By Circe -

I have found out why the MSPCA was told these guys were bitey. It's mostly Yogi, and he's not biting. He's investigating.

Rats use their mouths when they play, just like puppies. When they bite out of fear or anger, it's a very quick strike, very bloody, and you don't get your finger back in a hurry. When they bite during play, they don't chomp very hard -- just hard enough that the other rat feels it and knows he's gettin' got. 

Yogi has been systematically testing my hand to see how hard he can toof me while he plays. I offer him my hand, he looks at me a second, then he slowly and deliberately puts his teeth on my knuckle and bites down a little bit. I go 'eep!' and jerk my hand away, then slowly give it back. And the next time he tries it, he's a little bit more gentle. 

This is totally normal for a rat, but doesn't usually go over well with little kids. They feel teeth and think they've been bitten for real, then start shrieking and crying and make a big loud fuss. The rat teleports back into the farthest corner of the cage and doesn't want to come out again. Enough rounds of this and the kid is forever scared of the rat, and the rats are scared enough of the kid to bite for real. It's not great, and little kids shouldn't be given rats as pets unless the reigning adult has a lot of experience with them.

Eventually Yogi will figure out that Mommy's not really very toothsome at all, and by that point he'll probably be comfortable enough to rassle my hand. He's a very people-oriented rat; he already follows me around the room, and races over to greet me when I come back from the bathroom. I played my video games from the floor next to the cage for a little while, because he wanted to settle down and nap in the corner next to me.

Koda is a little bit warier, but he's coming around, especially since he gets pudding every time I walk over there. They're definitely born and raised as pets -- they're bold enough to come sniff me when the cage is closed, so they know I can't get them through the bars. They know cage bars = home. I'm pretty sure they were getting plain rat chow before, but I'm feeding them the normal mix of stale cereal and random veggies from the fridge, and they are teeny little food vacuums. 

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