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My hamster sometimes does something similar to that… It shouldn’t be anything serious, and i’m almost 99.5% sure that there is no possible way to stop it, unless it is afraid of you, if it is afraid of u and it does something that humans do when there very very scared :P. It should stop when it gets alot more used to you and starts thinking of u as a caretaker…. ::)
If it is in reaction to a stress/fear, then GRADUALLY alleviate that fear. Gentle and calm handling. Not chasing her about the cage and grabbing her but allwoing her to approach you will be a start. Any pet that is one that can be handled needs socializing. My rat, when I had her, was a former lab animal. She was very used to being handled but did not associate it with pleasantness. I had to teach her that hands would not always hurt. I allowed her to crawl out on my arm, gave her treats whenever she progressed and ignored when she regressed. Building up her confidence in me and her new home worked wonders. It takes time a patience but can be done. If she potties, gently put her back in her cage, clean up and try again later. Coax her out onto your hand using treats and soft talking. Keep the room quiet and serene in the beginning. Eventually she should start to come around and be more confident.
Sounds like a plan – I’ll do what I you suggested by slowly training her to not be so afraid. She confuses me sometimes because she is incredibly curious, but doesn’t seem to like handling all that much. I also noticed today that she doesn’t seem to mind as much, i.e. poop, when I pick her up by the tail. That was the way that the pet store I got her from handled their rats, maybe she prefers that. Does anyone else handle their rats like that? I was thinking that they might prefer to be picked up normally.
I have a new pet rat and she is about 8 weeks old, according to the pet store. She lives with another rat of the same age and they get along fine. However, when she gets scared (like when I pick her up to take her out of the cage) she starts pooping. Eventually she stops once she calms down, but I was wondering if there is some way I can stop her from doing this. She loves to crawl around on me and play in my shirt, but as soon as I pick her up, she starts up again. Any advice?
Picking up by the tail should be avoided. Tails make easy handles and with lab animals, sometimes safest to pick up as it is harder for the animal to bite you. But if not careful, you can do damage to the tail – and the damage can be serious. Did you ever see the Emergency Vets where a child grabbed a pet rat by the tail and "degloved" it? Basically stripped the skin off. I have heard of this happening even before seeing the episode. I preferred when I had my rat and also some retired lab mice that I taught them to let me pick them up by scooping them up. Safer for them, they feel more secure and it builds more trust. Just like you should not pick up a rabbit by its ears, you should not pick up a rodent with a tail by the tail.
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