hey everyone so today's video is going
to be about trust training your pets
rats or hand training as some people
call it this is by far my most requested
video it's taking me a long time to post
this video I kind of had a lot of
reservations because every rat is
different they all have different
personalities it also depends on the
time that you're willing to put in to
your pets and just the setup that you
have at your house in general I know
most people don't have hours and hours
to spend training their rats a lot of
people don't have a designated room
specifically for their pets and stuff
like that so a lot of training tips that
are out there may not work for everybody
and like I said earlier it also depends
on the rats some are just naturally shy
some don't like coming out of the cage
and some really do like it
so it all depends on the rats
personality as well so with that being
said I'm going to go ahead and show you
some of the tips that I have for taming
rats some of the different tricks that
I've used that have helped me in the
past these might not work for everybody
but hopefully you can get some ideas and
can end up taming your rats one of the
first things that I like to do when I
get a new rat is kind of just stand in
the cage I just put my hands in the cage
like I'm doing here and gradually slowly
they'll come up to you and they want to
sniff you usually rats curiosity gets
the best of them and they just can't
take it anymore and they want to find
out what's going on so if you have a
smaller cage you can always kneel down
and stick your arm inside and just lay
it there try not to move it too much in
the beginning and just let them crawl on
you and sniff you and do whatever they
want to do so even if you're doing this
for only five to ten minutes a day they
will gradually get used to you and the
way you smell and just your presence in
general and they won't be so scared one
of the good and easy thing about rats is
they love food so a lot of times food is
the way to a rat's heart feeding them
something soft on a spoon can help since
they can
just snatch it and run away so they kind
of have to be by your hand in order to
get the food like sky here was eating
some mushed up sardines I think and Kin
Kin here is eating some egg here she can
kind of grab a bunch and then run off
but she still has to be pretty close to
my hand to get what she wants and then
here I have some chicken bone and fat
boy is trying to go to town on that but
as you can see in the corner Kin Kin and
that is little peppermint who is no
longer with me she was with my friend if
you remembered from one of my previous
videos she was just with me temporarily
but they were kind of timid and even
this video sky was pretty timid you see
her kind of junk back she's no longer
like that anymore this video clip was
probably recorded before Christmas time
but in order for them to get a good
piece of chicken they have to come right
up near my hand and kind of pull on it
and they are sniffing me as well as
sniffing the food at the same time so
try not to move it too much when they're
trying to get a good bite you want to
stand your ground and they'll have to
get what they want when they come close
enough to you also giving them a small
treat like a little piece of cheerio or
some baby puffs or a yogi anytime you
come up to the cage will help a lot so
they know that anytime your presence is
in front of the cage they know they're
going to get a treat having a little
food container that makes a bunch of
noise when you shake the treats is also
good because you can shake the little
bottle of treats and they'll know what
that means as well so you coming up to
the cage it's giving them positive
reinforcement every time they come up to
you they get something to eat I just
loved this little clip of Kiwi she's so
cute I haven't really gotten that many
clips of her because she's not really
that food motivated but I have some
other tips for rats that aren't really
food motivated later on in the video so
what I'm doing here and what I was doing
in the beginning of the video is I have
almond butter smeared on my hands this
is kind of the same premise where you
the red to get a treat right from your
hand and this will also kind of teach
them what they can and can't bite on
none of them bit me too hard but you may
have noticed at the beginning of the
video Kin Kin was really pulling on one
of my fingers and I just had to keep
pulling it back from her until she got
the hint that my finger was attached and
that she needed to lick my finger in
order to get her treat these next clips
are something that I generally don't do
someone recently had suggested it to me
and I thought that it was a pretty good
idea especially if you have really shy
rats you basically set up a tub or a cat
carrier or something small to be really
comfortable for your rats you kind of
make it like a little safe haven so they
know that if they're scared or something
spooks them they know exactly where to
go they can run right back into the cat
carrier for really shy rats you want to
make it their space their a little
sanctuary so anytime you take them out
of the cage you're essentially putting
them in the cat carrier or space that
you've made for them
then you just basically set it up where
you're going to be doing something like
my husband here is just playing a game
on the computer so I have Kin Kin and
Kiwi in there they're the shyest rats
that I have right now and this is kind
of new to them they hadn't really been
put in the cat carrier before so it's
kind of not really working like it
should have but in the end they end up
kind of warming up and coming out on
their own I did set some treats out but
you can definitely tell that when
something scares Kiwi she immediately
runs right back into the cat carrier Kin
Kin just was really sleepy and wanted to
burrow under the fleece and didn't feel
like coming out you essentially want to
ignore them and let them kind of explore
on their own and to let them come in and
out and grab a treat if they want to and
just do their own thing so in this clip
here I actually added Zara and Skye to
the cat carrier and you can see that
Kiwi then becomes a lot more adventurous
one of the number one things that helped
a shy rat is an outgoing
at so they often learn from one another
and they also actually kind of cave
under peer pressure so when the other
rats are coming out exploring and having
fun
the shy rat's kind of want to end up
doing the same thing so in adopting an
already tame rat can really help you
with taming the shy ones that you have
in your group as you can see here Skye
and Zara weren't even in the cat carrier
for a minute and they already wanted to
come out this guy's trying to crawl all
over it and just have a good old time
so kiwi and Kin Kin had been in a cat
carrier at this point for about ten
minutes
Keamy was coming out on her own and
doing her own thing Kim Kim still did
not want to come out and ask I and Zara
had only been in the cat carrier for
about five minutes and were already out
crawling around everywhere so like I
said at the beginning of the video it
really does depend on your rats
personality I don't know if Kim can
would have ended up coming out later on
but for the most part she didn't want
anything to do with it another method
that I personally really like doing is
just laying on the couch you have a
blanket and you just put the rats
underneath the blanket so they are still
feel secure since they're underneath the
blanket but they're still out of the
cage crawling around on you smelling you
getting used to you and all of that
stuff you can also do this in the
bathtub
since it's really cold out right now I
didn't really like doing it in the
bathtub because it's too cold so the
couch works perfectly for me after a
while Zara since she gets into
everything we'll try to jump off the
couch but that's usually after they've
been outside for a while so you just
kind of let them crawl around while
you're watching TV and doing whatever
and after a while they'll come out of
the blanket and want to explore a little
bit more so you can just do this a few
times a week until they get used to
another thing you can use is a bonding
sack or a bonding pouch I don't really
use this for outgoing rats because all
the times when you stick them in there
they just want to crawl right out but
it's definitely good for really shy rats
you can kind of just hang it on you
you're doing the dishes or you know just
doing errands around the house it kind
of gets them used to different smells
and sounds that they're not really used
to you can also use a hooded sweatshirt
that's turned around backwards so the
hood part is by your face in front of
you and just stick the rat in the hood
while you're walking around cleaning or
doing whatever so it's kind of the same
premise that they get to hear all
different kinds of sounds and smells and
just feel your presence while you're
trying to bond with them so those are
the tips that I have for you I hope this
is helpful if you guys have any other
tips go ahead and put them below in the
comments so other people can read them
and maybe try using them but I hope this
video helped you guys and I will see you
in my next one thanks for watching you
guys are crazy