How to Pet Your Rat

Most pet parents know their rats love getting petted and some rats will happily relax in your lap for long periods of time while you pet, scratch, rub, kiss and cuddle them all over. Some rats will even tell you how much they enjoy what you are doing by turning around and kissing (licking) you or by relaxing under your hands and boggling and bruxing.

What is Eye Boggling?
Eye boggling is when you see your rats eyes look like they are going to pop right out of their sockets. If your rat is doing this, you can be assured it is normal and he is telling you how happy he is.

What Is Bruxing?
Bruxing refers to the chattering or grinding of their teeth. A lot of time you may see your happy rats bruxing and eye boggling at the same time. You can be assured if your rat is doing this, he is happy.

There are several different ways to pet your rat and while they might not let you pet them in all of these ways they will let you know when you pet them in a way they like, by sitting still so you can do it more. First thing you should do is let your rat get used to your hands by hand feeding him while he is still in his cage. Most rats are very curious and will want to come out and play right away, but for the shy rat it may take some time to coax him out and you can do this by hand feeding treats to him and letting him get used to you.

Petting
Most rats love to be petted, just curl your whole hand softly around their head and in a smooth motion, slide your hand all the way back to their tail. Some rats even like to have this done in a backwards stroke from the butt to the back of the head.

Massaging
Rats love to be massaged lightly right behind the ears, along the sides of their face and on their butts before you reach the tail.

Scratching
I have 4 male rats right now and they all love a good scratching. Scratch your rat's butt, along their spine down their back, the sides of their face along their cheeks, behind their ears, along their sides and if you are lucky their will let you scratch their bellies.

Using your fingernails, softly but firmly scratch their back from the top of the tail up to the back of their head. If they like it they will let you know by sitting still and you can scratch some more.

Kisses
Rats loves getting soft kisses from their humans, especially on the tops of their heads and on their backs. Sometimes if you are petting them while cuddling and kissing their heads, they will reciprocate by licking your fingers or whatever area of skin they can get at.

No matter how you pet your rat, just remember that each rat has a different personality and what one rat likes another may not. You have to differ the way you interact with them based on what they like.

Sources:
http://www.dailypuppy.com/articles/how-to-pet-a-rat/21d3568a-c245-743e-0aa4-76a34bfac1db