rat smartness

i was wondering how intelligent a rat is. my friend claims that her old pet rat
would respond to its name and come when you called it and would stay if told
so. i was wondering if anybody else had seen this trend.

I have a couple that know their names and I have seen rats that have been trained to do tricks just like a dog! Rolling over, sitting, staying, obstacle courses etc... they are actually (supposedly) the smartest rodents! They're really easy to train and I have most of mine litter trained too :D.

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Originally Posted by anendeloflorien

I have a couple that know their names and I have seen rats that have been trained to do tricks just like a dog! Rolling over, sitting, staying, obstacle courses etc... they are actually (supposedly) the smartest rodents! They're really easy to train and I have most of mine litter trained too :D.

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that's pretty awesome if i do say so myself!

Yes yes, Rats are very smart.
I have trained a few to sit and stay, but that takes ALOT of time and patience. Most of my rats play hide and seak, wrestle, and come by name. All are litter trained (which i think is the easiest thing to do).
Yes, rats can also be trained to do alot more, but i am not sure what their limit is.

Litter training would be great!

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Originally Posted by whytepizza

Yes yes, Rats are very smart.
I have trained a few to sit and stay, but that takes ALOT of time and patience. Most of my rats play hide and seak, wrestle, and come by name. All are litter trained (which i think is the easiest thing to do).
Yes, rats can also be trained to do alot more, but i am not sure what their limit is.

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Yes please explaine how to get them litter trained. PLEASE

My first rat was an old classroom pet that my teacher thought was getting too old. (i.e. she was afraid she'd die in class and freak out my fellow students) We held a contest and I got to take her home permanently.

Anyway when she was a classroom pet she'd just run loose all the time. She knew her name (or at least knew if someone called they probably had a cracker) and would go back to her tank to potty. So she was litter trained.

Once I got her to myself she learned to beg, and do some minor tricks. It's definitely a trial in patience to teach trick though but thats true of any animal.

I've owned almost every common rodent- rabbit, gerbil, hamster, mouse, ferret, ect.. and I've got to say that my rats we're definitely the most trainable of the bunch. People will argue that rabbits and ferrets are smarter but they're smart like cats, you can litter train them and then they do stuff cause they want to, not to please you.

Rats are much more like dogs in that respect, always want to please their favorite person.

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Originally Posted by truthsdeceit

I've owned almost every common rodent- rabbit, gerbil, hamster, mouse, ferret, ect..

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A little pet peeve of mine, ferrets are not rodents, but are weasels.

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Originally Posted by Drew87

Yes please explaine how to get them litter trained. PLEASE

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Most will do it on there own, if given the chance to go to there fave potty spot they will. But I've always considered litter training in rats to be them trained to go back to there cages when loose. I've never trained one to a litter pan.

So if you want them to just go back to there cage, you start young. And handle them a lot. Eventually they get to a point where they beg to be handled. If you just put them back in the cage whenever they have an accident they learn that potty outside the cage means no more play time. It's that simple.

That said I have a friend who currently had a rat that has never taken to it cause she pees when excited. So I guess not all rats are trainable.

Does anyone litter train differently?

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Originally Posted by Clear

A little pet peeve of mine, ferrets are not rodents, but are weasels.

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Sorry, true I know but most pet stores lump them up in that category.

I guess I could have said 'small pets' instead of rodents but then again ferrets are almost as big as cats, and so are rabbits. Hell I've got a dog smaller than a bread loaf, so....