How to Get Your Pet Rat to Stop Hiding

Rats are highly intelligent, social animals that tend to bond strongly to their owners. However, they are also skittish and fearful in the face of new stimuli. Rats enjoy building nests and frequently use them as safe hiding places when they feel threatened by their environment. While this behavior is normal, it can interfere with your ability to have a satisfactory relationship with your rat. Employ sensitive and patient care to convince your pet rat to stop hiding.

  1. Cage Setup

    • Rats are sensitive to noise and stress in the surrounding environment, so keep your rat's cage away from other pets, loud televisions and commotion. Provide your rat with enough bedding to burrow.

    Adjustment Period

    • Many rats need a brief period to adjust to their surroundings before they feel comfortable being handled. Leave your rat alone when you first bring it home and only put your hands in its cage to provide it with food and water. Avoid moving the cage or attempting to handle your rat. This gives your pet a chance to adjust and decreases the likelihood that it will continue hiding and feeling frightened after it settles into its new home.

    Food Rewards

    • Treats teach your rat to associate you with food, which encourages your rat to come out of hiding whenever you are around. Hand-feed your rat a variety of treats. In the first week of hand-feeding, avoid trying to hold your rat. As your rat adjusts to your hand's presence in the cage, begin setting food on your hand and encourage the rat to climb into your hand. When your rat has been climbing into your hand for a week, begin taking it out of the cage and feeding it while it sits in your lap or on your hands. Give your rat four or five treats in a single session, but don't exceed 10 treats each day.

    Cage-Mate Problems

    • Some rats living in groups develop a dominance hierarchy. Lower-ranking rats spend most of their time hiding from and avoiding other rats. While this is normal, it is unlikely to stop unless you separate your rats into different cages. Even without separation, low-ranking rats usually climb readily into your hand after they've grown accustomed to you, though they are likely to continue spending their time hiding from cage mates as long as they are housed in the same cages.