The Problem Rat: Bites People - PART 2

I had determined that Stewy, the Vicious Rat, was biting people because he was traumatized and fearful. Here's how I handled it:

LEVEL 1: The first week, commit to three 20-minute Forced Socialization Sessions every day. You can do this: one before work, one when you get home, one just before bed. Buck up: you'll probably only be doing this for a week or two: then you're gonna have a great rat and a lot of points in the cosmic bank.

Wear gloves. Hell, wear double gloves like I did: Gardening gloves under those thick black neoprene-coated gloves!

In the beginning, your mind set during the session is to show the rat:

"I am alpha: strong, good and fair. I am a gentle giant but firm and you can't get away from me and biting won't do any good. Don't struggle: relax and you will find that human handling can also be really, really enjoyable, too."

Remember: the big thing you have going for you is this: Rats like us! They really do! And every time your rat experiences something nice from you, he starts looking forward to other nice things from you. You'll see!

I did the work in my bathroom: if he got away from me or I had to let him down, he couldn't go far. Mix it up, hold him with both hands for awhile. Then scratch him for awhile. Then comb him. Then massage him: please buy, in paperback (cheap!) The Tellington Ttouch by Linda Tellington Jones and learn this method of animal massage. ALL your rats will love this.

NOW IF HE BITES THE GLOVES: Scream "eek" at him as loud and as mad as you can: scream it right in his face. If he struggles while you hold him, say soothingly, "Relaaaaax." And when he does relax, even for a few seconds at a stretch in the beginning, tell him, "Gooood boooy!"

Develop lots of contrast in your vocalizations: "Eek" should be the loudest, angriest squeak you can muster without having the neighbors call the cops. "Cut it out" should be an angry bearish growl. "Good boy" should be soothing -- happily squeaky.

You are beginning to teach the rat to exercise his own self control over his body: to control his biting and his struggling by himself. The end result is not a rat who is slavishly submissive to you, but a rat who self-determines his own good behavior because it is enjoyable to him and because good things come from it.

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