Rat Training
October 7, 2009 by RatsRatsRats
Filed under Rat Training
Here’s The Fun Bit!
Once you’ve got a good relationship with your rat why not train him? It will add to his day immensely and it’s fun for you too. Hey, you could even show him off as a bit of a party trick. The more people that love rats the better, right?
Remember when you train your pet, that even though you are spending quality time with him, he will still need a stimulating environment. You’re not there all the time. It is also important to try not to be too demanding and results orientated. Give your rat a break! This is meant to be fun and when it stops being fun your ratty won’t want to do it anymore. It is also important to keep it up. If you neglect a certain trick for a while your ratty may forget it. After all he’s got more important things to think about – like food!
Litter Training
OK, so this isn’t the most impressive party trick, but it will make things a lot easier for you. You will have to spend less time cleaning out the cage and less money on bedding and the rats can live in a cleaner environment. Everybody wins!
The first step is to make a litter tray out of something such as the bottom of a tissue box or a shoe box. You can also buy a corner litter tray (especially for rats) at our store. Put some bedding in it, so it looks a bit inviting and then place it in your rat’s cage. If there is already one area your rat likes to go to the toilet, put it there.
Place your rat into his new litter tray. Move the poops your rats has done into the box, so that your rat can smell it there. This will encourage them to go there again.
When you find that they have pooped outside the litter tray simply move the poops inside the box again.
It may take time, but persevere and they will learn. Rats like to be clean too you know.
Learning Their Name
This is an excellent place to start with your training. It will make your party tricks a lot easier to learn and it is easy to teach.
Every time you say your rats name pick him up and give him a cuddle or even a little treat (his favorite food). After a while you can drum you hand on the floor and call his name and again, when he comes to you give him a little treat. You may have to experiment to find out which is the best food is to train your rat with. I found out just yesterday that my rats will do anything for dried seaweed!
It won’t be long before you can call your rat by name and he will come to you. Continue to reward him with tickles, kisses and of course the occasional treat.
Jumping
Place your rat on your lap and make a little gap between your legs. In one hand hold a delicious treat. Your rat will have to jump the gap to get to the treat. Wave the treat and say “Jump Ratty” (insert your rats name here). When your pet has done it give them the treat and lots of praise. Get them to do it a few times. Soon they will do it even without a treat, but don’t forget plenty of praise.
Clapping
This is a cute one. Hold a delicious treat above your rat’s head (a thin piece of carrot dipped in hommus is ideal). Say “Clap Ratty“ (for example) and he will reach up for the treat, lift it up a little so his hands meet. Each time he “claps” say “Good Ratty” and after say three times give your rat the treat and let them enjoy it, as well as lots of praise from his favorite person (you I hope).
Bad Behavior
If your rat keeps trying to chew the wires or do other naughty rat things, don’t get mad, just spray a little water from the plant mister in his direction and say No. But never be mean to your rat. They can’t help being so inquisitive after all.
Tune in to RatsRatsRats.com soon as we will be covering more tricks and clicker training your rat.
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I have two rats, their names are Stanly and Rudy, stanly is younger then rudy but stanly does not mind if i pick him up but rudy leans away when i try to rub him or pick him up why is that?
I have 2 rats at the moment, Mingles and Pea and whilst Pea will do anything for attention, Mingles prefers to explore on her own. She likes a stroke, but doesn’t like being picked up.
It is often the case that one rat is more outgoing than the other. Sometimes rats with pink eyes are a little wary, since they cannot see as well, so speaking to them helps. Summer my white rat was incredibly outgoing though, so that is not always the case.
Another things I would suggest is to give your rat a health check. Make sure there are no signs of ill health. A sick rat may prefer to be left alone. If you spot any signs of ill health (see our rat health check: http://www.ratsratsrats.com/136/pet-rat-health-checks/) take your rat to the vet immediately.
You can work on your rat’s confidence by spending plenty of time with him. You don’t have to handle him at first. Just spend time sitting down whilst he runs around and let him come to you. Have some tasty treats on your lap to entice him. Eventually he will gain confidence.
Good Luck!
Hello.
I have two lovely rat girls, but there’s one huge problem. They pee everywhere, even outside the cage behind the bars, and you can imagine the smell and the looks of floor with urine pools. I already have a litterbox but they only use it for pooping, so the real problem is with urine.
So how am I going to teach them to use the litterbox when they need to pee? Or do I just have to plant newspapers on the floor to protect it?
Oh dear! That is a difficult situation. Well done for toilet training them for pooping (at least that is a start). My boy rats peed a lot when I first got them, but a couple of months later they stopped peeing excessively (outside of the litter box).
Try similar methods to toilet training them for pooping. Place some of their bedding (which has urine on it) in the litter box and then place the rats in there. Every time they pee on you place them in the litter box. It may just take some more patience and time.
Does anyone else have any tips that could help Aleksi?
I got a tip for her – clean out a lil corner and put cat litter in there then every time u see them go to the loo in there give them treat and if they pee on your floor say no and put them back into there cage XD
this is a great website
Thanks for the tip Courtney. Yes it is a good idea to have an area of the cage where your rats can go to the toilet. Rats actually like to go to the toilet in one place, as they are naturally clean animals. You don’t even have to say no to your rat, if you see them go to the toilet in a bad place, simply move them to the area where they are meant to go to the toilet (the litter tray/poop corner) and place the dropping in there too. Rats are pretty smart, they will soon work out what to do.
when i broght my rats they natraly did it and bonnie my dumbo rat carried the poo out of her bed
My male rat (~10 months-old) suddenly started peeing everywhere. I actually took all his \"bedclothes\" away for a full day to launder them… and so he could see what he could be missing if this keeps up. Quite literally as soon as I put the clean t-shirt into one of his sleeping areas, he dashed in a prepared to urinate on it… and ended up peeing all over me as I picked him up. Needless to say, he got a shower (which he hates) to clean us both off… and may be getting another night without bedclothes.
I just don\’t understand why this started happening all of a sudden. He was so good for the past 6 months. (And certainly should be done with puberty by now, right?)
~scQue814
Hi ScQue814,
Rats (especially males) do like to pee on things to mark their territory, so it is not unusual that your ratty has started doing this. Has his environment changed at all? The reason I ask is because when I first got Wombat and Cloud (2 little rescued rats) they peed on everything! After a while they stopped. It seemed to be a response to the changes.
I have heard reports that male rats mark less when they are desexed, but you would have to make sure he was 100% healthy before the op, or it could be too risky.
If he keeps marking, you could just adjust his bedding. Instead of using rags you could use shredded paper, so it is easier to clean up after him, but will still keep him warm and comfy. You should also make sure you wear old clothes when handling him.
Rats go through puberty at around 6-8 months, so it is possible he is just going through late puberty and will grow out of this behavior.
Good Luck!
I am trying to get Ella and Lulu to learn their names. Ella is already getting great, and I’ve only been working with her for a few days! Lulu an the other hand, is just sniffing around. Is it because I’ve had Lulu for only a few days and she just wants to explore?
Hi Rat Girl,
I think you have got it spot on there. Lulu is still getting used to her new surroundings and to you and Ella. She has so much to explore! Give her some more time and she will probably take more interest.
Another thing you can do is to try and work out what Lulu’s favourite treat is. Pea loves Weetbix so much she will do anything for it.
You should also remember that some rats will always prefer exploring to training, but that is ok too. After all it is a lot of fun watching your rat to see what mischief they get into.
Good Luck!
everytime i pick up my rat shadow he poops on me is this just him being new and getting used to eveything or is it something that can be fixed
Hi Taia,
This is normal for new ratties. My boys kept pooping on me when I first got them, but once they were used to me they stopped doing it
hello my name is matthew i am 13 and i just got a rat my ? is can you nuter (or how ever you spell it) a rat ?
Hi Matthew,
Thank you for your comment. Yes rats can be neutered. It is important to use a vet that is knowledgable and compassionate to rats. If your rats are aggressive and you have tried other methods or if you may be keeping females with males you may consider desexing.
Ok well thank you for the answer byebye hope to talk again