so lately my rat, gaz, has taken to nipping at me. last night she nipped at me when i went to pick her up and her teeth cut me. and it doesn't seem like its the it might be food kinda nips either. she hasn't been taking treats from our hands since about a week and a half-two weeks after we brought her home. so i don't think she thinks i got treats in my hands. so is there something that i can do to get her to stop nipping??

don't pic her up? lol

She's not nipping you because of food, she knows there's nothing there or it wouldn't have broken the skin, the fact that she has broken skin means she's not happy with something.

Try leaving her to climb onto you instead of going to pick her up, while she's let you do it before she might not actually like it and is getting used to you know so knows she can push the boundaries a little bit to see what she can get away with.

You could try picking her up differently, offer your hand(s) for her to climb on or scoop her up in two hands instead of the old one-handed grab from above. Open her cage door and offer an arm to clamber on to, or nearest body part.

Remember if you grab one handed from above, it's akin to a bird of prey picking a rat up in it's talons, old wired in fears are hard to overcome even for rats.

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I had the same problem with my hamsters. I found that they like to climb into an old toilet-roll tube rather than onto a hand so whenever I want to pick one of them up, I hold a tube close to them, they scurry in and then I let them walk onto my hand. You might need to use something bigger than that though

bog tube will work for little nippers they'll be ~6 months old before they can't fit anymore then you can just use a ferret tube or by that time they'll just climb on. Lots of play sessions will help build their confidence with your hands too, let them dicate what they do they'll soon be clambering all over your and up your trousers etc. (inside and out!)

pun not intended! doh! lmao

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what kind of things can i do as play time with her?

do you only have the one? If you do you need to play with her alot to give her loads of stimulation, or buy a wee mate for her, rats should be kept in pairs at least. If however she's alone becuase she doesn't get on with other rats then you will do

cardboard boxes with wee holes in for her to climb in and out of, get a treat ball (plastic ball with one hole for small treats to fall out when she rolls it around might have to persevere with this one it can take a while for them to figure out how to use it lol) bathtimes, with small floaty toys or frozen veg floating in, if you have cats let her play on their scratch post, erm wine racks are fun (apparently, i don't see the appeal but ours love theirs), stable wooden clothes horses are also fun, wear loose clothing so she can get in be ready for a rat in your crotch or bra tho can be quite disturbing the first few times! lmao hoodies are another favouite, sleeping and riding around in the hood is fun, tubes, piles of old tshirts/material to chew and clamber through, erm... old trainers, knotted bits of shoe lace are fascinating. anything to climb in, explore in, climb up, eat, nibble, drag lol you name it they generally like it. they're like 2 y/o's

playtime is a great time to train her too, get her used to her name and 'no' and reprimands (pickup flip on belly and hold gently to the floor saying 'NO' let her wriggle out) when she does something naughty. don't wear socks and no shoes by the way it's a sure way to get nibbled toes.

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well the wife decided to get another rat today. this one has just been weened from its mother and is very affectionate. i got her to nibble goom on me while the wife was out. so how/how long before we can introduce the 2 of them. btw, the new one's name is tac. so we stuck tac in the spare cage for the time being, not to introduce the 2 right a way. but how long before i can put her with gaz? photos to follow.

would recommend letting them play together away from cages say on the bed or bathtub. There may be some squeaking and pinning but it is just them sorting out dominance as long as no blood nothing to worry about. As far as time goes it all depends on the rats - have introduced many rats over the last few years some have taken just 1 play session whist with others it has taken months. My guess would be as they are both alone will be very quick as they thrive with company.

We always introduce ours the day we get them tbh, our team is so well integrated and friendly we've never had any problems, we've always had a great alpha-rat tho so that's probably why.

introduce them somewhere neutral like the usual playtime area, bath tub, table etc etc.

they might not bother trying to figure out who's dominant just yet, so if they don't fight straight off, i'd say it was ok to put them straight into the same cage after a good playtime, and keep them where you can keep an eye on them, separate them when you go to bed, and do it again tmorn, if there aren't any problems the second time round i'd say they were friendly and will only bother with dominance fights once they're more settled with each other. when you put them in the same cage make sure its right after you've cleaned it out.

good luck

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well one thing that the mrs and i are wondering about is since the new one, tac, is a baby, tiny and just weened from her mother. will there be any issues that i should be concerned with?