[erinsweeney]

Is there any scent, whether food or not, that your rats absolutely love/go crazy for?

 

[Riley]

Bananas. My kids go NUTS for the scent of bananas.

Granted, they love the fruit itself, but anything banana scented they'll go for. We had bought little corn puff because my one rat prefers crunchy treats to soft ones, and we hadn't realized they were banana flavored/scented (this was before we knew they loved it). I had all of the ratties swarm the gate of their enclosures to get some. They LOVE it.

 

[Dan203]

No scent, but a sound. When they were young I taught them to trust me by feeding them cheerios from a ziplock bag. Now anytime I even crinkle a bag, of any kind, they all will run up onto my lap within seconds. Even Tempy, who's normally shy. They have been conditioned to that sound, even though I rarely give them cheerios anymore. (Try not to feed them too much junk)

 

[ponderosa]

They go wild over the smell of Velveeta... gets those little noses twitching all at the same time.

 

[erinsweeney]

I'm trying to condition them to accept a certain food as a treat and I was wondering what foods they'd go nuts for. I found a dollar store version of honey cheerios that's fortified with vitamins; now I'm going to try keeping them in a container where i can rattle them around! thanks guys

 

[Velo]

Mine tend to go nutters whenever I am making turkey taco meat. And they of course go wild for the smell of a cheese yogie. c:

 

[annie.32]

Mine go crazy for coffee. They don't get any but they love the smell.

 

[ratsrdog35]

Nuts. My kids go BANANAS over the scent of nuts.

Especially peanut butter, theres a reason that peanut butter is the most common bait for wild rats. For better or worse they love nuts.

 

[LilCritter]

Mine start running around the cage in excitement at the smell/noise of me making their weekly baby food mix that has supplements and the remains of their seed mix -usually the smallest seeds - and meds when needed.

 

[Jessiferatu]

No scent, but a sound. When they were young I taught them to trust me by feeding them cheerios from a ziplock bag. Now anytime I even crinkle a bag, of any kind, they all will run up onto my lap within seconds. Even Tempy, who's normally shy. They have been conditioned to that sound, even though I rarely give them cheerios anymore. (Try not to feed them too much junk)

This, exactly. Any bag crinkling sounds gets everyone clinging to the cage bars, lol.

 

[Raturday]

No scent, but a sound. When they were young I taught them to trust me by feeding them cheerios from a ziplock bag. Now anytime I even crinkle a bag, of any kind, they all will run up onto my lap within seconds. Even Tempy, who's normally shy. They have been conditioned to that sound, even though I rarely give them cheerios anymore. (Try not to feed them too much junk)

I give my rats those little baby grain puff snacks and they know the sound of me opening and shaking the little container it comes in by heart. It makes it super easy to get them to come to me when I need to put them back in the cage! They also know the sound of their food bag being opened and the sound of the food being poured in to their food bowl. It's super cute. They are such food oriented little critters, hehe.

My rats LOVE the smell of popcorn because I usually give them a small piece when I eat it so they must associate that smell with delicious treats too!