Time to start my own little rat colony

I think I am just going to rock 1 male and 2 females for now as I only have 5 snakes, but i figure I'd get the hang of if before I have more mouths to feed. Anyways, I have just read a bunch of stuff and I read that peoples pet rats can be trained. Can someone enlighten me of what kind of training this is? I know when my gf visits from NY she will be pissed that I am keeping rats, but I am thinking if I can wow her with a "but wait, watch this!".... haha.

Here is the female I am starting with
http://i766.photobucket.com/albums/x...Picture009.jpg

And the male
http://i766.photobucket.com/albums/x...Picture010.jpg

And I am looking for a cool looking female for the second one. I know they are nothing too special but I am keeping my eye out for maybe a brown rex or something for fun? I am interested to hear about this "training" though...

I just youtube'd it and I am so going to train one of my pet rats during my study breaks.

You can train a rat to do tricks... like rolling an empty thread spool, going up and down certain pathways, etc.

Best way to do it is to get a Clicker, little morsels of moist and meaty dog food, and a lot of patience.

Step 1:
Take one rat out. Press the clicker then immediately give the rat a treat. Do this in a minute or so intervals for about 10 minutes. 10 minutes a day for about 3 days.

Step 2:
Get a red-tipped stick. Point the stick at a spot a few inches from the rat. When the rat goes to that spot, immediately press the clicker and give the treat. Do this over and over moving the stick farther and farther from the rat.

Step 3:
You get the idea...

My rats come when I call them, no matter where they are ( better than my dog) and they sit up and beg. They will also climb up to my shoulder and chill there for hours.

Being from New York I know how your GF feels, I didn't want rats either. I just kinda got stuck with them but they are actually good pets and I enjoy them.

I would really recommend doing 1.3 or 1.4 with 5 snakes. Food goes fast. I'm running 4.16 with 13 snakes and 1.3 mice!

Regards,

B

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Simple Man

I would really recommend doing 1.3 or 1.4 with 5 snakes. Food goes fast. I'm running 4.16 with 13 snakes and 1.3 mice!

Regards,

B

---

The only reason I don't want more females yet, is that a couple of my snakes have been a bit picky in the past and so if two go on feeding strike then I don't want a million rats. I guess I could freeze or sell the rest and just separate the male but....eh we will see

Easier to deal with too many than not enough :) I'm in the not enough portion of that and I wish I had more groups! Craiglist and freezing are very viable options for when you have slow time. I'm probably going to hold back another 1.4 soon but I'm expecting to have 20 snakes by the end of the year. Good luck with your group!

Regards,

B

Good grief, its been a week since I decided to breed my own feeders and thanks to this dang forum, now I am trying to find cool looking healthyrats instead if just healthy ones. Thanks alot bp.net, haha.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by PweEzy

Good grief, its been a week since I decided to breed my own feeders and thanks to this dang forum, now I am trying to find cool looking healthyrats instead if just healthy ones. Thanks alot bp.net, haha.

---

do a search for " the rat lady " and you'll find much rat info on training,health etc.

There's this cute little youtube channel a fellow rat owner showed me. It has several great videos on quick little tricks you can teach your rats. Of course, they take patience, a few days or more, and only about 5 minutes of training a day so the rat stays interested. I plan on trying some of these.. if I can ever get my rats to like me. :rolleyes:

http://www.youtube.com/user/oPuPo#p/u/6/FhZvSoAhqg4