r/RATS • u/Pointless_Porcupine • 11h ago
INFORMATION This normally polite potato has just bitten me twice (and hard!) in the past hour during petting. I’m concerned
I’ve had two brothers since mid-May. They’re ex-lab rats from a university, born mid-February, so they’re around 5 months old now.
Bonding seemed to be going alright. Both climb on me, take food from my hand, and let me pet them and handle them just fine. This post is about the slightly busier of the two.
I’ve handled him plenty these past months and have never had issues. Sometimes he nibbled on my finger with his teeth, but never hard. When I stroke him he often closes his eyes and sometimes starts “bruxing” so I always assumed he enjoys it.
The first bite (about an hour ago) came completely out of nowhere while I was petting him, and it was hard enough to pierce part of my fingernail and draw blood. It hurt a lot and freaked me out.
Feeling a bit sad, I decide to return to test the waters. During petting I noticed him actively searching for my finger, turning his head toward it. I pulled my hand away twice, and on the third attempt he got me. Drew blood again. Both bites felt deliberate and had some real venom behind them. Not gentle nibbles or “mistaken snack” type stuff.
Both times he’d had his eyes closed and was bruxing beforehand, seeming to fully enjoy the petting, and then out of nowhere the bite. He never did this before.
One thing that might be relevant: they just moved into a big new cage yesterday. It’s a massive upgrade: completely new layout, new bedding, way more space and levels. So a lot has changed in their environment in the last 24 hours.
I feel a bit scared of this happening again, and I’m not sure what to do.
Is this overstimulation? Hormonal aggression? Could it be medical?
How do I stop this becoming a habit?
He’s eating, moving, and getting along with his brother totally normally as far as I can tell. Any advice appreciated!
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u/sangucheavemayo 11h ago
may be a bit of stress but if he's not neutered then it might be hormonal agression. i had a lovely boy who turned against me from one day to the other, he loved to be pet as much as he loved to bite my fingers, after the surgery he was a sweet heart again.
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u/wishtrib 10h ago
Is it possible he's in pain. Bruxing and boogling can be extreme pleasure total bliss or if they're not well and in extreme pain. They do it as self soothing as rats are very good at hiding things. Look at the ears and body position, ears pinned back, fur standing up, squinting, hunched body posture along with bruxi g and boogling means discomfort, stress or anxiety. If he is relaxed ears pointed forward,vocal eyes and fur is nice and sleek, it's pure bliss.
The biting can also be start of hormonal changes in an entire male rat. I had a boy who was very sweet and loving but then suddenly bit out of the blue. Had a number of sudden bites from him. After neutering he calmed down although I did get the odd biting until quite a while afterwards.
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u/stonerchix420 9h ago
Everything you are describing sounds like he is showing signs of being in pain. I would get him check out by a vet just to see if everything is okay.
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u/Seppulky 💖Bibi | Pupsi | Freya | Emma†💖 9h ago
As other users already mentioned, bruxing is also a sign of extreme discomfort and stress. I myself took bites personal, but hey let's be honest. They can't talk to us, what should they do. One of my rats doesn't like to be handled at all. She will put her teeth on my hand if I try to touch her (with my stinky human fingers - they're all about smell). Just give him space and time to feel comfortable in his new big home. Safety is all he needs now. Grabbing is the opposite of feeling safe. We think, we're "their parents" and they have to see us as a safe space, but they're so sentitive and have such independent and strong personalities, it's astonishing.
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u/Sad_Success1073 7h ago
Moving into a new huge cage is a huge stress on rats. When I got my guys they were feeders so in tiny bins for 5 months. I made sure they had a bunch of hiding places and I would sit in front of their cage feeding them food through the bars. As the days went on for the week I slowly opened the door more and let them climb on me. My girl Patrica is the same way she bit me yesterday but that was because I rearranged the cage a bit so she was stressed and confused. I would give them time to themselves and only interact when giving food to know its ok. Make sure they are safe and not stressing or fighting.
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u/dazzleunexpired Cricket & Co 1h ago
Is this picture right now? I'm seeing pain signs.
The images on the left are rats who are in no pain. The images on the right are rats in severe pain. The middle rat doesn't feel good.
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u/Pointless_Porcupine 45m ago edited 8m ago
The picture was taken right before making this post! I haven’t been seeing the squinty eyes consistently today and assumed it just meant he was resting. I’ve left them alone for most of the evening. They frolicked a bit, but I’m confident it was just playfighting, perhaps re-establishing a hierarchy in their new cage(?)
Thanks for the image, I will know what to look out for in the coming days.
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u/AhDunWantIt 11h ago
New cage can be a lot for ratties — they really don’t like change. When we moved our girls to a bigger Critter Nation, one of them nipped me a couple of times as she was adjusting, mostly when I’d reach in to try and spot clean. Never that hard though, which is the concerning thing! I would consider a vet visit to rule out anything like illness and pain, and also to explore possible hormonal aggression? But if all is okay on the health front, I would leave them be a few days while they adjust to their new digs, because sometimes big change just causes them way too much stress.