I went to petco today and decided to buy rats, I bought one and adopted one. Naive as I am I thought nothign could be wrong with ones that need to be adopted. Even the petco employee told me nothign was wrong with the rat. I borught them home and introduce them to each other and the adopted rat right away attacked the other one. I seperated them into two cages next to each other. The adopted one still trying to stratch the other one and making aggresive noises. I've come to the conclusion to why no one wanted this freakin rat, It's the meanest rat in the world, even bit me twice. The other one I bought is the nicest thing ever, let's me pet him and stuff.
Well that's g r e a t...
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Most likey its scared and stressed out, maybe even hasn't been handled as much as it should have been. They wouldn't adopt a rat out if they knew it was going to harm anyone. My guess is that its simply scared, and being introduced to a new rat makes thing a whole lot worst. You should never just introduce two rats and exspect things to go perfect just like that. It takes time! All you can do is separate the two rats and SLOWLY introduce them together. If you feel like this rat is just too mean and YOU can't handle him/her take them back...and get yourself another one. The rat is not a bad rat, you have to understand what the poor thing is going through.
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About two days...
it depends on the rat and where the rat came from,its history. i've had rats warm up to me the dayi got them. i've had others that took weeks of trust exercises and they are still a little cautious. each rat is different and comes from a different background. who knows howmany times your adopted has been abandoned or even if it had to fight other animals or not (i rescued one that had to fight a snake, two gerbils and a hamster before i got her--and with a bit of patience on my part she turned out to be the most affectionate, sweet and fun loving rat i've ever had). but it all takes time and patience. be slow in introducing the rats to each other and be gentle and calm with the adopted one. if s/he bites don't yell or even act angry, just pull your finger back slowly and gently,then take the rat out of the cage anyway (you may want to invest in gloves as a precaution if he's agressive as you say all the time and not just scared at the moment). once the rat settles down give it a treat to show that you're not going to hurt it and you are in fact where all the good yummy foods come from. then continue on with forced socailization to you.once that starts heading in the right direction begin rat intros slowly. as a rough estimate, based on what you have told us adn my own experience with trust training you should be able to start rat intros by around the middle of next month, maybe sooner.
Well the only take food from my hand, they dont really let me pet them. They always run to the corner or the house...but hey they are taking food from my hands, progress? I really want to take them out and play with them but all they do is try to avoid me...I can't wait till they will sit on my lap or explore my desk..
Questions:
Me just forcing them out of their cage will only scare them off from me right?
When they are eating should I try to pet them?
Questions:
Me just forcing them out of their cage will only scare them off from me right?
When they are eating should I try to pet them?
don't let them get away with cowering and running from you. pick them up and out of the cage for at least 20minutes each day. if they're too squirmy at first get a hoodie and let them go in the pocket but make sure to keep patting them and talking to them. and give lots of treats. find something that each goes particularlly gaga for and only give it to them OUTSIDE of the cage. i've found that sharing a shower with them also helps. again i take anywhere upwards from 20 minutes in a shower, i'm not sure if any less time will help. the reason that i keep saying 20 minutes is a good base time is because a rat cannot stay scared any longer then that, their bodies won't let it. so by the time the 20 mins is over they are no longer scared of you and can begin to associate you with good things better. and it is tentatively believed that the steam from the shower calms them as it does for hyper children and stressed adult humans. you should be able to pet them while eating as well. the thing to remember here is patience! the changes won't happen overnight but they WILL happen if you stay consistant with the forced socailization. the fact that they take food from your hands is a good sign too so you're already started on the right path. good luck!
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you cant expect them to get comfortanle on your lap if you let them "get used to you" in their cage...two entitrely diff situations, youll have to just do as the others said and take tnem out...what i usually do is in the keep my rats out for about an hour(in the begining, longer after they are more used to it) like on the couch for example( i just watch tv or something...a calm activity)......that way we are always in close proximity, i usually take a blanket or two, one to cover the couch and one to wrap up in, that way if they want shelter, they can find it near me...and try to hold them in your hands or against your body, a really easy way to do this is wear a sweat shirt and t shirt instead of usiong a blanket...also walk around withg them on your shoulder...they like in under your hair or in a sweater
hope this helps
hope this helps
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my rat roobs was the same but after a lot of fuss and attention hes slowly getting better!
they each need they're time with you but you have 2 hands and 2 rats so you should be able to do it at the same time, you may just want to extend out time with you a bit to make sure they both ahve had some of your time equally. as for the noises, yes, well they will squeak but ignore it and pick them up anyway. eventually they'll learn that you aren't hurting them and stop complaining.
Man it's been like 4 days and all my rat does is run from me....It only lets me pet when its inside it's cage, only takes food from me inside its cage, only come near me inside it's cage. When i take him ou tand try to play with him he squirms and trys to run... When I open up the cage door he'll come out but when he is out all he does is run from me and when I twitch just a little bit he freaks out and runs elsewhere. I dont think i'll ever have a rat playing a role as a dog(companion)
This isn't everyones method but it seems to work for me and my babies are so loving they are out the cage before the door is all the way open! lol. What i did is you open the cage and leave you hand by the opening talking to them just about anything really. If they come out onto your hand don't move, let them come out the cage onto your hand a fews times before you pull your hand away (about 3 or 4 times). Then you can move your hand away and hold them. If they climb onto the cage or away from your hand you can also pick them up then because they came out. I have 3 rats and i handel them as much as i can. What i did was when i was holding then i would just walk with them till they mellowd out a bit then i would put them back. If you want before and after you can give them a treat so they can also learn that a hand or open cage means good things. I wouldn't feed through the bars though because they can start to nip at your fingures thinking it's a treat. I learned this that hard way lol. good luck with your babies!!
I'll attach a video i made of Takota, we had been working on our 2nd day. They should be really interested in the open door. Takota would come to open door run around her cage come back and bounce around before she came out.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1B9y34FM8xw
I'll attach a video i made of Takota, we had been working on our 2nd day. They should be really interested in the open door. Takota would come to open door run around her cage come back and bounce around before she came out.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1B9y34FM8xw
Woah your video i'ts awesome. I've been doing that method and now my rat climbs on my hand to get out! But he won't let me pick him up, he squirms everywhere. Oh and I have no Idea how old my rat is I got him from petco, Small Rat Section..I'm thinking it may take me logner to tame him since petco people pick them up by their tails 
thats awful!! poor hunnies, It will probly just depend on the rat. Takota squirms like mad, i work on letter her just walk aroud and i practice picking her up and just giving treats and stuff just to show that we're nice not mean and what not. I'm going to try and get a better video up next time, Takota & me look REALLY white lol.
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