Tips on How to Pet Your Rats Some rats are more likely to enjoy being petted and stroked than others. As a general rule, males are more likely to enjoy a good petting than females, and older rats will enjoy it more over younger rats. So keep this in mind, and don't be disappointed if your youngster or female won't hold still for you. It just means they are too energetic to enjoy the pleasures of petting yet. Still, try and pet them as often as you can, even if they only allow you to do it for brief moments. The more you pet them, the more they will learn to enjoy it. If they are not much of a snuggler yet, they will probably be a wonderful rat to play games with! I recommend many in the "Reviews" section of this site. A fun pet/wrestling technique we use to get our rats all riled up is to grab their head and give it a couple gentle shakes side to side. This gets our rats very excited and they will usually start bouncing around after this ready for a good wrestle. The following pictures depict some of the many ways we love to pet our rats... Even the most skittish of rats will usually let you stroke their tail. (Only stroke from the base to the tip.) Our rats, instead of a hand shake, love a tail shake. All we do is grab their tail and gently shake it back and forth to say hello. Many rats loovvvveeee to have their cheeks stroked. Massaging their hind quarters. A good shoulder rub is every rats' favorite. The classic head scratch is loved by most rats. This is a, from the nose, to the tip of the tail, full body stroke. Rats love a good temple rub just like people. Many rats love to have behind their ears scratched. Some rats enjoy a good tummy message. Baku lays on her side for an all over massage. This is a good way to pet wiggly rats that don't like to be petted. The one hand is supporting her butt, while the other hand is massaging her shoulders.