Help Tame Rats Slow Down Treat-Taking

If your rat is aggressive, please do not attempt this. There are other important steps to tame the rat before proceeding to these exercises.

If your rat is tame, help him get more tame. Tameness is a matter of degree, and the more tame, the better. Helping rats slow down treat-taking is very useful. The rat gets familiar with his human's skin, he gets better at not accidentally nipping, he respects his human's behavior.

Slow down treat-taking by not releasing the treat quickly. Hold onto the treat and invite the rat to figure out a way to Get That Treat. Squeeze the treat between your fingers, even to the point of covering it up completely. Try different types of not releasing the treat and let the rat think hard about how to get it.

He'll take a tighter hold, he'll nuzzle you, and push his way into your fingers. In these examples Gwen is giving out cooked fresh chick peas. She holds onto the chick pea and lets the rat pull off bits of it, until he reaches the tiniest bits left. Then the rat nuzzles and shoves and - of course! - wins the final bit of treat.

Very important: give the treat. Please do not offer and then never release. This would be teasing the rat.

Photos are by Karen Goldman, XposureArts.com.