I have a female rat that I tried to rescue from being abandoned by her previous owner at a pet store. The previous owner didn't know much about rats. I suppose the previous owner abused the rat, because she is
extremely human-agrressive.
This rat will bite any/all human fingers that she can reach. I thought maybe it was related to the babies (she was pregnant, too), but she has been separated from them for over a week now and she is still very aggressive.
And I don't mean "she will bite you if you get too close to her." I mean "she will run from wherever she is to wherever you are to bite you." She does this both in & out of the cage.
The only time she won't bite is if you offer her food AND she can reach the food before she can reach your fingers. I have to use welding gloves just to clean her cage.
Attempts at trust-training are not helping at all. She doesn't even flinch when I squeak after she bites me. She might do better with a male owner, since the previous owner (the one that most likey abused her) was a female. I once had a rat that didn't like men because a man abused her, so a rat abused by a female might have the same problem with other females.
Unfortunately, I just can't keep a rat that is this aggressive. I am constantly sticking my hands into the cages to play with my ratties, and I have a 3-year-old nephew who also likes to "visit" them. I was trying to help her out, but she's bitten me numerous times, and she has bitten other family members, as well. She even bit my boyfriend's mom's shoulder when she passed too close to the cage.
At least I know that I helped out her babies - they are all very sweet and non-bitey, and should make good pets. Plus, hopefully, she won't have to worry about getting pregnant ever again, so that's a plus.
I was trying to place her into the Rattie Ratz "unadoptable" community, but their unadoptable group has gotten too large, and they can not take anymore (at least not until some of the rats there right now pass on).
Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
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I would have posted another message, but didn't want to bump this to the top. I found Hera a home with a rat rescue in San Diego.
