Extremely fearful rat

[Tori]

I just recently adopted a male rat, about 5 months old, but am having difficulty with him. He is absolutely terrified of people (especially hands). He won't take food from me, I can't touch him, put my hand near him, or even open the door of his cage. He will run to the back of the cage and sit there very scared and stressed. He makes sounds that almost sound like a whimpering puppy. It breaks my heart.

I want to do what is best for him, but I am reaching out because his behaviour is outside my comfort zone. I'm not sure where to start with him. My hope was that he would be less fearful so I could introduce him to my other rats, but at the moment he is just so scared that I can't properly do introductions. Outside his cage he is very afraid. Right now I would like to try to work with him and give him a chance, but I am feeling overwhelmed.

 

[Tori]

Just saw this link on another thread! Somehow missed the other post. joinrats.com

Going through the site right now to get some ideas on where to begin.

Edit: Did some testing to see, and he will slowly and nervously come to the bars to take food from me. At least it is a start!

 

[Joanne]

A couple of ideas:
I would start intros with your other rats, in a spot where there are no areas where you cannot get your new boy (ie in the bath tub, door to room closed, etc.). He will take his cues from the other rats - if they are happy and unafraid, then he will start to realize it's not as bad as he thought.
As well, I would consider neutering him. Reducing the amount of hormones flowing around will help him calm down too.
If he is very fearful, do not corner him. If he is in a corner, come from one side so he can scoot out the other side before trying to pick him up. There is always a risk of a fear bite, not out of maliciousness, but out of sheer terror.
Try and move slowly and deliberately when around him, and when you do grab him, do it gently and not too tight. It's better to finally pick him up after a few tries than to squeeze the bejeepers out of him on the first try.
My newest rescue Toby - I took the lid off the cage to pick him up initially so he wouldn't feel cornered. He is finally taking treats from my hand, but still not consistently. I put his cage on top of my DCN so he can hear and smell the other rats. That way he can take his cues from them. Today he is getting neutered so he can have friends.
I would also recommend a little forced socialization of 'down the shirt'. Expect to get peed and pooped on initially. This will let him get used to your smells and sounds but still be 'hidden'. After every session give him a really yummy treat. Soon he will associate you with good things.
Spoil him rotten, talk to him softly and touch him gently. He will come around eventually.

 

[Tori]

Thanks! I was able to feed him through the bars today, and was able to carefully and gently pick him up and put him in the carrier. I tried introductions again, this time in the bath tub. He was running around, eating, acting more normal than previous attempts, even came over to check out my hand. So it seems he is better when other rats are around, but the next issue is that he seems to be a bit of a bully.

He isn't hurting the other rats so far. There are no bites or blood, but he does seem to be taking it a bit far. My other introductions were much easier. I cut it short as I wasn't comfortable with the behaviour. I thankfully was able to pick him out of the carrier at the end and put him back in his cage. So there definitely has been some improvement since last week.

As for behaviour, he is doing exactly what the website http://www.ratbehavior.org/ says. "Adult fighting involves contact and defense of the rump. If a rat manages to contact an opponent's rump, he may try to nip or bite it. A rat tries to hide his rump from attack by running away. He may also stand and face the aggressor and maintain whisker-to-whisker contact with him (called boxing ), or by laying on the back to hide his rump. As long as a rat keeps distance, or his whiskers, teeth or body between the attacker and his own rump, he has a higher chance of preventing an attack.

To counter the defensive boxing strategy, the attacker may drop to all fours and sidle forwards, and thus reach around and inflict a bite from the side. To counter the belly-up strategy, the attacker may lay perpendicularly on top of the supine rat and try to dig under him to gain access to the rump."

I guess my issue is I'm not sure if the website is describing dominance, or is that serious fighting? I haven't had rats in quite a few years, so I feel like I'm getting a crash course in rat behaviour 101. Lol. It always ends with one of my rats running away very scared. I stopped intros tonight because I wasn't sure what to do, or if that is acceptable, or too much...

 

[jorats]

How old are your other rats and how many are there?

You need to intervene and intro when there is actual biting and blood drawn. You can gently redirect by using treats as well.

 

[Joanne]

I would not feed him through the bars. That may encourage biting fingers that are stuck through the bars, especially if they smell like food. ALWAYS open the cage door and give it to him, or if he won't take it, put it in from of him.

 

[Tori]

When the door is open he won't take treats yet, but working on it. I can try placing them near him, but hoping tomorrow he may actually try to take one. I normally don't feed my rats through the bars, but doing so has helped him be more comfortable with me coming near the cage. I definitely won't be making a habit of feeding him that way though.

I have 4 boys in a group, ages range from 3 - 5 months, and the single boy is about 5 months. So 5 rats total. Also putting them right in that age range where hormones are all over the place, so I know that is probably one of the factors there.

 

[Tori]

Was trying to get him out of the cage for cleaning today, but he was very nervous. I tried to pick him up like I had yesterday, slow but gentle movements to place him in the carrier. He was more on edge, probably because he knew something was going on by the sounds and movement. He turned around and bit my finger, but thankfully didn't bite that hard so there was only a little bit of bleeding. He did take food from me in the cage today, which is an improvement.

 

[dspch911]

We had a couple like that that came from a hoarding situation and those two would scream. I would actually tell them "Mommy is going to pick you up now" then I would scoop him up and give him a treat while he was in my arms and then put him back. I would repeat this over and over and over.

You can try the sweatshirt method too where you put a sweatshirt over another shirt and stuff your rat in between. It might help to commit one shirt for now as a rat shirt and wear it when your around them so your smell is always familiar.

It helps to keep a towel or oven mitt on hand when doing intros in case you need you break them up.

 

[Tori]

Thanks for the advice! He also screams when upset. I will have to try that, as right now picking him up/touching him causes him the most anxiety. I want to make it a positive experience for him so he gets used to it.

I also need to think of a name for this guy! The one I chose I don't think suits him, so I will be trying to find a new one. Haha

 

[jorats]

When picking him up, scoop him up with two hands going under him, not overtop. See if that helps. Also, you could try keeping a small treat in your hand when doing the scooping so that his sense of smell takes over his other senses.