jorats
Loving rats since 2002.
If you want to read a really superbly good book on animals and how to reach them, I highly recommend Reaching The Animal Mind by Karen Pryor.
Karen Pryor pretty much wrote the book(s) on clicker training but this one she explains how it works. My vet recommended this book to me so I can work on my dog's anxiety issues with going to the vet.
But while reading this book I realized the great potential it holds with rats. I'm not talking doing tricks. I'm talking conditioning the mind to not perceive another rat as a threat.
My sister has been having a hard time getting one rat Neko to accept Bruno and vice versa. So I asked her to try positive reinforcement while conditioning the mind. Nic didn't want to use a traditional clicker because it's much too loud and it would simply scare the rats who are already highly stressed out due to intros. So she uses her tongue to click. She decided to work on Neko primarily because he was the mischievous little devil who at times would even bite her. So what she did, she waited to shape Neko into the behaviour. Neko would walk up to Bruno, and with the slightest head turn away from Bruno, she would click and treat. Pieces of pumpkin seeds are a high value treat for Neko. (probably most rats. lol) She worked on those movements to the point where Neko would go sniff Bruno and immediately turn to Nic at the click for his treat. She has not yet put a cue to that, probably something like "leave it" might be a good cue. She also got him to sniff her hand and turn away where before he would end up biting her. Now he sniffs, turns, click, treat for turning away.
She then decided it was time to work on Bruno... sure enough, it works. All in a matter of a couple of days and short sessions. Both Bruno and Neko will sniff each other and turn away, then click and treat. It's really amazing at how fast this worked and how well it's going.
Karen Pryor pretty much wrote the book(s) on clicker training but this one she explains how it works. My vet recommended this book to me so I can work on my dog's anxiety issues with going to the vet.
But while reading this book I realized the great potential it holds with rats. I'm not talking doing tricks. I'm talking conditioning the mind to not perceive another rat as a threat.
My sister has been having a hard time getting one rat Neko to accept Bruno and vice versa. So I asked her to try positive reinforcement while conditioning the mind. Nic didn't want to use a traditional clicker because it's much too loud and it would simply scare the rats who are already highly stressed out due to intros. So she uses her tongue to click. She decided to work on Neko primarily because he was the mischievous little devil who at times would even bite her. So what she did, she waited to shape Neko into the behaviour. Neko would walk up to Bruno, and with the slightest head turn away from Bruno, she would click and treat. Pieces of pumpkin seeds are a high value treat for Neko. (probably most rats. lol) She worked on those movements to the point where Neko would go sniff Bruno and immediately turn to Nic at the click for his treat. She has not yet put a cue to that, probably something like "leave it" might be a good cue. She also got him to sniff her hand and turn away where before he would end up biting her. Now he sniffs, turns, click, treat for turning away.
She then decided it was time to work on Bruno... sure enough, it works. All in a matter of a couple of days and short sessions. Both Bruno and Neko will sniff each other and turn away, then click and treat. It's really amazing at how fast this worked and how well it's going.
