shandrel
Rodent Retreat Newbie
Posts: 49
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Post by shandrel on Sept 5, 2009 20:03:26 GMT -4
Well, rattie lover from Hawaii is back... our three boys are healthy, and happy. They have been reduced from a large home made cage, to a smaller home improved cage that they love. * the huge cage we coudl NOT get clean.... >.< even though we protected the wood ect.
So we have three happy, non-bitie ratties. so why do i need help? My rat (Rattius) is a happy, laid back rattie, UNTIL, you pick him up. then he screams rattie murder, it bothers me deeply, as well as the other two humans in the house, the two other rats are bothered too, we have tried picking him up with towels, thinking we might be hurting him, but we can find nothign wrong, we can wuzzle all over him no sensitive spots or anything. His breathing is fine, his weight is fine, we can find nothing wrong.
I have thought about taking him to the vet, but well, i don't want to have to pay, for them to tell me it's nothing, and he is just scared.
So, guessing he gets scared when picked up, can anyone offer advice for me? He isn't afraid of us, he will come running up to us, let us pet and wuzzle on him, so i am not sure what his fear is.... we've never dropped him, nor has he fallen from any type of height...
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Post by Die Fledermaus on Sept 5, 2009 20:26:28 GMT -4
Hi! And welcome back! >> the huge cage we could NOT get clean. << I have had habitats such as that. Try picking him up by the base of the tail quickly when on a flat surface so that his strong back legs can't grab anything. I do that; mine seem to like it better than a big hand grabbing them around the middle or pressing their bellies. I then immediately put them on me or something else. And they are fine. You did not say HOW you pick him up. Take a look at some of the rat threads around here and in the Photo forum. The one of Petey sleeping on his back was considered very cute.
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shandrel
Rodent Retreat Newbie
Posts: 49
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Post by shandrel on Sept 5, 2009 20:39:15 GMT -4
well we have tried picking him up like that, and around the middle, and letting him walk ONTO a piece of cloth and picking up the cloth... still screaming it breaks my heart....
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Post by Die Fledermaus on Sept 5, 2009 21:00:37 GMT -4
Let him walk into a big plastic bowl or container - you can cut away a side - and pick that up. The towel is soft and his feet will feel that, the movement. Obviously, he hates to have his feet off something hard and solid. So let the feet stay on something hard and solid, and then lift it and him up together.
Or, let him walk into a similar object, but one with an opaque top; that way he can't see anything. Not that they see that well anyway. Or a big roomy tube - get a big "Chube" at a pet store.
If that does not work, well, I am reminded of the old Henny Youngman joke: "Doctor! It hurts when I do this!" (Raising his arm). "Well, then don't DO this!".
Maybe he just does not want to play and is a loner. How does he interact with other rats??
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shandrel
Rodent Retreat Newbie
Posts: 49
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Post by shandrel on Sept 5, 2009 21:13:20 GMT -4
he interacts well, he is the middle er.. of the ratie pecking order, he is frisky and playful, grooms EVERYBODY! lol including us....but we can;t let him OUT that much becuase of the battle to get him back in his cage. i miss beign able to spend a lot of time with my rattie He LOVES us.. he DID bite our kitten, ( we had to take her to the vet to get her toe stitched back together) But no issues at all since then and the kitten WAS asking for it He's not afraid of her, or our other cat.. in fact, he doesn't seem to be AFRAID of anything... other than being picked up. And we have started herding him into a huge coffee can, and that worked for a LITTLE while.. then the screaming again... maybe he hates his cage? it's big enough... has tons of toys...
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Post by Die Fledermaus on Sept 5, 2009 23:51:29 GMT -4
>> he DID bite our kitten, we had to take her to the vet to get her toe stitched back together << Kittens and rats don't mix, I suppose. At least you didn't let the kitten play on a busy street and get run over - as one foolish former member here did. Kittens learn from experience. >> we have started herding him into a huge coffee can, and that worked for a LITTLE while.. then the screaming again... maybe he hates his cage? it's big enough... has tons of toys... << Go find an old thread in Other Pets - "DF Battles a Caique". The parrot was fine. . . until I tried to put him back in his cage! You did not mention something else: does he only scream when going BACK to the cage, or does he scream when leaving the cage? My rats seek out their cage by smell when there are out. I will ask around about this, as time allows. So check back now and then. We also have a few rat people here so maybe they will check in.
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shandrel
Rodent Retreat Newbie
Posts: 49
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Post by shandrel on Sept 6, 2009 17:52:09 GMT -4
1> we certainly did not let the rats and kitten "play" >.< This was also a failed big cage reason...they were in the big cage, she walked up to it, tried to bat at him, being a normal kitten, and he bit her. AFTER she healed, we coudl NOT keep her away from it, and i know it was bothering the rats too, so the big cage had to go. He doesn't scream when we take him out... i don't; know if he hates his cage. or maybe it IS to small... i don't want to separate him from his brothers.....and we don;t have too many options with the cats, so he can;t be a free range... we have a HUGE critter play pen, we might eb able to set up under teh rabit cage, that woudl give them more room... :S
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Post by Die Fledermaus on Sept 6, 2009 19:11:09 GMT -4
>> He doesn't scream when we take him out. << Ah ha!! The whole story finally comes out! Just like with the caique I mentioned! So, what is he doing when out that he likes so much he does not want to go back?? Can't you do something such as give him a toy with a favorite smell or food to hold on to as he goes back to the cage?
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Post by adoptaratcanada on Sept 6, 2009 23:22:37 GMT -4
Ok, so he doesn't really mind being picked up he objects to, it's "being picked up to go back in the cage"?
It sounds like he gets on well with his pals, so it doesn't sound like he's afraid to go back in there with them.
Has he done this all the time, regardless of cage? Is this something new?
Is it possible he hurt himself in the cage and he's making a bad association with it?
Is the cage still a new environment for him?
Might he feel too exposed (or something) in the new cage? I doubt that's an issue if he plays outside it. I bought a new carrier that I thought the boys would love. It plastic, but with a metal-bar flip open lid. If it's not covered Earl Grey flips out in that one...every motion he sees is *above* him and he just doesn't like it.
Do you have a means of buying or building a large fence/corral that the cage could sit inside, and the rats could come out into the pen for playtime...the maybe you could put a tasty dinner inside the *cage* the might lure him back in?
I've built such a "corral" using several pieces of plastic corrugated signboard duct taped end to end -- that allows it to be be folded and stored. Not sure it's cheaper than a store-bought thing in the end, but it's tall and unclimbable (although one of my old rats used to fling himself toward the top edge!
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shandrel
Rodent Retreat Newbie
Posts: 49
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Post by shandrel on Sept 7, 2009 3:56:09 GMT -4
well we are trying to figure out how to set up the coral under our raised rabbit cage, allowing them to be .. much more free-range, but he has been in this cage for a while, and no bad experiences that i know of. Our biggest problem is our kitten, she just did NOT learn her lesson when bit. *sighs* so that woudl be a bit more traumatic to him than picking him up and putting him back in the cage. he won't go NEAR the cage on his own. he will come to me, or run around exploring but NO interest in the cage what so ever, even with goodies....
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Post by adoptaratcanada on Sept 7, 2009 15:07:55 GMT -4
Was he doing this with a) the other cage, and b) ever since being in the new cage?
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Post by Die Fledermaus on Sept 7, 2009 23:22:12 GMT -4
I was thinking that after he is out, instead of picking him up and putting him back in. . . put him some other place that he may like. That way he will associate being picked up with NOT necessarily going back to the cage.
When mine are out all they do if sniff around trying to get back to their cage!
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shandrel
Rodent Retreat Newbie
Posts: 49
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Post by shandrel on Sept 8, 2009 3:38:24 GMT -4
well, he has been doing this in every cage we have. but i think we can try teh pick up and go new place other than cage approach....
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Post by adoptaratcanada on Sept 8, 2009 10:16:23 GMT -4
I ditto that suggestion that DF made, too. I'd also like to let know about (with DF's permission) a recently formed Yahoo Group that is geared toward pet rat behaviour issues: pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/JoinRats
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Post by Die Fledermaus on Sept 9, 2009 10:31:14 GMT -4
OK, keep us posted, please!
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