To rehome pet rats?

[dragonflys]

We purchased 2 rats from pets at home and they were obviously scared when arrived home. We left them for a week to settle and tried to tame them. They were awful, constantly nipping and biting and hiding away when near cage. I did assume it was because of the way they were bred.

We got them for 11 year old DD and she is now scared of them as they bit her and she doesn't like the smell.

I always thought rats were supposed to be friendly?

Anyway, they seem unhappy and still scared when I go near the cage. I clean them out as DD wanted to play with them and can't and they are now never handled.

I don't know if they'd ever get rehomed but I feel a rescue could work with them.

It the best thing to do isn't it?

No wonder they're scared you've literally neglected them for 2 months
Rats are lovely pets and can become so loyal and friendly.

Don't get any more pets.

I always thought rats were supposed to be friendly?

I presume you have never heard of the black death?

It was the fleas that caused Black Death,
Fleas could be living on anything warm bloodied.

Black death?

Oh do stop being a tit

We had p@h rats. Never again. Never managed to tame them properly. Had some great mice when I was a child, they were from an independent pet shop though who I imagine used ethical breeders.

They were specifically rat fleas

Yes fleas are species specific but if if wasn't rat flea it might have been any other flea.

Ticks cause Lymes Disease. Ticks are carried by any warm blooded mammal including humans.
Are dogs, cars, hedgehogs unfriendly because they host?

OP not come back then?

If it's a P@H "rat" cage it's probably too small. Please buy the biggest cage you can fit in your home. Don't buy any more pets because you clearly didn't do your research first.

Sorry am here and reading all the replies. It's such a tough situation. I didn't really do much research no and fully accept that's my mistake.

Can you take them to an animal sanctuary? Hopefully they can handle them to the extent they are fully tame and then rehome from them there.

If not you might have to work harder to tame them. Create a makeshift pen and let them roam. Hold them with thick gloves so that if they bite your hands it won't hurt. Look online for resources on taming timid rodents.

They are not evil. Try to see them in a more sympathetic light and make it a mission to handle them every single day no matter how much they bite. Or please give them to a sanctuary.

Sorry am here and reading all the replies. It's such a tough situation. I didn't really do much research no and fully accept that's my mistake.

You've realised this and accepted it, not many do! That's goid.
You have two options, rehome ( please not social media)
Or try to love and bond with them.
There's some really good advice on here.
People on here have had scared and very anxious animals, it doesn't always end badly!

And don't get a dog. If you think rats are hard work you ain't seen nothing yet. I've got two dogs and I work really hard to take care of them to the extent they require. All pets are a long term commitment and IMO unless DCs are extremely dedicated, they should not be bought for kids. Adults should get them to be family pets, with a view to teaching kids over time how much theu need a lot of looking after, and the rewards that you reap from having family pets.

I have two rabbits I got from a rescue. For the first six months they were scared of us. I would get them out and gently handle them for a very short space of time every day. They finally learned to trust us and now cuddle up to us.
If you want animals that are going to be friendly straight away, go to a rescue and say that is what you want.
You really should have tried though to find out what would make these rats trust you. There is lots of advice out there.

Well done for asking for help OP. You’ve got a lot of useful links and advice here (I’d offer to take them myself if I weren’t allergic these days).

Please please use the links, and rehome through somewhere reputable if you do give them up.

God I worded that badly. Let me try again.

Don't buy pets exclusively for DCs. It's too much responsibility, which the parents eventually find themselves lumbered with. Only buy a pet if YOU want it too, and you are prepared to put the effort in to taking care of it and meeting all its needs. Then children will learn how to be a responsible pet owner themselves.

I think op was getting a blasting because her daughter wanted a dog and instead of saying no she pacified her by getting her a pet she didn't want and neither had researched.

That said the op has realised and admitted that and now has two options.

To rehome or research and give those poor frightened rats a chance.

OP, your rats have basically come from a factory farm. The pets sold at PaH come from huge rodent farms, with racks and racks of tiny cages stacked high in rows, each containing a female who is continuously bred from. The babies aren't handled except when they are removed and shipped to PaH stores. PaH also have an agreement with the farms that unsold rats can be returned if they get past the cute baby stage without being bought, in which case they are gassed, frozen and sold as snake food.

The point is PaH don't exactly give their pets the best start in life. Had you researched getting rats and gone to a breeder, you would have babies handled from being tiny, well socialised and used to coming out of their cage. Of course your rats are terrified of coming out. They've only known the inside of a cage their whole lives and the only human contact they've really had has been negative (removing them from their mother, and then removing them from the cage which became familiar to them at PaH).

What do you do now? Well, you can socialise them. Previous posters have given ample advice. It would undoubtedly be the right, moral thing to do. By purchasing these rats you are continuing the demand for more to be bred in this vile way. The least you can do to put that right is treat them properly. But it will take time and effort, so if you're not prepared for that, then find a decent rescue. And don't get any more pets.

Also any rodents kept in too small cages tend to be aggressive.
i would urge anyone getting a pet to do lots of research beforehand. Places like big pet shops rarely give correct advice. But there are always forums and pages of people who care about particular breeds of animals, who are keen to give advice. Also I would always recommend getting an animal from a rescue. They will be honest about the animals temperament, and if you want a child to be involved, will not match you up with an unsuitable pet.

We all make mistakes. You can either put it right now by rehoming them properly, or by taming them.

You can probably tame them at this point, but you need to take it really slow.
Start by getting a bunch of yogurt drops, mealworms and some plain yogurt.
Every couple of hours during the day, pop a mealworm or yogurt drop in front of them in the cage.
When they stop flinching so much at your approach, offer them the same treats on a teaspoon.
Do the same once a day with a bit of yogurt on the end of a spoon.
Hold it out and see if they'll take some.
Don't put any of their rat food in a bowl anymore, instead put it in piece by piece throughout the day by hand, near to them in the cage.
Let them associate you approaching them with only positive things.
Hand feeding is a sketchy area as some people think it makes them bite, so given that the they are biting anyway it's best avoided.
Do this for a couple of weeks, before you start gently stroking one finger down their backs while they eat from the spoon.
Rats are neophobic so try not too change too much around in the cage, or they'll get scared again. When you wash hammocks, put an identical one in it's place etc.
I hope this is helpful, and best of luck.

OP go onto Pets -> Small Pets and post something like "Help me with my rats, can't handle them and they've gone bitey"

You'll get the non AIBU peeps.

Good Luck

Re: hammock washing, you could do 1/2 one day and 1/2 another, it’s best not to clean everything at once because they then feel the need to re-scent everything.

Poo removal every day though. Are you using litter trays? Corner ferret ones secured with garden twine were my go-to, at least one each/one on each level.

What’s the bedding situation? I favoured litter trays with wood pellet litter and chopped cardboard at the bottom, but I’ve been out of the game for a while so might be out of date.

Wood shavings are bad! Wood chips might be ok if they are Aspen and dust free. Rats are really sensitive to dust.

What cage have you got? Because I bet my left eyebrow it’s not big enough if p@h said it’s for rats.

They're rather evil little things

They're not though.

You are most definitely a plonker. Didn't you do any research in advance?

I have no advice as if you advertise them to be rehomed on Gumtree or something they'll likely end up as a python's lunch, and if you keep them then you've already said they've not been handled for weeks so that's the bonding window of opportunity closed for good.

Don't get another pet, please.

The "bonding window" is not closed, though. The rats don't know OP in the same way they wouldn't know a new owner. She can gain their trust if she exercises patience and a lot of effort. OP's already admitted she's made a mistake, she doesn't need to be called a "plonker" does she.

Plonker is appropriate here.

I'm sorry, it just drives me potty when threads like this come up. We live in an age where everything we need to know is (mostly) at the end of a smartphones search engine and yet so many mistakes are made with buying (small) pets for children who can't or won't or don't know how to treat them properly.

I don't get it, and yep I'm sympathetic to the fix the OP is in to an extent but I still think there's no excuse for crap research when it comes to the care of a pet.

Bonding window my arse.

I had 2 boys that were originally from a pet shop and then ignored by an acquaintance for nine months. I took them on but didn’t really have time to properly tame the nervous one (but figured living with 5 others in massive cage and regular excursions was better than 1 mate in a tiny cage and no excursions).

When I first met my DH he had lots of days off (was at college retraining), and absolutely no rat experience, and he tamed that rat, the rat bloody loved him. That’s pretty much how I knew he’d be DH one day!