Content

• Steps
• Part 1 of 3: Keep your rat comfortable in the cage
• Part 2 of 3: Communicate with your pet
• Part 3 of 3: Hand Train Your Rat
• Tips
• Warnings

To turn a shy rat into a loving pet, it should be gradually taught to communicate with you. First, you need to adapt the rat to its new place of residence and develop its trust towards you. Treats and affectionate treatment can help make your pet feel comfortable in your presence, which will ultimately lead to a close friendship between you.

Steps

Part 1 of 3: Keep your rat comfortable in the cage

1. 1 Let the rat be alone for a while. The newly acquired rat should be left alone in its cage for several days. This will help her adapt to her new environment without the added stress of communicating with you.
   • If you bought a rat that you have tamed since birth, then you can establish contact with it in the first couple of weeks or even days. Such a pet should start taking a treat from your hands within a few days after purchase and it will be quite easy to train it to hand. Rats sold at pet stores usually fall into this category.
   • Untamed rats are usually terrified of people, it is very difficult to pick them up and even touch them. They may scream in fear if you try to touch them. These pets are not suitable for beginners, as they require a lot of patience and experience to tame and socialize. Often this category includes rats raised as snake food.
2. 2 Place the rat cage in a medium-busy area of ​​your home. While you should allow your pet to adapt to the cage, this does not mean that it needs to be completely isolated. The rat should see some activity around it, but it needs to be protected from noisy devices and loud noises. A quiet corner of the living room is usually a good place for a rodent cage.
   • In fact, long conversations on the phone in the same room as a rat can train your pet to hear your voice. Nevertheless, you should speak in a normal tone, and not scream, as the rat can be frightened.
   • Most rats are easily intimidated by rustling, rustling and electronic hum, so try to protect your pet from such sounds during the taming period.
3. 3 Be patient. Give the rat as long as it takes to gain confidence in you and to express a desire to communicate. Remember, each animal needs its own approach, so do not despair at all.
   • Do not try to handle the rat before it gets used to its new home. From fright, she can twist, bite you and lose all confidence in you.

Part 2 of 3: Communicate with your pet

1. 1 Begin to communicate with the rat little by little through the cage. At the very beginning of taming, a short communication with a pet is better than a long one. Try to communicate with the rat when you are happy and calm, speak to it through the cage in an affectionate voice before trying to touch it.
   • You can offer a treat to the rat through the bars of the cage, but do not expect it to immediately begin to take it from your hands. Just make sure that the rat sees what you are putting the treat into its cage.
2. 2 Train your rat to take the treat out of hand. Incompletely tamed rats often refuse to take the treat out of hand right away, so just give your pet a piece of fruit or vegetable once a day. Feed the rat in the cage for several days in a row to get it addicted to the treat. When the rat begins to enjoy this delicacy, stop putting it in the cage and offer to taste it only from your hands.
   • From now on, the pet will be able to feast on only if it takes the treat directly from your hands. This is a very important step in strengthening the bond between you.
3. 3 Give your rat one piece of treat each time you open its cage. Open the cage door, make yourself known and make sure that the rat is aware of this, so as not to accidentally scare the pet. Shake the food bowl to associate the noise with the treat, then feed the rat. This approach will teach the rat to look forward to the next contacts with you, since they are associated with obtaining a treat!
   • Learning to hand-retrieve treats will create a strong bond between you and your pet.
4. 4 Let the rat sniff your hands. Ask the rat to sniff and examine the empty palm regularly. This will help her get used to your scent and will allow her to understand that when you put your hand in the cage, you will not always have a treat for her. If you allow the development of such an association, then the rat may begin to bite your hands, implying that they are food too.
   • This will help you move to the stage of taming when the still fearful pet is ready to feed from your hands and is already calmly studying you.
5. 5 Start petting your pet. The rat will probably not like your strokes at first. You will need to accustom her to this kind of physical contact by regularly stroking her for short periods of time. With repeated strokes that end up with a treat, the rat will quickly realize that this is a safe and very pleasant contact.
   • At first, try to pet your pet only once. After one to two weeks of single strokes, you can move on to a series of strokes in one attempt.
   • Over time, begin to train the rat to stroke longer. The rat will not like this, but it will have to go through this experience to get used to such treatment. Some rebuff from her is a completely normal and expected reaction. If the pet is very frightened and starts screaming, step back to a short stroke.
   • Stroking is very good for taming. You should resort to them often and even when the rat is not interested in them. Most rats start to enjoy stroking when enough stroking is done.
6. 6 Give a negative beep when the rat is behaving badly. If the rat bites you, yell or yelp back. Don't try to scare your pet too much by screaming, just let him know that you are in pain and should be careful.
   • Never use physical punishment for bad behavior. Punishments only let your pet know that you are unpredictable and untrustworthy.
7. 7 Visit the rat during the day. Talk to your rat in a gentle and pleasant tone of voice. Open the cage door and lower your hand in so that your pet can sniff it and possibly get a light stroke on the head. You need to communicate with your pet as often as possible.
   • Before touching a rat, be sure to keep it awake and aware of your presence in the cage.
8. 8 If you have a very nervous pet, try training it with a clicker. Using a clicker is a great way to build positive associations in your shy pet about your interactions with him. This type of training leads to the emergence of an associative connection in the rat between the sound of a clicker (click) and a positive stimulus (in the form of a treat or toy). If the rat does something that you like (even if it's just a step in your direction), click the clicker and immediately offer the pet a treat.
   • Try to use the clicker exactly at the moment when the rat performs the action you need.
   • A training clicker can be purchased at a pet store or purchased online.
   • If you're not sure where to start, search the net for clicker training tutorials. You can even find videos and text instructions specifically for training rats.

Part 3 of 3: Hand Train Your Rat

1. 1 Train your rat to go to the cage door to get a treat. This will allow your pet to come up to the door when you need it. This way you don't have to chase him all over the cage. Shake the bowl of treats to encourage the rat to come to the door.
   • If the rat does not come to the door, bring the treat to its nose and try to use it to lure it to the door.
   • Instead of shaking the bowl, you can say the name of your pet so that he comes up to you when he hears it. If you repeat your pet's name every time you give it a treat, it will quickly get used to its name.
   • Whichever signal you choose, be consistent.
2. 2 Use a treat to lure the rat into your palm. Take a few pieces of the treat in your hand, open the cage door and stick your open palm with the treat inside. As soon as the rat grabs one piece from the palm and eats it, make it so that it has to step out of the cage to get the next piece.
   • For the first few days, the rat is likely to be wary of following the hand to feast on. Give her time.
   • Continue to move your hand with the treat further and further until the rat begins to move out of the cage and onto your palm to treat it.
3. 3 Let the rat explore the environment outside the cage. If at some point the rat just wants to leave the cage and explore the room, let him do it. Do not jerk towards her and do not try to stop. If she comes up to you for a treat, let her eat it. If the rat starts to climb over your clothes, let him do that, do not twitch. You need to show your pet that you are not a threat.
   • In the end, the rat will definitely dare to come out to you and find out what you are. Do not interfere with this process, even if the pet decides to run for you. Just don't move and let him study your scent.
   • Allow the rat to return to the cage as often as it wishes. Remember that the cage is a safe area for her. In it, the rat should feel safe and be able to fully control the situation.
4. 4 Start picking up the rat when it gets used to you. To do this, you need to choose a convenient moment and lure the pet into a corner. Corner the rat as calmly and gently as possible. Try not to scare the rat. As soon as the rat is in your hand, quickly offer it a treat and return it back to the ground.
   • Never lift a rat into the air by its tail. This can cause serious injury to the pet, which in extreme cases may even require tail amputation.
   • If the rat starts screaming when you try to pick it up, let it run and calm down. Never force a screaming animal into contact. However, a quiet beeping is perfectly acceptable.
5. 5 Do not let go of the rat as it resists. Depending on the nature of the rat, this can sometimes be difficult to do, but you should not let the pet out of your hands while it resists, otherwise it will understand that this behavior is paying off. Try to wait for the rat to calm down in your hands (even for a second), and only then release it.
   • Timeliness of your actions is critically important here. Let your pet go as soon as it calms down. As you strengthen your relationship with him, you can increase the requirements for the duration of calm before you release the rat from your hands.
6. 6 Handle the rat on a regular basis. Take your pet in and out of the cage daily. It is best to do this in the middle of the day, when he is already most tired and unable to seriously resist. Remove the rat from the cage and hold it in your arms for 20 minutes. Be sure to keep track of the time, as it is very important to observe strictly allotted minutes of communication.
   • When you pick up the rat in your arms, allow it to run freely around your arms and even climb onto your shoulders. The main requirement is that the rat remains on you and allows you to touch it within the allotted 20 minutes.
   • At the very beginning, the rat will probably squeak and resist, trying to get out of its hands. Don't let her do that. If you are worried that your pet might bite you, use a towel to hold it in your hands.
7. 7 Build friendships with your rat. When the rat begins to eagerly approach the open door of the cage, pick it up in your arms and carry it to a specially designated and safe play area for rats, where it can run and learn new objects. Spending time with your rat will allow you to develop a strong friendship with it.

Tips

• Use an old blanket to cover the area that you allow your rat to explore to protect the surfaces from urine and pet excrement.

Warnings

• During the taming period, keep all other pets away from it, as they can make it more fearful.
• Some highly dominant rats never allow themselves to be controlled, but are able to climb on their own at will during walks in safe territory.
• Wild rats should not be pets. They can carry dangerous diseases. Moreover, such animals are not selectively selected and bred in order to have a good disposition.