Coming to names is the one area where i've had success with my boys!!!! Oscar comes to his name every time without fail - Moss is getting the hang of it, but he's still just a baby so hopefully by the time he's Oscar's age he would have perfected the art too 
I started off by giving them a treat (yoghurt drop, chicken, bread - in very lttle bits though, so it doesn't take them long to eat it) every time they came near me, and crinkled the yogie packet, or rattled their treat tin (quietly), They'd be so curious about the strange noise that they'd come to investigate, and find a treat waiting for them when they came to me! Oscar soon began to associate the rattling of the tin and yogie packet with food. Once he'd learned to come to me with the tin-rattle, i started saying his name either while i rattled it, or in-between rattles. I gradually stopped rattling once they got good at coming to the name-rattle combo. I then began by just saying his name, making sure i said their name until they came to me (in the same tone of voice) and while they were eating it. Now Oscar comes to his name AND the biscuit box, which is good but a pai if i'm trying to fill it up quietly while he's asleep! They both go crazy if i even lift the lid off lol
I know that's a bit of a ramble bu it worked perfectly for me and so long as you've got some time and patience to put in (and don't mind monotonously saying your rats name over and over again) it should work for you too, fingers crossed!
My rats will also only eat small things like yoghurt drops and tiny bits of food outside their cage - anything that's bigger is a prize deemed worthy of stashing so they take it in their cage and hide it to eat later. Eating outside of the cage will probably only happen whtn they trust you and know you're not going to steal their food xD
DonnaK: Rats are nocturnal? I thought they were crepuscular...they are active during the dusky/twilight hours of morning and evening, and they sleep off and on during the day and the night in shifts...my boys sleep from about 11pm (my normal bedtime) and sometimes don't even wake up when i get up to go to College the next morning at 7am. They're in my room and i'm a light sleeper, i rarely if ever hear them up in the night.
I started off by giving them a treat (yoghurt drop, chicken, bread - in very lttle bits though, so it doesn't take them long to eat it) every time they came near me, and crinkled the yogie packet, or rattled their treat tin (quietly), They'd be so curious about the strange noise that they'd come to investigate, and find a treat waiting for them when they came to me! Oscar soon began to associate the rattling of the tin and yogie packet with food. Once he'd learned to come to me with the tin-rattle, i started saying his name either while i rattled it, or in-between rattles. I gradually stopped rattling once they got good at coming to the name-rattle combo. I then began by just saying his name, making sure i said their name until they came to me (in the same tone of voice) and while they were eating it. Now Oscar comes to his name AND the biscuit box, which is good but a pai if i'm trying to fill it up quietly while he's asleep! They both go crazy if i even lift the lid off lol
I know that's a bit of a ramble bu it worked perfectly for me and so long as you've got some time and patience to put in (and don't mind monotonously saying your rats name over and over again
) it should work for you too, fingers crossed!My rats will also only eat small things like yoghurt drops and tiny bits of food outside their cage - anything that's bigger is a prize deemed worthy of stashing so they take it in their cage and hide it to eat later. Eating outside of the cage will probably only happen whtn they trust you and know you're not going to steal their food xD
DonnaK: Rats are nocturnal? I thought they were crepuscular...they are active during the dusky/twilight hours of morning and evening, and they sleep off and on during the day and the night in shifts...my boys sleep from about 11pm (my normal bedtime) and sometimes don't even wake up when i get up to go to College the next morning at 7am. They're in my room and i'm a light sleeper, i rarely if ever hear them up in the night.
