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rat bite preventing me from drawing :C
15 years ago
For those of you that don't follow my twitter...
I vowed today I would finally get to work on my overdue art. I really felt like I could get some drawing done. But sis was not home and works long shifts, and we have an agreement that I play with her rats while she's at work to keep them friendly.
One of sis's rats is VERY antisocial...Watson, half of a pair of actually bonded adult males...he became extremely unfriendly when the other died, and he started biting...now has to be kept in his own cage (sad...) One of the new rats (very young, banded hooded female with one eye, named Lily) is very friendly toward me and I want to bond with her a bit.
So, I went in to check on the rats. The cages are stacked, with the two females in their own cage on top of Watson's. I was seeing if Lily wanted to come to the door and be held, and didn't notice my hand was resting pressed against the side of Watson's cage. He reached his mouth between the bars and bit the first finger on my right hand. HARD.
He would not let go of my finger, and I had to literally tear my hand away from him and leave some skin behind in the process, just to get him off. To say my finger then bled is a huge understatement. It was GUSHING EVERYWHERE. I had to run to the bathroom as quickly as possible to not bleed all over the floor, and I swear the amount of blood that went down the drain as I was washing it off probably could have almost filled a glass. I panicked, thinking I was going to bleed out to death from a rat bite, especially because I'm very anaemic, but then remembered to put pressure on it, stopped the worst of the bleeding with tissue.
As of now, mum's come home and dressed it properly for me now, so typing is almost not painful at all (but still clumsy, takes awhile...) Unfortunately...it's the first finger on my right hand, and it's crucial in my ability to hold my tablet pen. I'm very upset because this means even more of a setback to my work.
I hope it heals quickly. :{
I vowed today I would finally get to work on my overdue art. I really felt like I could get some drawing done. But sis was not home and works long shifts, and we have an agreement that I play with her rats while she's at work to keep them friendly.
One of sis's rats is VERY antisocial...Watson, half of a pair of actually bonded adult males...he became extremely unfriendly when the other died, and he started biting...now has to be kept in his own cage (sad...) One of the new rats (very young, banded hooded female with one eye, named Lily) is very friendly toward me and I want to bond with her a bit.
So, I went in to check on the rats. The cages are stacked, with the two females in their own cage on top of Watson's. I was seeing if Lily wanted to come to the door and be held, and didn't notice my hand was resting pressed against the side of Watson's cage. He reached his mouth between the bars and bit the first finger on my right hand. HARD.
He would not let go of my finger, and I had to literally tear my hand away from him and leave some skin behind in the process, just to get him off. To say my finger then bled is a huge understatement. It was GUSHING EVERYWHERE. I had to run to the bathroom as quickly as possible to not bleed all over the floor, and I swear the amount of blood that went down the drain as I was washing it off probably could have almost filled a glass. I panicked, thinking I was going to bleed out to death from a rat bite, especially because I'm very anaemic, but then remembered to put pressure on it, stopped the worst of the bleeding with tissue.
As of now, mum's come home and dressed it properly for me now, so typing is almost not painful at all (but still clumsy, takes awhile...) Unfortunately...it's the first finger on my right hand, and it's crucial in my ability to hold my tablet pen. I'm very upset because this means even more of a setback to my work.
I hope it heals quickly. :{
But it'll heal sooner or later.
mum freaked out at me over the phone when she called to check up on me and heard about it (I was also dogsitting for her too today) and she kept asking me if I needed stitches... made me worry it'd take like, a week or two to heal...
3-4 days is much better. x.x
This makes it more important that I help the new girls be social with people and never get mean and bite. :C I think Watson never got enough human contact, so he went mean when his one friend died... that's why asked sis if she wanted me to play with the girls.
And yes, it is always good to keep them socialized, by playing with them often.
Couple things you can do to help socialize him with the others:
Take a washcloth and rub it over his body really well, especially on his flank behind the armpits as there are scent glands there and around his genitals as there are scent glands there. Take the same washcloth and rub it on the others one at a time in the same manner and go back and forth a few times. The goal is to get everyone smelling similarly.
Put a droplet of vanilla extract on the nape of everyone's neck and genitals and gently rub it in. If you don't have vanilla, you can use peppermint or another similarly strong extract, but don't put peppermint on their genitals. This also helps everyone to smell the same.
Then take them to a scent-neutral area (bathtubs are good as they're washed frequently) and introduce him last so he is the one intruding on everyone else. This will put him in a socially vulnerable position and should reduce aggression.
Watch them closely and if there are any signs of aggression from either side, carefully remove the aggressor. You may want oven mitts to avoid further bites.
Do this for about 15 minutes at a time a few times a week (daily if possible) until they begin to groom each-other and otherwise show signs of bonding. The key here is patience as it takes a long time to bond in some cases.
Another thing you can do is put the cages side-by-side instead of on top of one-another, leaving about an inch to prevent them from biting each-other. This will allow them to see and smell one-another and gradually acclimate them to each-others' presence.
Now if he bites you when you attempt to handle him, that's a whole different ballpark. XD
I'm really afraid to put him in with the young rats (he's a HUGE adult, and the sweet one Lily is half blind :<), but I'd be worlds happier if at least he would let me and/or sis hold him, so he had some contact. <3 The cage arrangement so he could at least see the others if not be with them might help him feel less alone too, I hope.
And thanks for good wishes, I hopin I'll be back to drawin soon! :3
Hope you recuperate quickly, sweety, I'll be rootin' for ya.
(I know one female rat who have torn tail so...)
I hope Watson will be friendlier rat once. :/
Just take care of yourself. That's what matters right now. ^^;
And I have a huge 'vermin-bite' phobia that I'm JUST NOW getting over.........
Thank god the only 'bites' our two girls dole out are "CAN I EAT THIS?! -light nom- NOPE" nibbles.
-waivy fingers and squinting eyes with light grunts- Heeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaallllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll
Well he's a VERY antisocial rat, and aggressive...they don't normally do what he did! @_@
And...it's getting better! It's been healing with suture on and doesn't really hurt right now if I leave it alone. No infections or anything!