I am at a loss with my skittish rats!

[ratamataz]

Aragh. I am loth to post this. But I am getting really discouraged.
My two boys, both 3 months old, are just confounding me! They will act fine for about 15 or 20 minutes, during their out time, and then they flip out! It's like, BAM! They go FLYING back to their cage, and practically injure themselves in the process. Then they stare at me with these huge eyes. Then they'll slink away to the safest spot in their cage, and act terrified of me for the rest of the day. They are pretty much behaving as though I am trying to eat them.

They were fairly skittish from the start, I had to try all kinds of tricks to get them to come out of their cage on their own. I gave them boxes, no boxes, safe spots, no safe spots, food bribes, cozy areas, inside the sweater, etc.
The most effective method was putting them in an enclosed narrow hallway without any hiding spots. They would relax after a couple minutes and start playing and eating. Slowly I started adding boxes and hidey spots and they were doing really well and not just hiding in them the entire time. Pretty soon I was even able to add their cage so they could go in and out as they liked. This was working really, REALLY well, they were being completely normal and relaxed, every time.

This lasted for all of one week when they started up with their new behavior of flipping out after about 20 minutes. It doesn't matter if they have their cage, boxes, or nothing available to them.
If I leave them alone, they go back to their cage by themselves after 20 minutes. When I check on them, they always wind up in a hidey house in their cage, and they stay in there for pretty much the rest of the day.
When I am WITH them, is when they do the BAM! Flip out. Once it was so bad they ran whenever I went to see them for two whole days. The thing is, is when I am with them, all I do is sit very still and talk to them quietly. I don't grab at them, chase them, anything like that. Everything is quiet and safe. No other animals, no loud noises, nothing. I have no idea what sets them off, or why they act so scared of me afterwards. I am literally just sitting there.
The strangest part is, is that for the first 20 minutes, they are perfectly normal. They play, crawl on my lap, and sniff around. And then act as if I just tried to kill them. It is rather distressing, not to mention a bit insulting.
This has been going on for about a month now.

 

[jorats]

It's too quiet and too still. You need to move about, talk, laugh, sing... Grab them out and put them down your shirt for a while. Keep a radio on near them. If you can, place the cage in a busier part of the home.

 

[smmmiley]

I was thinking the same thing... too quiet, too still. Rats gets spooked fairly easy in the best circumstances I think... when we're out playing, radio on, and then I move too quickly, or something clicks... then they all scatter... funniest thing to see! I just laugh and call them my silly girls. They get back to "business as usual" within several seconds. I often leave the radio on for them during the day if I'm going to be out for too long.

Just like babies/toddlers... don't keep everything completely quiet during their naps because when something does happen, they won't sleep through it. If you keep things "normal"... walk around, talk, watch tv, listen to radio, do dishes, etc... they get used to the sounds and then aren't as sensitive to them.

Keep up your efforts... they'll come around!

 

[ratamataz]

Thank you, I'll try all those things! Our place is really quiet. Even when we are both home we generally don't make very much noise. Heh heh, we don't even have a TV for background noise, so I guess you could call us abnormally quiet. We just use our computer for certain shows that we like and music, the speakers are just quiet, tinny laptop speakers, and that is usually just in the evenings. I didn't know that could have that effect on rats! My past boys weren't bothered by anything, nothing fazed them, so this is unchartered territory for me. I can't wait to give those things a try, I've been feeling so bad about this!

 

[smmmiley]

laugh, sing... Grab them out and put them down your shirt for a while. Keep a radio on near them. If you can, place the cage in a busier part of the home.

We had their cage in our living room for a month. And, it probably helps that I just love 'em so much and can't help myself so I pick 'em up whenever I want usually. I let them sniff me first, etc... but, I want them to be used to be handled lots so when/if they settle down more, they'll want to actually snuggle. I also walk around with them while I prepare supper or whatever... and, when the weather was still nice in October I actually took the girls out for walks around the neighbourhood. :lol: My 7 year-old thought that was a bit weird, but I assured him he'll meet stranger people in life! :laugh4:

 

[ATez]

Did you get them from a pet store?
I did this without asking any questions and sounds like you had exactly the same problems i did!!! I tried tons of tips i would read about on the internet and sometimes i felt like giving up. It took me months to get them used to us enough not to think we were gonna eat them! anic:

To get them more used to my hands i got some baby food and dipped my fingers in it. Instead of having a treat they could take and run away with they HAD to stay and lick it off my fingers and now they think of my hands as a good thing! To this day they STILL show signs of nervouness but nothing like the first time i had them.

I could never blame my little monster tho, when i asked the lady at the pet store to get me 2 rats, she hit a plastic tube against the side of their enclo to get them out. :shock: Lessons learned! If i ever get more rats they will be from a breeder who mates them for health and friendlyness!

 

[KTyne]

I'm having the same type of problem with two of my rats as well. I've had them for over a month now and they still act like I'm going to kill them, especially when in their cage! They aren't as bad as before (they'll come and sniff me) but they'll still run away and hide for a few seconds if I move or make a sudden noise.
And these are the two girls I got from a breeder who I thought was good, and hand raised her babies and such.
I really wish I'd waited a bit more and rescued girls from LMR. :|

 

[Moon]

I think 2-3 months old-ish is a typical fear period for rats... I've noticed a lot of people post questions about having problems socializing around this age.

 

[jorats]

I think 2-3 months old-ish is a typical fear period for rats... I've noticed a lot of people post questions about having problems socializing around this age.

This is true. Even happy socialized rats can change at this age. Again, best thing to do is be loud, moving, grabbing, take them out, give them a treat, keep it up, don't give up.