Biting

Alright, so help us solve a minor argument here. My husband feels, and apparently so do some other people from other forums, that biting should never be tolerated.

Here's the thing, we have an albino mom, with her first litter, that turned into a biter once she had her litter. Its not impossible to get in and out of her cage, but you do have to be careful.

I kinda figured she just had the right to be that way while she was nursing (ok, so maybe its the woman in me). But then again we do have other mommas who aren't at all that way no matter how much you mess with their babies. She's a good momma other than that. What do you guys think?

Lol, funny, both of my albino girls are bitey when with a litter, although they havent gotten me yet ;). I pretty much don't mind if they try to tag me when I'm messing with their litter. It's their job to protect the offspring, and some of my sweetest girls give me the stink eye if I go messing around their pups.

Now, if she was aggressive and biting for no good reason like a litter, I would have to pull her from the colony.

It's normal while she is nursing, she is just wanting to protect her litter. Being a PEW doesn't help either as their vision is even more reduced than a normal rat. Normal rats can see about 4-6" in front of their face and it's not very focused. Pink eyed rats see even less, so it's understandable that they can be easily startled and may bite or "taste" first before calming down.

I don't tolerate biting AFTER they've weaned their litter. If it continues while they are resting and don't have babies around, then they are retired. I don't tolerate biting or nipping any other times.

When it comes to biting it really depends on the circumstances.

To protect their litters, it is ok and I will tolerate it.

Now if they don’t have litters and do bite when I do regular maintenance or check on them, I have a zero tolerance policy (whether it is with mice or rats), same thing with individual that are overly aggressive toward one another.

Note: I rarely have issues and when I had it has often be with either Albinos or Pet-store animals.

I do no longer holdback albinos whether it is mice or rats (I just have issue with them for some reasons).

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Skittles46

My husband feels, and apparently so do some other people from other forums, that biting should never be tolerated.

---

We won't pull mothers from babies, but biting can be an indication of aggression, which is an undesirable trait. We tend to feed off anything that displays traits we don't want becoming more common in our feeder population.