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natal rats, wild monsters

waldo

waldo

Crazy Tarantula Lady
Its been about a week since I got a 1.2 colony of natal rats. They are third generation born to the breeder I bought them form. I expected them to not be friendly but I never expected them to be so wild.
I can't even feed them without them bouncing around the cage so bad they they almost escape, poor little guys are super scared of everything too. Is this how they all are or will they eventually calm down? The only rodent I've seen this wild is when I managed to catch a house mouse yrs ago and tried to keep him as a pet, he never calmed down.
 
They must know they're food! In the wild, they must be super scared if they are to survive. And I think (corect me if I'm wrong please) that natal rats have not been bred in captivity long, unlike their domesticated cousins. I feel sorry for ANY animal raised for food, but as long as they are humanely treated, it's all good!

The only creature used for food that really breaks my heart are regular domesticated rats. They are so friendly and intelligent that I personally could never use them as food. Not even frozen ones!
 
My first ones were like that. The entire first eight weeks or so seems to be critical for socialisation of these animals. I handle them from being tiny pinkies (I ALWAYS pick them up from the first day they're born, never had a mother eat them, I assume due to the way they group-nest in the wild foreign scents aren't as important as to other rodents), and try to handle them daily from then on, even if it's just picking them up, holding them in my hands for a moment, and putting them back. If you do this, then they become quite tame and stay quite tame as adults, even if they're not handled so much. They'll never be really sweet like domestic mice, but it means they don't jump so much!
 
waldo said:
Its been about a week since I got a 1.2 colony of natal rats. They are third generation born to the breeder I bought them form. I expected them to not be friendly but I never expected them to be so wild.
I can't even feed them without them bouncing around the cage so bad they they almost escape, poor little guys are super scared of everything too. Is this how they all are or will they eventually calm down? The only rodent I've seen this wild is when I managed to catch a house mouse yrs ago and tried to keep him as a pet, he never calmed down.
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I got a 1.2 trio a couple of weeks ago. I don't know how many generations the breeder I'd got them from had produced, but these guys are about as jumpy as your typical petstore mouse.

I'm keeping them in a 10 gal with a section of pvc pipe for a hide, aspen bedding, and some tp tubes for them to chew up. They are getting lab chow (which is what they were fed before I got them) and aren't too much trouble to handle.

I notice that they are mostly active at night and generally hide when the lights are on.

I suspect that yours will calm down as you breed them, especially if you make a practice of holding back the calmest ones for breeding.
 
thanks toyah, I suspect they weren't handled at all as babies. I'll make sure to handle their babies when I'm ready to hold some back and hope it helps calm them down some. I don't really care if they are "tame" as I don't treat my breeders as pets but it will be nice not having to worry about them bouncing out of the cage LOL.
 
Mine are all fairly mean and bite a lot but don't seem scared at all. Be sure to provide a hide for them.

As for the handling thing, well Ive tried it, and it doesn't really work. I have a feeling Toyah has a different experience with them because in Europe and the UK they have been domesticated longer than here in the US. Here they are only bred for feeders and no new blood can be brought in from elsewhere so it's just the same strains bred over and over for feeders.

I have heard of tame ones in the UK, but none here in the US>
 
Flagg said:
Mine are all fairly mean and bite a lot but don't seem scared at all. Be sure to provide a hide for them.

As for the handling thing, well Ive tried it, and it doesn't really work. I have a feeling Toyah has a different experience with them because in Europe and the UK they have been domesticated longer than here in the US. Here they are only bred for feeders and no new blood can be brought in from elsewhere so it's just the same strains bred over and over for feeders.

I have heard of tame ones in the UK, but none here in the US>
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Mine are coming around quickly and I know their breeder just kept them in lab cages and didn't particularly handle them. They are young adults, and the smallest female will now let me stroke her and pick her up. The bigger female and the male are more skittish.

Even with no new blood coming in, rodents have such short generations, that they respond quickly to selection for temperment. I've selection quickly improve temperament in mice, rats, spiny mice, dwarf hamsters, and African pygmy dormice.
 
Well, if you have the patience go for it. You must have also lucked out with the ones you got. It's sort of hard to get them tame when they aggressively chase you down and bite through the skin and don't let go.

Plus, they're feeders, I don't particularly want them to be tame. My pet rats are tame enough and the ASFs will never get that tame, no matter how many generations are selectively bred in my lifetime.
 
mine aren't chase you down and bite mean but will try to bite if picked up. I can reach in and stroke the male sometimes but never the females. When I do pet the male he rattles his tail, I take this as a sign of stress?

I believe the babies can be raised to be tame if I put enough time into it. I've noticed that my regular mice are very aggressive if I don't handle them when young, the pair I have now will attack when I feed them
 
waldo said:
mine aren't chase you down and bite mean but will try to bite if picked up. I can reach in and stroke the male sometimes but never the females. When I do pet the male he rattles his tail, I take this as a sign of stress?
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Tail-rattling in mice is a threat and a warning as it is with snakes. :)
 
Flagg said:
Well, if you have the patience go for it. You must have also lucked out with the ones you got. It's sort of hard to get them tame when they aggressively chase you down and bite through the skin and don't let go.

Plus, they're feeders, I don't particularly want them to be tame. My pet rats are tame enough and the ASFs will never get that tame, no matter how many generations are selectively bred in my lifetime.
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Wow. That's aggressive! Are these females with babies? Do your hands smell like snakes when you are trying to handle them?

When I and some other rat breeders got African pygmy dormice, the F1 and F2s were practically that aggressive, but they calmed right down by F4.
 
The original female I got was the worst, and she was this aggressive before she had any litters, from the day I got her, so she probably wasn't even pregnant yet. The male would bite as well if I got close to him, but he wouldn't chase me down like the female would.

I don't have those particular ASFs any more, but have had others bite just as hard so I don't even bother to attempt to tame them any more.
 
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