h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

does anyone know why my rat is so scared? we got her about two and a half weeks ago, she was the last rat in the shop, we had her one day and decided to get another one for her for a friend for her and to keep her company as she was very shy and scared, so we thought it was best for her to have company for when we were out, so we found a friend also the last one in the shop, this one is a bit older but is totally differant and will come to the cage to greet us and is always coming up to say hello, but the other one is very scared and any time she sees us hides away and tries her best to get away from us when we try to pick her up, we just want her to get used to us and used to geting picked up, sometimes when we have her out she is ok but still finds the smallest darkests place to hide can someone give us some info to what to do to help her not be so scared, also when we try to pick her up she squeezes her self through the cage bars it is a rat cage and is the cage the pet shop recomended as it quite big. thanks for your time and help mr and mrs higgins

Aw, poor thing.

I don't know much about rats, but my kittens were the same when I got them (they were wild). I just dedicated an hour or so a day to having them on my lap and patting them until they learnt to trust me. It took about a month for one of them. I'd keep doing what you're doing for your rat until she's used to you. She may always be shy, but as long as you show her that you'll never hurt her, she should come to trust you.