How the heck...?

[littleindiangirl]

I have heard an alternative is to place the rodents in a plastic bag and give them I nice thud against a stationary object. Should be a painless, instant kill.

Should, but sometimes doesn't. Then you have an animal in immense suffering pain. Why is it so hard to euthanize an animal humanely???

[Ben Biscy]

You are talking out of your ass if you think this rat is really copping an attitude, it shows your ignorance and one more reason why you probably should not have animals.

i have a solid black female who has quite the tude. she's much more active than her companions, and is the only one to make an escape attempt (waiting peacefully as i come in for the cleaning and POW! up my arm, over the shoulder and blazing across the floor). she's also hidden at food time, hiding on top of the water bottle to spring forward with pinching teeth of death..... ok ok, no teeth but..... still psycho

lol

[littleindiangirl]

Well apparently it's in the eye of the beholder. Your rat in my eyes is not copping an attitude either. She sounds like a flighty nervous animal. Just like the OP's. Why in the world do people have to anthropomorphize?

[Ben Biscy]

Well apparently it's in the eye of the beholder. Your rat in my eyes is not copping an attitude either. She sounds like a flighty nervous animal. Just like the OP's. Why in the world do people have to anthropomorphize?

this is a rat i handle every few days, not a scared flighty animal. nervous? yeah, i'd say so.... afraid? no way; she eats out of my hand.

animals have unique and individual personalities. any species of any type will show this. this particular rat is a "hissy", and has "an attitude problem". doesn't mean i don't love her, it just means she's an individual. my rats have awesome living arangements, and i do interact with them so there is no reason for the animal to be afraid of me (will eat out of my hand, just does not like being picked up until after you have her in your hands).

some of the humans are too godlike in mind frame. we are animals too, no better or worse than the others (unless you take into consideration that humans have done more to destroy the earth than any creature to come before). keep this in mind always, it usually helps explain animal behavior

[littleindiangirl]

Like I said, it depends on what each persons views as to whether it's an attitude or not. A nervous animal to me is going to be flighty (doesn't like to be held). I guess I don't understand how you don't see that simple connection between nervous -> flighty.

Afraid? A nervous animal is under stress when being held, and can be interpreted as afraid. I have several animals that are nervous or flighty, they take treats from my hand too, go figure. They come to the front of the tub, I can handle them once I get them out, but I wouldn't go so far to say that this animal is simply pulling an attitude with me, and is easier in my opinion to explain the behavior by calling it a nervous and flighty.