bitting

[mantricentity]

I got a new rat this week, but she bites. I'm pretty sure it's cause she doesn't know me and she's going to have babies in about a week. Now she doesn't bit all the time. I can hold her and everything but every once in a while she bites. Do you think this will go away after she has the babies and after I've been around her longer?

[unity]

My guess is that it'll go away. She just got pulled from here home, landed in a new one, and has lots of overwhelming things happening to her all at once! Wouldn't YOU bite if that happened to you, too?  

[EaglesEye Rattery]

A doe I had like this was just fine after her babies were weaned and now she is a perfect pet...  It may just be her but hopefully it will give you confidence.

The main think is don't let the babies see the mama bulling you.  If they see it from her they will learn it's Ok.  i assume you'll want to place the babies in pet homes and they need to be trust worthy.  When Noel was out of the cage away from her babies she was just fine so that is what i made sure they saw!  I even started having them out with us too to see her interact with us.

Children of all types learn first from their parnets example.  With animals somewtimes you need to find a situation where they won't show undesirable behavior.  This wo\ill also help in socolizatiing the mama rat too since I would assume she's a pet store or a rescue rat??

                                      Emily~

[mantricentity]

She is a pet store rat, but I made sure she got handled so she is really tame once away from her nest, just needs to get use to me but I think she is because if i take her anywhere she won't leave me.

[scout]

Is it a hard, defensive bite, or is she just nibbling you? If it's just nibbling, she is grooming you. If it's a harder, defensive bite, she could be defending her nest. It may get worse once the babies are born if that's the case. Here's a good article on building trust in your rat:

http://www.ratfanclub.org/trust.html

Also, be sure to talk to her and approach slowly so she's not startled when you put your hand in her cage. Most rats will be eager to greet you when they know you're coming.