Trust Training

If you have a rat who doesn’t like to be held, remember that baby rats and females tend to be very active and often don’t want to hold still to be held. Instead they want to run around and play and explore. See if your rat wants to play a game with you instead of being held. Then, wait until she is feeling sleepy to hold her. When rats are feeling sleepy, they are more willing to be held.

If a rat still doesn’t like being held, acts scared of people, or doesn’t want to come out of her cage, it’s probably because she hasn’t been properly socialized. Some rats just naturally have a more fearful personality too. You can help her learn to trust you by using food. It works best to use soft foods, such as baby foods and yogurt, because you can offer them on a spoon and the rat can’t grab the food and run away. Try different foods to see what she likes. You may need to let her try a food several times in the cage before she decides she likes it.

Use the food on a spoon to reward the behavior you want. For instance, use the food to lead her out of the cage and onto your hand, arm, or lap. Then reward her with the food. You have to do it little by little, just small steps at a time. Just give her a little taste each time and gradually make her come out farther and farther each time. As she learns that she gets good treats for being with you, she will be more willing to come out, be with you, and be held.

How much time do you spend with your rat?  A single rat needs about 4 hours of human attention a day.  If you can’t provide that I highly recommend you get another rat as a companion for her. Single rats often feel very insecure. With another rat friend, your rat will be more likely to trust you.

This information was from the Rat Fan club site.  I did have a link to it directly http://www.ratfanclub.org/trust.html for others to read but the story below it was talking about withholding food from their pet for a few days to MAKE the rat like them.  The rat was starved and of course take the food anyone gave it regardless because it was starved.  That I don't like and I thank a rattie friend for pointing this out.  I never read the story I liked the top half.  But now I understand the point of proofreading thoroughly!