Dicey, Aggressive Rat No More
VIDEO AT THE BOTTOM – Watch this amazing little girl stop herself from drawing blood (after having drawn blood on me many times).
Dicey was one of two, almost-year-old, aggressive rats that I adopted in Sept. 2012. (Pemy is the other.) They came from North Star Rescue, where they had a forever-home because they were considered unadoptable. They had been born at the rescue to a mother who had been removed from a hoarding situation. While they were cared for at the rescue, they became aggressive as they matured. The suspicion was that their aggression had a genetic basis.
After working with her with positive reinforcement, desensitization, and counter-conditioning, she has over the last month switched to a sweetie rat.
This gallery contains photos and videos to demonstrate her sweet behavior.
One story is that she visited the vet two days ago. The bad news is that she has a mass in her abdomen that might be an ovarian cyst, that has to come out. The fantastic news is that she was wonderful for my vet. Tolerated the exam with lots of pokes and massages, and even had no problem having her mouth opened for a teeth exam. When I got the girls, she was the first rat to launch like a snake out from a hidey spot to bite me. Drew blood. Over time when she expressed interest in climbing from the cage door to my shoulder, I let her, but once she turned and chomped wide and deep into my chin. Her upper and lower teeth bite marks were about 1-inch apart.
The notes I took on the events that signaled Dicey's switch to friendly:
12/18/12:
While the girls where playing in a holding cage, I brought them carrot pieces to nibble on. I can hand these out with bare hands because they are big pieces.. I handed Pemy her piece. She took it and retreated, but then Dicey's slipped and fell from my fingers to the floor. Dicey was perched on the wire rim, leaning eagerly forward, and - no carrot! - No Carrot???
Torn between needing her to not jump out of the cage onto the table and needing to retrieve her carrot from the floor, I vacillated about what to do - and THEN - I leaned the back of my bare hand against her to block her from coming more forward, and and she GRABBED my fingers, hugging them to her in her arms. I froze in place because she had such a tight grip - but - She sniffed me OH so GENTLY - for a long long time. I watched in astonishment, let her finish, and then gently took hold of her and set her a little further into the cage.
Then I ZOOMED down to the floor and back up with her carrot which she gently accepted.
12/22/12:
What's amazing is that Dicey pushes at the door when I arrive, wanting to interact with me. We have a routine now where she climbs up my chest to my shoulder and we walk around the apartment and sniff things (well she sniffs). I can undo one gloved hand and stroke her, which I do lots of. She has sniffed me up close all over my face, hands, arms, and hasn't bitten.
Pemy until recently has watched from afar (looking jealous, I swear). In the last few days, she has sometimes been the first rat to greet me at the door, pushing at me like Dicey. In fact I confused her for Dicey the first time as it was beyond me that Pemy would do this. And, best of all, Pemy has also climbed up my chest to my shoulder, and taken her first ride.
Both girls will climb onto my gloved hands and sniff them. The first time Pemy leaped to my shoulder, she shoved her way past Dicey to do so, and Dicey squeaked, "Hey, MY human. Only ME allowed here!"
Dicey actually gets so enthusiastic about the cage door and climbing on me that sometimes I have to gently push her back inside. When she gets clever about resisting, I am now able to gently pick her up around her barrel and set her inside without her reacting. The first couple of times she squeaked but recovered and I think realized soon that nothing bad would happen if I set her a bit inside.
They now also both take small bits of food from my bare hands/fingers, without trying to reach past the food to bite me. Pemy especially always made a concerted effort to lunge past the food to viciously bite my hand, but now she gently takes the food and retreats.
One negative recent experience is that I handed the girls an HT piece, and they went off to eat, and I reached inside with gloved hands to clean up some of the flooring, and when I did this Dicey came from nowhere and chomped many quick chomps on the back of the glove. I didn't react, she chomped several times, then stopped and sniffed my hand, and made her way up to my bare forearm. She sniffed but did not bite. She really didn't bite hard - the glove has fabric on the back and she didn't even puncture it.
12/31/12:
When I got home after a holiday trip, the first thing I did was set up my big rat "room" again - earlier version of it here, current one is minus the big boxes because I don't want the girls hiding in them: http://www.joinrats.com/Friends/Gwen/BoyRatRoom/17180589_PmnXxn
The girls were in shock at their freedom. They get 30-minutes a day in it, with me. Me, I'm minus shoes and socks, and when sitting down with them, minus gloves. They race around, increasingly faster. Dicey is a pretty good feather hunter. I'm not sure but it seems like they don't know how to let loose into a big run. I hope they get there.
They've have 4 'sessions' in it, total and now get upset if I don't show up each night for their play time.
Last night in the rat room, I offered simple oat flakes with my bare fingers, to both rats, and they both accepted them very politely. Pemy more hesitant, as usual.
Dicey held on to my fingers and nuzzled them, looking for more oats. And boy did she get them as positive reinforcement for her good behavior.
This morning at the cage door when I offered each rat her small HT pellet (a treat in addition to their RR), Dicey was especially grabby at me, and for some reason I trusted her body language, so I let her take hold of my bare fingers and then entire hand. She promptly dragged me/them deeper into the cage, nuzzling intensely. Then she did what I call teething me, the equivalent of fingering, using her teeth to feel me. All over, gentle teeth touches as she inspected me. The most gentle rat you could imagine. This signaled to me that Dicey had turned a deep corner and come out the other side.
1/6/13:
Every day now, Dicey gets to "own" my bare hand and fingers - she continues to "finger" - "teeth me" constantly and all over every finger, nook and cranny of my hand, and drag me around inside the cage. I surrender to her. She is friendly and inquisitive, and often pushes at the cage door for me to come visit. There have been a couple of times when I needed to pick her up. I conscientiously scooped her in a slow and controlled fashion, and while she resisted, I was able to do it. She uttered a sharp objection squeak, but tolerated me, and took an oat treat in my arms.
She will settle in my arms and likes to stay there at times. She gets another treat when I gently set her back into the cage. We continue the shoulder rides but right now the focus is on intimate bare-skin contact with her, and rewarding her for her continued good behavior with her teeth-inspections.
Read MoreDicey was one of two, almost-year-old, aggressive rats that I adopted in Sept. 2012. (Pemy is the other.) They came from North Star Rescue, where they had a forever-home because they were considered unadoptable. They had been born at the rescue to a mother who had been removed from a hoarding situation. While they were cared for at the rescue, they became aggressive as they matured. The suspicion was that their aggression had a genetic basis.
After working with her with positive reinforcement, desensitization, and counter-conditioning, she has over the last month switched to a sweetie rat.
This gallery contains photos and videos to demonstrate her sweet behavior.
One story is that she visited the vet two days ago. The bad news is that she has a mass in her abdomen that might be an ovarian cyst, that has to come out. The fantastic news is that she was wonderful for my vet. Tolerated the exam with lots of pokes and massages, and even had no problem having her mouth opened for a teeth exam. When I got the girls, she was the first rat to launch like a snake out from a hidey spot to bite me. Drew blood. Over time when she expressed interest in climbing from the cage door to my shoulder, I let her, but once she turned and chomped wide and deep into my chin. Her upper and lower teeth bite marks were about 1-inch apart.
The notes I took on the events that signaled Dicey's switch to friendly:
12/18/12:
While the girls where playing in a holding cage, I brought them carrot pieces to nibble on. I can hand these out with bare hands because they are big pieces.. I handed Pemy her piece. She took it and retreated, but then Dicey's slipped and fell from my fingers to the floor. Dicey was perched on the wire rim, leaning eagerly forward, and - no carrot! - No Carrot???
Torn between needing her to not jump out of the cage onto the table and needing to retrieve her carrot from the floor, I vacillated about what to do - and THEN - I leaned the back of my bare hand against her to block her from coming more forward, and and she GRABBED my fingers, hugging them to her in her arms. I froze in place because she had such a tight grip - but - She sniffed me OH so GENTLY - for a long long time. I watched in astonishment, let her finish, and then gently took hold of her and set her a little further into the cage.
Then I ZOOMED down to the floor and back up with her carrot which she gently accepted.
12/22/12:
What's amazing is that Dicey pushes at the door when I arrive, wanting to interact with me. We have a routine now where she climbs up my chest to my shoulder and we walk around the apartment and sniff things (well she sniffs). I can undo one gloved hand and stroke her, which I do lots of. She has sniffed me up close all over my face, hands, arms, and hasn't bitten.
Pemy until recently has watched from afar (looking jealous, I swear). In the last few days, she has sometimes been the first rat to greet me at the door, pushing at me like Dicey. In fact I confused her for Dicey the first time as it was beyond me that Pemy would do this. And, best of all, Pemy has also climbed up my chest to my shoulder, and taken her first ride.
Both girls will climb onto my gloved hands and sniff them. The first time Pemy leaped to my shoulder, she shoved her way past Dicey to do so, and Dicey squeaked, "Hey, MY human. Only ME allowed here!"
Dicey actually gets so enthusiastic about the cage door and climbing on me that sometimes I have to gently push her back inside. When she gets clever about resisting, I am now able to gently pick her up around her barrel and set her inside without her reacting. The first couple of times she squeaked but recovered and I think realized soon that nothing bad would happen if I set her a bit inside.
They now also both take small bits of food from my bare hands/fingers, without trying to reach past the food to bite me. Pemy especially always made a concerted effort to lunge past the food to viciously bite my hand, but now she gently takes the food and retreats.
One negative recent experience is that I handed the girls an HT piece, and they went off to eat, and I reached inside with gloved hands to clean up some of the flooring, and when I did this Dicey came from nowhere and chomped many quick chomps on the back of the glove. I didn't react, she chomped several times, then stopped and sniffed my hand, and made her way up to my bare forearm. She sniffed but did not bite. She really didn't bite hard - the glove has fabric on the back and she didn't even puncture it.
12/31/12:
When I got home after a holiday trip, the first thing I did was set up my big rat "room" again - earlier version of it here, current one is minus the big boxes because I don't want the girls hiding in them: http://www.joinrats.com/Friends/Gwen/BoyRatRoom/17180589_PmnXxn
The girls were in shock at their freedom. They get 30-minutes a day in it, with me. Me, I'm minus shoes and socks, and when sitting down with them, minus gloves. They race around, increasingly faster. Dicey is a pretty good feather hunter. I'm not sure but it seems like they don't know how to let loose into a big run. I hope they get there.
They've have 4 'sessions' in it, total and now get upset if I don't show up each night for their play time.
Last night in the rat room, I offered simple oat flakes with my bare fingers, to both rats, and they both accepted them very politely. Pemy more hesitant, as usual.
Dicey held on to my fingers and nuzzled them, looking for more oats. And boy did she get them as positive reinforcement for her good behavior.
This morning at the cage door when I offered each rat her small HT pellet (a treat in addition to their RR), Dicey was especially grabby at me, and for some reason I trusted her body language, so I let her take hold of my bare fingers and then entire hand. She promptly dragged me/them deeper into the cage, nuzzling intensely. Then she did what I call teething me, the equivalent of fingering, using her teeth to feel me. All over, gentle teeth touches as she inspected me. The most gentle rat you could imagine. This signaled to me that Dicey had turned a deep corner and come out the other side.
1/6/13:
Every day now, Dicey gets to "own" my bare hand and fingers - she continues to "finger" - "teeth me" constantly and all over every finger, nook and cranny of my hand, and drag me around inside the cage. I surrender to her. She is friendly and inquisitive, and often pushes at the cage door for me to come visit. There have been a couple of times when I needed to pick her up. I conscientiously scooped her in a slow and controlled fashion, and while she resisted, I was able to do it. She uttered a sharp objection squeak, but tolerated me, and took an oat treat in my arms.
She will settle in my arms and likes to stay there at times. She gets another treat when I gently set her back into the cage. We continue the shoulder rides but right now the focus is on intimate bare-skin contact with her, and rewarding her for her continued good behavior with her teeth-inspections.
