[AngelikLark]

I have a quick question regarding trust, I have 4 young rats all female all around the same age 6-8 weeks. We handle them daily, they don't mind being picked up or pet, they even take food from my hand and crawl all over me when I'm cleaning. I hand made some treats they absolutely love and thought I could get training them. When I take one out of the cage she doesn't care about the treat or anything but wanting to go back home, she won't even eat the treat or any food I give her. My question is, is this a trust issue, is it a young rat issue, what do I do? I really want to train my rats, but if they don't even want a treat when they are out and want to go home how do I do this? They are in my room, which is the only room they can free play as I have a cat ( who isn't allowed in here). I d have an ensuite bathroom that I could try taking her. I don't know, please help.

 

[Binky]

It sounds like a young rat thing, but I could be wrong. It's hard to be too sure with just a post instead of seeing it for yourself if you know what I mean. I have 2 young rats that I got a couple weeks ago and they are just now starting to be comfortable exploring my bed, taking treats outside of the cage, etc. It doesn't sound like they have any real trust issue with you since they are taking treats and don't panic when held. Just keep showing them away from the cage and eventually they will become comfortable. Females are also more of explorers, mine didn't really care for treats during free range time unless they had done their fair share of tearing up my room first, lol.

 

[RatEmporiumToronto]

It could be an early trust issue but not one you need to work on, one that will just come with time. It also could be your rattie is just busy with something else or not hungry at the time! Lastly they could just be wanting a different treat! Sometimes ratties can be picky.

6-8 weeks is pretty young so they may need some time to grow and mature before training is effective! Would love to see training posts from you as time goes on though if you make progress!

 

[AngelikLark]

thanks for the info. They are quite young still. At what age do you usually start training for tricks?

 

[RatEmporiumToronto]

Before the age of around 6 months my ratties don't seem to be open to training, then again I do not specifically try to do any training they just seem to pick up certain tricks at around that time such as jumping to my shoulder or coming when called! So (sorry this isn't really a real answer...) if I were to pick up training I believe I would start at around this time! Would love to hear when others start training though to see if this is an accurate estimate of training age.