Is play biting ok? or normal?

[abbyandpinky]

My little rat Pinky likes to play with me by gently biting my fingers.  I'll have her on the couch with me, and when I can tell she's in a hyper mood, I kind of poke at her with my fingers and tickle her, and she replies by jumping all around, running in circles and gently biting my fingers.  We'll play for a few minutes, and I can tell when she's done playing.  Is this ok?  Does anyone else have rats who like to do this?

[abbyandpinky]

Also, Pinky climbs around her cage like a monkey!  She will hang upside-down from the top of the cage, and is rarely on the ground!  Is this normal?  I'm a new member of the Rat Fan Club, so I just have all these questions about Pinky!  I guess I'm an overly-protective mommy, wondering if my baby is developing normally!

[Chic 2000]

 You don't really want to encourage biting as a behavior.  Rats do not realize the power of their fangs.  And they can unintentionaly bite too hard and hurt you, badly sometimes even when playing.  

Creamy and Coco like to try and nibble.  But Creamy was a notorious biter and nibbler.  She nipped me hard once and broke the skin.  It bled and hurt. I didn't do anything to deserve the bite, I was just going to scratch her fur in a friendly manner and she desided to strike out bite.  

I always tell Creamy and Coco "NO BITE" and I make a squeak noise whenever they try to nibble or bite.  I have broken Creamy's habit though that method, but she still wants to lunge sometimes.  Coco is learning to, now she will not bite fingers.  Fuzzy Belly has never biten or nibbled.  Since it's play time it may be cute but try not to encourage biting.  And don't feed them treats through the bars cause rats can mistake fingers for treats.  Or they can assume that you have a treat in your finger and bite your finger hard accidently.

[star]

When I first got my Abby, she was an older rat and was a biter. I have had her for a year now and am just beginning to trust her with my fingers. She no longer bites me hard, although she does still "taste" me. One of my other rats, Charlie, says "Hi, I love you" by nibbling on my fingernail   With a little training, you can help your rattie to not bite you. Good luck!

[Bonnie]

My rats nibble me all the time. Especially my fingernails. They never really bite, though... they have to be trained not to do that, but if it's not vicious biting, it can't be too hard to do. That squeaking idea sounds good, I'll keep that in mind!!

[jp]

A few of my rats do just what you described.  Personally it doesn't bother me because the nibbles aren't actual bites.  They've never actually bit me.  My newest girl, Georgie Girl, is a nut!  She chases after my hand, runs in cirles and she does climb the inside of the cage A LOT!  Her nickname is Spidergirl or Monkeygirl.

[Anna]

Funny thing, as I was reading this my dumbo, simon was chewing and fighting with my fingers. He just does it because he's still in quarantine (mites, yuck!) and doesn't have any other ratties to dominate. He really likes to wrestle and bite my fingers and then I flip him over and squeak him.
None of my other kids do it, except chewing on my nails, or licking off food, which tends to involve some teeth.
Anna

[SonyaFancifulRats]

I had one female rat, Bubbles that used to get confused and grab my finger instead of a treat, and she'd chomp on my finger and haul it up to her loft before she'd realise her mistake.  She never broke the skin, and I thought it was hysterical. I have never had a rat bite me too hard by mistake, although I'm sure if they are all pumped up it could happen. If it is an established rat that I trust, I dont really have a problem with nibbles, but I really don't want Badger thinking he can chew me up  

[magenta]

hey guys  
you have a new rat lover to inform
i went to my local pet shop to see the rats. they do have males and females separate but when i put my fingers up to the cage to let a cute lil boy have a sniff of my finger he bit me!! so i went to do the same to the girls cage and she bit me too!
whats going on!? are they mistreated, or do i smell like
rat food?

[Chic 2000]

I noticed that too when I was shopping for Creamy.  One store had a bunch of young rats and when I stuck my finger in the hole of the tank they all sniffed it and tryed to nibble, then bite.  They are just curious, but don't know right from wrong and start to bite harder as you keep trying to touch them.

Biting is a learned and a genetic behavior for rats.  if the parents are biters, their children will be much more likely to bite to.  Pet store rats tend to not have proper socalization and learn biting from being poked at my hundreds of humans every day.  Some rats are just curious, esspecaily at sucha young age.  But that quickly can progress into a defence mechanizm as they grow tired of being poked at.

These rats are young and play biting so they never intend to hurt you.  But as I said, they don't realize the power of those chompers.  In the wild rats use their teeth not only to eat with but as weapons as well.  Rats can give you a bite all the way down to the bone.  Some folks on this forum have posted about thier rats biting them and having to get stitches.

So biting is not to be encouraged even if it is play-biting.  Getting your rats to lick you is much better.  That way they mean no harm to your fingers and show that they really like you.  Everytime a nibbley rat starts to bite or nibble just make a sharp, loud squeek sound.  That means "OWCH too hard!" in rat language.  Then they will lick you as if to appologize.  A few more squeeks and they quickly learn that your fingers are sensitive to those sharp teeth and licking is much better.

[magenta]

yeah... i guess getting poked at all day cant be much fun.
the other rat shop had a glass cage... versus the wire cage that i got bitten thru.
the glass caged rats at the new petshop i have dicovered love to lick you....
they are adorable... there was about 8 in the cage and they just all swarmed my hand and almost licked me to death... ! so gorgeous!

[Tracy]

My male rat used to do the same thing.  I would wrestle with him in his younger years (ok, 5 months ago and he's 8 months now) and he would grab my fingers with his teeth.  He never bit me intentionally. Once he thought I was a mouse because my mouse had escaped and was climbing the rat cage and I moved in to protect the mouse only to get hit.  Anyways, i feed him through the bars, and he always licks stuff from my fingers like stinky Nutracal and sometimes actual medicine like SMZTMP.  The play biting never amounted to anything else. I guess it really depends on the rat though.
Tracy

[Rat-love]

With my own rats, not strangers in a store, I always try to relax when they bite me, crazy as it sounds.  I have never had a rat break the skin, even when mistaking the finger for food in a firm bite; they seem to realize it before going too far.  They also nibble on my eyelids and fingernails and ears and lips, which I take as a complimentary grooming.  Also, rats are natural arobats--Sapphy has recently learned to climb up the shelving to the top shelf in the closet, and does some astounding maneuvers to reach other pinnacles and high places.  Be careful, though--people occasionally post about a rat getting injured from falling with another object or onto a hard floor.
About the rats in the pet store--good job figuring out the difference in exposure to poking between rats in aquariums and cages!  I wouldn't have thought of that.

[Dimi]

Mine nibble quite often thinking I have food in my hands. Try washing your hands before handling your rats so they can't smell food odors. I've also heard of making squeeling noises to alert the rats that what they're doing isn't a nice thing, hehe.