Nibbles

[littledaisies]

I recently picked up 3 new dumbo babies this Saturday. They are only a month old and soo cute! I'm working on playing and handling them. I've been opening their cage door and giving them treats. I think they have caught on because every time I open the cage they come running. When I put my hand out they nibble on my fingers or arm. I've had rats do this before but usually they do it once or twice and that's it. These girls do it the whole time I have the door open. I was thinking maybe I should say treats or some other word when I'm giving them treats this way they will know the difference. I'm wondering if anyone does that with their rats. I'd love to hear any other suggestions! 

[nevadamoon]

Are they doing it to play?  I have a couple rats that handwrestle, and they usually start that by coming over and nibbling me. 

You can teach them that when you say "treat" and then give them one, that word means treat.  And hopefully that could help?

[Bathos]

when my rats where that small they tended to nibble a lot.  Mine grew out of it, though I didn't encourage the nibbling and tried to keep that to a minimum.  If you stick your fingers through the bars they will tend to nibble, bite, or grab (with their little sharp teeth and grabby "hands") anything that comes through or even close to the bars.  I would strongly recommend not doing anything to promote this common behavior; no hands through the bars and no feeding through the bars.  (I'm not saying you're doing that, just that your rats will be better behaved if you don't.  I learned that with my own rats the hard way)

To discourage nibbling in general make a high-pitched eep sound when they nibble a little too hard (as the rats do with each other) or decide on a distinctive sound that will be the "no" sound and make that.  I like making a short sharp sound that is a little like static on a TV set or radio, but really any distinctive non-conversational sound that startles them into stopping the behavior should work.  I recommend against making kissy sounds to your rat and associating that with anything in particular.  I taught my prior rats that the kissy sound means treats.  My mother just can't help making kissy sounds at them so the poor rats were always looking for treats when she was around, then being disappointed when there were none.

Since you have your rats this young you have a great opportunity to keep them from learning bad behaviors.  Good luck with the little trouble-makers!

[littledaisies]

I learned the hard way too with my first pair of rats. I would stick my fingers through the cage until one day they bit me so hard I was bleeding! With my second group of rats, I had a very aggressive female. She would bite for no reason. She bit me through my finger nail. That's why I want to make sure my new girls don't pick up any bad habits like that. I'm hoping they grow out of it but I'm going to try to work on it with them. I'm going to try to associate a sound or a word with treats. I'll probably use the treat because I make kissy sounds at them all the time. Thanks guys for the advice. Hopefully I'll have some pictures posted of my new girls soon!