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View Full Version : Rat owners; how do you curb biting?


Johns_Gal
02-11-2012, 08:46 AM
Recap: my girls are just babies. Got them about three weeks ago.


I've taught ferrets and rabbits not to bite, but of course these girls are different and somehow slightly scary. :shifty I'm having trouble reconciling my sweet little pets with the images of slavering, vicious coop invaders from my chicken-keeping days. :( Wild rats cause horrific injuries to rabbits and chickens. So while my clean, sweet, cute little pets do not = THAT, I still am a bit twitchy.

They are terribly nippy when you reach into their cage, just in their curiousity. They do no harm, but even DH has been getting all squawky about it; let's admit it, it's freaky to have a rat touch you with it's teeth. He put a small toy on top of the cage last night to reach in to get their water dish, and that distracted them, but I'd like to teach them not to bite at all if possible. I saw several adult pet rats in person last week, and oh my. These itty bitty girls are going to get much larger than I expected. As will their big yellow rattie teeth. :shifty

Barefoot Bookworm
02-11-2012, 05:16 PM
I got rid of mine when they started biting all of the time. :bag It got to the point where I couldn't reach into the cage without being bitten.

Heather Micaela
02-11-2012, 05:36 PM
I relly like this article:
http://ratballs.com/RatTails/Tails074.html

Johns_Gal
02-12-2012, 07:37 AM
Oh, like bite inhibition for puppies. :giggle Got it. Thank you!