ANOTHER rat question Several tonight, huh

This is my third one tonight. Today I went to different pet store, twice!! This store cared for and loved the rats. Any way, I slowly put my hand in with the rats and two of them (one full grown tan and white, one black and white, not as old) and they sat up on thier hind legs and smelled all the way up to the top of were my arm came into the cage. I know that these are good signs of handling and personality, but they would put there mouths around me. Kind of like a bite. They would start to bite down and i would flinch away, and they would flinch, but i would stick my hand in again, and they would do it again! Is that okay in finding a good rat, and will a rat stop that once I take it home?

They are curious in you and that is the first sign of acceptance. Whether or not you had food on your hands they are still accepting you. I frightened rat, or one that is afraid of a person's hand because it was harrassed, or not handled enough, would not even approach you for food if that's what it thought you had. I would be very concerned if they were racing around the cage in a panic to get away from you.

Rats are oral creatures and what they are doing is exploring your hand, and grooming you. This is acceptance behavior. The problem is, they haven't been handled a lot by the store employees and therefore they have not learned to nibble softly.

You can teach your rats to groom you more gently by letting out a shriek, an "eek!", when they put their mouth on your finger. This is rat-speak for, "Ouch, you are biting too hard". Rats have very sharp teeth and by flinching away you can still get an unintentionally cut.