Boris won't talk to me

[Blackmail]

so my little pet rat Boris and I have become really close over the last few weeks (he's still a baby rat). Well yesterday I was holding him and something freaked him out, I don't know what it was, but he leaped out of my hands and ran into his cage. He won't go near me now. I did not hurt him or do anything bad to him. But he doesn't seem to want anything to do with me now.

So what should I do to get Boris back in my life? Should I seek a couples counciler/animal psychiatrist? I've tried apologizing but he just won't listen.

In the meantime please enjoy this photo of a pet rat that I found online:

[Ginevra]

Rats remember more than people give them credit for. I had a pet rat in California who was friends with the neighbor's dog. The dog would come up to his table, he would come out of his cage and they would greet. I swear the rat mourned when the dog quit coming over (she'd passed away).

I would say give him a day or two of solitude and then try again to see if that doesn't help. If he's a regular black hooded rat, he should come out of his funk pretty soon. (In my experience, anything other than the black hoodeds tend to be very very skitzy.) If he doesn't cheer up, you could always try to lure him out with favourite treats and such. Peanut butter, in moderation, usually does wonders as well as actual cooked meat unless you don't want him having people food.

If the tempting works and he starts to come out, just be understanding and gentle with him, petting him and such without trying to pick him up and then just gradually work from there. In the meantime, try to think about what was going on at the time he got frightened to begin with. Loud noise? Had you cleaned something and had bad smell on your hands? Could be a myriad of things that might've upset him.

Good luck and let us know how it goes!

[Blackmail]

thanks! I did try the treat thing and he ate it out of my hand but he did so very slowly and cautiously, which is unlike him.

I think what frightened him was that a cat walked by at the time I was holding him and he seemed freaked out by it, which even that is weird because the other rats go right up to the cats with no problems (except one but that is because he had a fight with one of the cats).

The other rats have been affectionate towards me as usual.

By the way Ginevra, do you have any pics of your rats?

p.s. Boris is a blue rat

[Ginevra]

Unfortunately, no, I don't have any of the little critters any longer. All my rats were black hooded except for one . . .she had a grey hood, pink eyes and a 1 inch tail, almost as if it had been broken off. Turns out she'd been bred for lab work but because she wasn't fully albino OR normal, they couldn't use her. But her inbred genetics made her just nutty.

It may have easily been the cat. If animals are raised together, typically, I've found that they can find common ground to be on. It still seems like just leaving him to his own devices for a couple of days might be helpful. Ensure your presence is seen but not enforced so to speak. If he's still fairly young, he should come around before long. Especially if you have treats for the others and are encouraging him to come to you with the group.

[honeymustard02]

This is something that happened with our dog, so bear with me, it does have a point.

We used to give our dog Jen, treats in the kitchen. She would sit by to stove and beg like crazy. Well one day I was having her sit for her treat. Well when she went to sit she jumped, yelped, and ran away. She would NOT take a treat anymore if she was in the kitchen. We didn't know why. Come to find out, we think she pinched her paw in the floor. The tiles are peeling up. She seemed to think we had something to do with it.

My point being is maybe something happened to him that you didn't realize. Maybe his little toes got caught?? Or like you said the cat scared him.

Tempt him with treats and talk to him. He'll come around.

[Reaper]

If you feed them, they will come.