stopped...or is that their way of interacting with me?

I don't want to hinder their interaction, but I don't want to allow the start of what may become a bad (and painful) habit.

Thanks for any advice!

 

[Kuildeous]

I have one who investigates with her teeth. Anything that is brought to her immediately gets teeth placed on it, including my hand. I think it's just her way of determining if it's edible.

It doesn't sound like your boys are nipping, which is what I would definitely try to discourage. If they do nip, then try emitting a squeak, like how they respond to wrestling/grooming. But if it's just a slight nibble that immediately stops, I wouldn't worry about it.

 

[Tedology]

Thank you, Kuildeous.

No, they aren't nipping with a quick/lunge. They're slowly approaching my finger and/or fleshy parts and slowly placing their teeth there. I thought it perhaps it's just an exploratory thing...I just didn't want them thinking that it's okay to move from that to "let's tear Dad a new hole".

 

[Kuildeous]

I've not experienced my girl progressing from exploratory teeth push to "let's tear Dad a new hole," so you're probably safe there. Granted, I've only had this one for a month and a half, but I think it's good.

I've experienced some light teeth planting when I wrestle with my oldest. I'll ruffle her up and lunge with my hand. She'll get on her haunches and bring her mouth down onto my hand. It's over in half a second (like regular rat wrestling), and it doesn't hurt or anything. It shocked me at first, but then I think I realized how they wrestle and will use their teeth to attack during play but not actually put any muscle contraction behind it. Kind of like if you dropped your jaw and plopped your teeth onto the shoulder of someone you are playing with—only the weight your skull would probably actually make the teeth hurt.

But wrestling with the rat is kind of fun. She seems to know not to actually bite during the session.

 

[Tedology]

That sounds fun. I hope to one day get to the point where I feel comfortable wrestling with the guys. It looks fun when they do it!

 

[DaisyNDahlia]

Daisy has started nipping a little harder then she used to. She's 3 months. She explores everything with her tongue/teeth, which is fine, but she's started chewing everything. Headboards, blankets, pillows, my nails and even just nipped my eyelid. Not trying to hurt me but she's like a toddler and everything is in her mouth, where Dahlia is not the same. Dahlia is a little more careful.