Wow... just Wow... I'll will never....

... look at snake food the same way...

Check This Out

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7g2rxtWu_FM

Saw that on the CA rat group I'm a part of. There's a part 2 as well. I really want ratties that come running from across the room to me. After watching the videos that quote a member said a while ago rang in my mind. Something along the lines of the hardest thing to grasp for him in the hobby is feeding far more intelligent creatures to dumb ones.

Yeah. I kept rats as pets off and on from ten years ago to last summer when my last old guy died. They're seriously smart - almost never biters, sweet and affectionate, learn their names and other things, used a litterbox in their cage. I've honestly had dogs dumber than most of my rats. I love my snakes, but I love the heck out of rats, too. Feeding frozen thawed and handling the little bodies makes me sad. Not sad enough not to feed my snakes, but sad enough that I couldn't own rats and snakes at the same time. Worst thing about it's honestly their short lifespan.

All I can think of while watching this is The Secret of Nimh..

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Marrissa

After watching the videos that quote a member said a while ago rang in my mind. Something along the lines of the hardest thing to grasp for him in the hobby is feeding far more intelligent creatures to dumb ones.

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Might that be the quote in my siggy? :P

Pretty cool. I got sucked into a youtube blackhole and watched a few of their videos last night. Some of the tricks they taught their animals are really good. Didn't know a cat could be trained the way they have theirs.

When I was involved in the rat shows, there were some people who were setting up agility courses to train their rats on. I never got into that, because i was too lazy to train my rats (put too much time into training my horse and dogs, rats are much easier to handle even without that kind of extensive training! lol), but I have had a few "trained" rats that would come when called and used a litter box. That was about the extent of my rat training career. :P

Rats are so rad. Admittedly I have had more fun playing with my rats, breeding, care, etc. than my snakes at times. I have a bird cage with 2 dwarf rats on my dresser. Every time I walk up one of them wakes up and leaps onto the bars and begs me for attention. I don't even feed him treats so I know it is purely for the affection and playing and not just a Pavlovian reaction.

I love how they bounce back when they fetch. That was really neat.

Rats are amazing animals. It's a shame they're near the bottom of the food chain.

I love my breeder rats. They are so smart.
I retired all of my first generation breeder girls as pets. They litter trained themselves instantly on Day 1 in their new cage after living their entire lives in a rack.
My favorite female was trained to come when called to give a high five.
Other than that, I haven't trained my other rats. I don't have much time. :(