If you have a rat that bites, hisses, or runs away from you when you try to pet him, you have an aggressive rat. Even if you have a rat that isn’t aggressive with you but is aggressive with his cage mates, you’ll want to put a stop to this before the other rats get mad and hurt him.
Reasons For Aggressiveness
There are any number of reasons why your rat may be aggressive. If you adopted him from a pet store or another person it could be he wasn’t handled properly and is scared or he wasn’t handled enough and was never socialized.
If he is only aggressive with his cage mates he could be stressed, in pain, trying to show he is the dominant rat or his hormones could be causing his temper. Most rats go through a teenage stage between the ages of 6 months to a year old. At this time their hormone’s can cause them to become more aggressive but most times the aggressiveness will stop or at the very least calm down as they get older. If he seems to be in pain take him to a vet and have him checked out.
Bonding
Bonding with your rat is the easiest way to stop aggression. If he is scared or has been hurt by another human before you adopted him he may be more aggressive towards humans until he learns you aren’t going to hurt him. The easiest way to make friends with your little furry friend is by giving him treats.
I adopted a rat who was scared of everything but with a little patience he calmed down and now lets me pick him up and pet him. Start off with something most rats love, dry cereal. Try to hand feed him and see if he will take the treat from your fingers; if not lay it down and remove your hand while softly talking to him. He will usually come and take the treat and run away with it. Keep doing this daily until he takes the treat from your fingers, soon he will realize that your hands mean treats and are not to be feared.
Next try holding the treat in your fingers and making him take bites off it instead of letting him take it and run. After a few days of this you may be able to take your other hand and softly pet him as he eats the treat you are holding.
If your rat doesn’t like to be picked up and tries to bite you when you do, bring the cage close to the couch or bed, open it up and let your rat climb out on his own. Rats are very curious creatures and curiosity will get the better of him after a while. He may only come out a few steps the first few times but keep trying until he comes out and walks around on his own. Have a treat ready when he does venture out to give to him. I did this with the scared rat I have and he has no problem coming out running around on the couch as long as his cage was right there and he could run back home, it made him feel more secure that he was able to run home when he wanted to.
Patience
When dealing with aggression or any other behavior you want to change, you have to have a great deal of patience and understanding. Changing any behavior is not going to happen over night, in fact the behavior may never completely go away. The scared rat I have still is less friendly than the other three I have and still freaks out when someone tries to pick him up but he will come out and play and let us pet him as long as he comes and goes on his own. If your rat is biting because he is afraid, your job is to show him there’s nothing to fear from you, to build a relationship of trust and that will take time.
Building The Trust
Easy ways of building the trust between you and your rat are by giving treats and showing him love. Sit by the open cage door and let him come to you. Talk to him when he comes to sniff you. Put the cage close to the couch or bed so that he can come and go as he wants while you watch tv or read and when he climbs on you, give him a treat or softly pet him. He will eventually get used to you.
Sources:
http://www.theratsplace.com/pick-up-aggressive-rat/