Alice bit me -EDIT- She seems to have calmed down!

[KatTheHippie]

I brought Alice home on April first, when she was two months old. She's now ten months, and ever since I've had her, she's never, ever bitten me, lunged at me, or attempted to bite me.. she's always been a licker, ready to cover my fingers in kisses the second I open the cage :/ Sometimes she'll tug on my fingers to try and pull me into the cage, or nip a bit too hard when licking treats off of me, but she's never drawn blood, especially. it was always an accident and never very hard. Today, I came home from work as usual and opened the cage to give everyone scritches and treats before out time, Alice lunged out of her igloo and nailed me on the finger so hard I had to put pressure on it to stop the bleeding :sad3: I watched her afterwards, to see if I missed anything, but she's not puffy, and after getting brave again, I scooped her out as quickly as possible as to not get bitten and checked her over, she's not hurt at all, her tail's fine, I looked all under her fur for scabs, no broken nails.. the only odd thing I saw her doing, which she's never done before, is run back and forth form the litter box, with mouthfuls of CareFresh. They always kick it over the side, which is no big deal, but this is the first time I've seen her jump down from the second story, stuff her mouth with CareFresh, and drag it up to the igloo on the top floor.

Any suggestions as to her sudden mood swing? She was fine last night, and this morning.. it's worrying me :/

Here's a video of her moving the CareFresh:


And this is the result. It took a LOT of trips to get that much CareFresh in there:

 

[Sharlees rattakisses]

If she has babies this is normal to bite and nip when she is in "protection" mode.
Leila bit and charged at me but later gave me kisses and love as if to say "I'm sorry." :cuddle:

 

[KatTheHippie]

Alice doesn't have babies though, that's just the thing. And I have no males anywhere in the house, so there's no way she could be pregnant.

 

[Sharlees rattakisses]

Sorry about that. :emb:
With the video I assumed she had babies.
I misread litter as her having a litter.
Did you have food or another animal smell on your hands?
That could make her bite.
Hard days work in the cage? Lol
Sometimes we never figure it out. :gaah:

 

[hopefloats]

LOL so did I! maybe she is one of those people who really wants babies so she is plotting to take them?


My girl Mallymkun is super territorial. She does that just on the same shelf with the same type of igloo except she does it with food. Mally lunges at me in the cage if i go near her igloo or her food stash. She bites me if i touch her and she is sleeping. She is rather paranoid but she has always been like that. Well not always but once she was around 8ish months old she started her biting.


She looks rather pleased with herself in the picture. I think it is a little young for neuro problem... I would guess she might be about the age for womanhood? I dont know when females mature. Maybe she has a false pregnancy? and she thinks she needs to nest?

 

[KatTheHippie]

Sorry about that. :emb:
With the video I assumed she had babies.
I misread litter as her having a litter.
Did you have food or another animal smell on your hands?
That could make her bite.
Hard days work in the cage? Lol
Sometimes we never figure it out. :gaah:

Oh, no, I meant litter, as in the stuff in the pan! :emb: I'll go back and change that so I don't confuse everyone, LOL.
Also, I keep a container of hand sanitizer beside the cage, I always use it before, and after handling the ratties, to keep germies away from them and my other pets, so my hands didn't smell any different than they're used to..

LOL so did I! maybe she is one of those people who really wants babies so she is plotting to take them?


My girl Mallymkun is super territorial. She does that just on the same shelf with the same type of igloo except she does it with food. Mally lunges at me in the cage if i go near her igloo or her food stash. She bites me if i touch her and she is sleeping. She is rather paranoid but she has always been like that. Well not always but once she was around 8ish months old she started her biting.


She looks rather pleased with herself in the picture. I think it is a little young for neuro problem... I would guess she might be about the age for womanhood? I dont know when females mature. Maybe she has a false pregnancy? and she thinks she needs to nest?

If Alice had ever bitten before this, like your Mallymkun, then I'd probably chalk it up to being territorial, but she's never done this before, so it scared me, especially when I started bleeding. I've dealt with territorial rodents in the past, but they've always been iffy form teh start, and I just learned how to work with them, or correct their behaviour. Alice didn't have a mean bone in her body until tonight..


Just encase, does anyone know any signs of what a false pregnancy may look like, so I can keep an eye out for them?

 

[KatTheHippie]

Okay, soooo, she's now also pulling EVERYTHING into the igloo, fleece scraps, cuddle cups, chew toys, anything that isn't bolted down, basically. She's also began attacking her cage mates if they go near it. At first I thought she and Harlow were just scuffling (Harlow's a screamer) But then I realized after the fifth time that she also goes after Dorian and Aurora, I'm afraid someone may get hurt.. :sad3:

 

[hopefloats]

Take it out. Templeton and loki would attack any rat that went into their cozy igloo..see if she stops. I have had rats really own stuff..are any of the rats newer?

 

[KatTheHippie]

Okay, I took out the igloo she's been protecting, along with the other igloo on the bottom of the cage, just encase. I'm waiting to see how she'll do with that. The only new member we have is Aurora, and she was successfully intro'ed into the group in November, so I don't think it would be an issue now.

 

[hopefloats]

my girl started hoarding not to long after my school girls were sick........hasnt stopped since. Rats are strange little creatures and they can start to do things differently.

Mally didnt always bite me it just kinda started one day, but she has been biting in the cage for a long time.

 

[KatTheHippie]

Okay, so, after removing the igloo Alice was still obsessively pulling CareFresh from the litter pan and bringing it up to the second floor of the cage, so I took her out and propped her up on my shoulder, and took a nice walk around the house, then had her sit with me for a little while on my bed. When I put her back in the cage and checked in a little while later, she was curled up with Dorian in the hammock, so it seems like she's good to go for now, thank goodness!

 

[hopefloats]

She may have been a bit bored? I have seen rats do some strange things... I am glad she calmed down a bit. I would just watch her when putting the igloo back!

 

[jorats]

A change in behaviour could mean a neurological event. Although she is still young for a PT...but it's still not unheard of at that age. I'd keep a close eye on her. Watch her if you see any other odd behaviour change.

 

[KatTheHippie]

She may have been a bit bored? I have seen rats do some strange things... I am glad she calmed down a bit. I would just watch her when putting the igloo back!

I still haven't put it back yet, LOL. I'm afraid she may start to have an episode again, so in a little while after letting them romp in the playpen, I'm going to clean the cage and rearrange everything, so hopefully she won't start up the weird behaviour once more.

A change in behaviour could mean a neurological event. Although she is still young for a PT...but it's still not unheard of at that age. I'd keep a close eye on her. Watch her if you see any other odd behaviour change.

I'll definitely be keeping an eye on her now.. that's a terrifying thought, I really hope this isn't the case. :sad3: