Making an armoured rat glove

I had to develop the armoured rat glove because I was unable to handle Kali when I first got her. Handling is a very important part of socialising Pouched Rats and although Kali was only six weeks old when I got her she had never been handled and was able to inflict quite serious bites. The glove was very useful in getting Kali used to being picked up and she soon learnt that biting the glove was pointless. I still use it to get her out of her cage as its only once I'm holding her that she calms down.

The glove is a gauntlet reinforced with fine wire mesh. It has an inner framework of articulated wire mesh and extra wire mesh sewn into the fabric of the glove. The trick is to make the glove strong enough to resist a Giant Pouched Rat's bite and also flexible enough so you can still feel enough through it to properly handle the rat.

Materials and tools

To make an armoured rat glove you need:

• Thick suede gardening gauntlets
• A large metal kitchen sieve
• Masking tape
• Needle and strong thread
• Metal shears (or a pair of strong scissors)

Constructing the inner framework

The framework is made of sections cut from the sieve and then bent and shaped directly round the fingers. Once the desired shapes are achieved the mesh sections can be held in place with masking tape. Its important to articulate the sections which go over the finger joints or to make individual sections which allow the finger joints to move. You meed to be able to move your hand once the armour is on! Also don't make the sections too tight - you need to be able to take them off again too.

The framework I made only protected the index finger, thumb and the back of the hand as these were the areas that Kali could bite when I was holding her. Before putting the finished sections onto the fingers stick masking tape directly onto the skin where the section will go. This helps prevent the sharp edges of the mesh digging into the skin. The mesh sections themselves are held in place on the hand with more masking tape.

Reinforcing the glove

The areas which Kali bit most were the ends of the thumb and forefinger so, in addition to the inner framework I placed more mesh onto the outside of the gloves in these vulnerable locations and then covered them with bits of suede cut from second glove which were securely sewed in place completely covering the mesh.

Safety

To start with Kali really bit into the glove so it was very important that there were no sharp edges of mesh which she could injure herself on. Dispite my precautions Kali did manage to cut her mouth a few times and the glove had to be periodically patched and repaired.