Cat : Am i a joke to you?

Agreed

Ikr

i know they are way too cute my mom finally got me one its a boy he is soooooooo cute

rude words

Awe, Thanks! :)

Shadow The Rat how often do you publish videos

Hamsterkitty Cat iii

Me too rats are awsome

That would be awesome :)

Aww :-D

awww :) i might be getting a couple

Would more people get rats if they were called ass?

HAHAHAHAHA

😂

How the heck did KZfaq get ass from rats

Hahahhahahahhahaha Lmaoooo

Really it depends on what your comfortable with. In my case I feel confident in just scooping them up so that’s what I do with new rats, but it’s also perfectly fine to focus on taming inside he cage first. What you can do is try amping up the treat value - if your using solid treats, try switching to a liquid ones like meat baby food or yogurt for example. Usually what I do is I offer them a bit of the new liquid treat off a spoon several times a day or even leave a bit in the cage for them to try on their own. Once they try it a few times and realize it’s not only safe but delicious, you can use it to connect your hands and presence with something really positive. And once they take it off a spoon you can switch to giving it off your hands, further relating you to the yummy food and forcing them to stay with you and eat. If you have shyer rats it might take a while to build their trust, some rats just need more time and convincing before they start to enjoy being with you. In the case of Cream in this video it took a long time to really win her over, she tolerated handling pretty quickly just due to repetition but after that I had to take a step back and make it all about her coming to me so that she learned to enjoy being with me.

@@ShadowTheRat what if they bit

呆萌的九月 Theyre biting out of fear, which means you haven’t tamed them yet. Don’t touch them or try and handle them, and instead follow shadow’s instructions for in cage taming

@@virtuelita thanks a lot, my rats are fine now and are very cuddly eats treats from myvhand just fine now.

I know it’s been awhile but I’m the 100th like 😊

try to use the spoon first. My rats parents were miss-gendered and ended up being opposite genders they had a litter of 20 rat pups, so they were good at being handheld. But rats are bread not to bite so if it happens again I would talk to the pet store you got them at

Same -^-

One of my rats bite alot, she runs up attacks my hand and runs off again, it might be the fact we got her when she was older but we tried ignoring the biting, making a squeaking noise when she does but nothing has worked. My parents say we might have to get rid of her, cause she won't stop. Any advice?

@@blueUnicorns87 give her time to get adjusted. i have hamsters, and not a rat. but usually, you give them 2 weeks to get adjusted, and then you feed them off spoons(as said in the video) if not, that's just how the rat is. the rat may be skiddish as a personality, so if she continues to bite, then i suggest to keep her as a lone rat but give her the attention, or to find someone (NOT ANYONE. please make sure to find someone who won't just abandon the rat. ask to visit the rat once in a while to make sure that it is being properly taken care of.)

@@blueUnicorns87 or buy a rat that may be easier to tame so she can have a partner to socialize with (preferably a female if it's a female)

Thanks! :)

Michele4Fitness ive had five rats so far and only one of them has bit me and my family. That monster went missing and I still blame my mom

YOU are great too Benny :)

ruth mendez I’ve had hamsters and rats. Hamsters aren’t the brightest things 😂

**knew

@@idontevenusethisaccount6779 true lol. Definitely lacking a couple screws

Glad it helped, the baby food and other liquid foods really are amazing when it comes to rats (both for taking and training and also for hiding and giving medicine!)

I'm glad to hear! CongRATs on your new rats btw, I bet they're adorable

Glad to hear, and congRATs on your new rats!

Glad to help! :)

Thanks, they're all real sweethearts

At first, no. After they are used to travelling that way they'll be fine.

Glad to hear! I'm sure they'll come around, if I had one piece of advise its to use liquid treats. They make a big difference because they stop the rats from running away, and rats find them super valuable.

Like what Shadow? Liquid treats?

She uses meat baby food on her finger and lets them licks some every time they do a good try :)

huh? why? I loved that they all came when called

You can start now..they sound scared though especially the one hiding under the blanket..

I'd try some meat baby food. Many young rats SEEM to not like treats (Cookie and Cream didn't seem to like any) as they still have the normal rat instinct of only trying a little food and waiting a few hours to see if it harms them. So you'll want to offer each food at least 3 or so times to let your rats see if they really like it or not. As they grow older and try more foods, they usually grow out of this (lol, both Berry and Latte will take a huge chunk out of any new food that I offer them :P) With the meat baby food, if they don't seem to like it just stick some on a spoon in the cage and leave it for a while. Once your ratties decide to eat it, they'll probably fall in love lol If your girls are excited or a bit intimidated by your presence, you may be better off giving them a small bowl of different foods in the cage to let them sample what you have. Once they've tried the foods and determines that they're safe, they'll probably be much more motivated to take them from you when offered.

Shadow The Rat Thanks! Sure enough, Paris has started taking Gerber Puffs like they're the best thing ever. Willow is less willing than Paris when it comes to accepting things, so she hasn't taken any yet... but she has taken some Oxbow pieces. I know I must sound overly concerned, but being a first time rat mom, I'm set off in worry with every little thing! Paris had some porphyrin this morning and I was so scared, but it's cleared up now. By the way, thank you for the taming methods - the hoodie one is very smart... unfortunately I'm too ticklish to do that. I've been doing bathtub bonding with them, and they are doing well. Paris seems ready to begin clicker training. I also thought it was coincidental that their mom's name is Latte! Hehe. :)

@lirbs: how are your rats doing now? I'm curious about them

Hamster or rabbit Dry yogurt treat my rat (Talulah) loves them. Also MUFFINS. See My channel

My boys are the same. I've tried puffs, freeze-dried fruits and veggies, freeze-dried fruit and veggie blend, rice, crickets, mealworms, and Yogies. They only seem to like the rice and yogies tho.

The hoody is like a bonding pouch in that it gives the rat somewhere dark and warm (things they seem to associate with safety) to hide and explore. It helps them start to associate you and your scent with safety, and many rats will be more receptive to snuggling/being touched while inside the hoody.

Shadow The Rat Thx for your reply! I use pouches just for them, like a kangaroo pouch? This allows me to carry them around in their own little safe snuggle nest. It smells like them, though, so I'll use the hoodie trick for the next level. :) One of the three (my secret favourite) is already comfortable on my shoulder. She climbs up my arms from my desk and then I sometimes provide her with a scarf to snuggle in or she crawls into my hood spontaneously. All three of them love their free range time, take snacks out of my hand easily and have no problem crawling over me. They're still very skittish when I try to hold them, though. I can grab them, but they'll slither away. I'll practice with this "pick them up for a bit, put them down, give snack" method and hopefully they can feel safe enough to relax in my hands after a while. :)

Sounds like its going well! I'm a big fan of the "pick up, immediately put down" method because I find that more timid rats won't volunteer for handling otherwise. More confident rats like my Latte might just go limp right away, but others take quite some time to get that comfortable. So initially, I do the whole "pick up, put down, give a treat" thing, and then I'll move on to "pick up, give a wet treat". Finally, I'll begin giving solid treats or once they get used to being handled, just not give treats at all. If any of your rats are super skittish, I find that the "grab" is what they dislike the most, so perhaps try scooping from down below or desensitizing them to the motion. I had to do this with Cream (the desensitizing) because she was just so very wary of my hand coming from above. So I started out with it near her face then rewarding, and gradually built it up to placing my hand above her head and only rewarding if she didn't run away. And finally, I made a point to build up the motion of my hand from a slow descend (like I'd usually use when scooping up a rat) to a faster motion, just to make sure she was really fine with it. And now Cream is actually enjoys being held and will volunteer along with my other girls, placing her forepaws onto my palm to make grabbing her easier :) As a note, if you want to see the two methods that i find easiest to use when picking up a rat (and the 2 methods that shouldn't be used) I actually did a recent video (featuring Cream!) showcasing these different method of handling: kzfaq.info/get/bejne/o5-jpbKk1busiHk.html

Thx for the details! My most skittish one, Muis (or Mouse in English, because she's so skittish and more interested in exploring her surroundings than the others) is getting used to stepping on my hand. Scooping her up freaks her out a little, but not like Cream, I think. I'll gradually make her get used to it. She doesn't need to become a cuddly rat if she doesn't want to, but it would be nice if I could handle her without startling her. I made some baby food myself, from some leftover broccoli, rice and chicken. Way cheaper than store bought. I put it in an ice cube tray in the freezer for perfect sized portions. (My group consists of just the three rats, so baby food jars are a little much.) ^_^ Again, thank you for your videos! I was already okay-ishly close with my rats, but I believe I can take our relationship to a higher level with your tips. Lol, as I'm typing this in our small free range area (the bathroom!), they're peeing all over me. What's that, making me part of their territory or something? I'm*€8 Aww, Lily wrote that. :p (She's crawling over my arm onto my phone.) I don't mind the pee all that much. I'm wearing old clothes anyway. :)

Hiding and trying to escape is perfectly natural if your rats are skittish. This is why I recommend meat baby food in particular, as its smelly, tasty, and something that rats get easily addicted to. I'd start off offering small amounts on a spoon in the cage, and once they enjoy it, start offering it outside as well. If they're too nervous to eat while your there, you can place some on a jar lid and leave it in the cage. And if they only take a bite and then ignore it, I would offer it again a bit later. Rats can't vomit, and they're survival technique for avoiding being poisoned is to only take a small bite of new foods and wait a while to see if it harms them. While this has been mostly bred out of our domestic rats, I still often see it in my new or nervous girls. Anyway, I'd stick to offering liquid foods (like meat baby food or applesauce) for now, as these require the least effort to eat and are also the tastiest treats. If your still having trouble finding a treat, I really recommend meat baby food (any meat flavor works, but my girls seem to particularly enjoy the beef and turkey flavors). I haven't found a rat that doesn't adore it yet. Lastly, if your not already doing so, covering your legs with a blanket (or wearing a baggy sweatshirt) can make you more appealing to your rats. I know that my girls love to burrow in my clothes, and my shyer girl Cream really took an interest in burrowing under the blanket I set over my legs. I actually affectionately call my girls the "shirt rats", as when they're scared they dive right into my shirt :P I wish you luck with your ratties :)

Thanks! I plan on doing more voice over videos, it's just that right now they take longer to edit, as I'm not completely comfortable talking into a camera. But practice makes perfect, and I'm planning on doing voiceovers for all of my training videos, so that should give me plenty of practice!

Shadow The Rat great! I'm also super shy about my voice, and I keep making videos but not posting them because of this. Honestly I need to man up and post something :p Maybe when I get rats later in the year I'll post a video where I try training them to do stuff based on your videos and see if they work for me :0 Anyway, I don't know where this comment was going. Ok bye. Ugh I need to stop being so weird

What did you do to fix this?

Just What I got a rat the same time my brother did, and when one of us took out our rat the other took theirs too, so they weren’t alone. We also hold and pet each other’s rats, but for the most part we tamed our own.

KillJoyLover I see that you just want to be nice, but please get yourself a second rat and your brother too. They shouldn’t just have a companion some of the time, but always. Also when they are in their cage. Please just do that for the happiness of your rat(s), I’m sure they’ll appreciate it. Have a nice day!

Lelelandra thank you for you concern, it is well founded. However, our rats live in the same cage, so they are each other’s companion. Thank you for looking after the well-being of rats everywhere!

KillJoyLover Oh, okay! That makes everything alot better! I just absolutely love rats, so I ger concerned quickly, I’m very sorry. I understood it, as you saying that they we’re ONLY together in playtime, what is obviously my mistake. I hope you and your rats have an amazing day!

I Think she was talking to "JustWhat" Lele.

I've had some rats that enjoy biting wood, which is why I use a metal spoon. But that could definitely work in many cases and if you aren't comfortable using metal that's always another option.

Try giving her access to the cage so she can decide when to come out and when to go back - you can do this by placing your cage in the playpen or if your cage is too bulky to move like mine you can place Velcro on the cage sides and on the playpen and attach it during free range. This way you only have to open a cage door and your rats have the choice to come and go at will (plus they will automatically go back to the cage to potty which is really nice). For my more timid rats this was a game changer free range wise and now they live coming out since it’s their choice. My confident rats also like this as well and it really helps to build all my rats confidence when they are the ones deciding to leave the cage and return.

Bird foraging toys are awesome - I've been doing a foraging series actually where I review foraging toys (I have quite a bit of a collection - they are pretty much the only thing I get for the rats besides bedding and food now lol) and I review a lot of bird and dog toys (and a few small animal toys but most of those are a bit too easy for rats): kzfaq.info/sun/PLGThSDBAdLEJCz3MLbBroobmYqsWtFOMB As for specifics I'd say bird foraging wheels and bird food tumblers are my favorite foraging toys, and I also love the super bird creation ones (the PCV pipe one is awesome for small spaces, and the cups ones are great for multiple levels). There are a few others I use, but those ones are almost always being rotated through the cage. Otherwise any interactive toys are awesome - my rats love their wheels, along with their large dig tank, and those go a long way to prevent them from getting bored.

Thanks you! Your boys sound like lovely young ratties, and the "mouthing" is totally normal. Baby rats (or rats with little previous human contact) often don't really know what our hands are, and they go about testing it just like other baby animals. So this "mouthing" your seeing is akin to nipping in puppies, albeit much less painful. If it bothers you, just make a high pitched "eep" whenever they nibble too hard. Alternatively, move your fingers a bit away from them when they go to mouth. No matter what you do, they should stop these behaviors pretty quickly, and none of my ratties have ever continued this "taste testing" for more than a few days after I got them. I wouldn't worry about these behaviors becoming actual biting, as if the rats actually mean to harm you they can and would do so. In this video the largest black hooded (Blackberry) was a territorially aggressive rat when I got her, and she made sure that we stayed out of her space. If you got too close to her while she was in an enclosed space, or if you reached inside her cage, she would lunge quick as a snake, bite, and draw blood. She had no reservations about harming me or anyone else, and it took quite a while to change this behavior. Rats have very precise control over their teeth, so if they're drawing blood or leaving puncture wounds, its no accident. Playful "mouthing" or "taste testing" as your experiencing is really just the rats getting a handle on what you are and how you differ from them.

Shadow The Rat ahhh thank you so much this has been so helpful!

@@ShadowTheRat how did you change the biting behavior?

That's called "grooming" you. That's all. Monica are yr rats biting hard or just nibbling? If they are biting you cant change that.They aren't pet material rats then :/

Good luck, I'm sure they'll be tame in no time! :)

Thanks :) My girls have all taken various amounts of time to tame. Shadow was tame in a few days, although her taming time was screwed up due to a severe illness. Sonic took around a month to be actually comfortable coming to me and being held (but she was super shy). Latte and Blackberry were tame within hours of coming home (although Berry initially bit, and that took another month or two to conquer). Cookie tamed with 2 days, and Cream is almost completely hand tame after a week.

Shadow The Rat Yeah like you said all rats are different. My boys were tame as soon as we got them as they were from an amazing breeder, although they have only just started eating in their free range area. However my old rats were never actually hand tame sadly, because they were rescued from a horrible situation and they never learned to trust humans again. I had them out everyday but nothing worked unfortunately. There was one rat called Daisy who was the only one out of the six that were actually tame and I could take her into town and she was so friendly and cuddly. She was my heart rat and it is so sad because today last year she passed away :(

I'm so sorry about Daisy :( Shadow passed away two weeks ago, and I still really miss her. Like your Daisy, she was my heart rat, and she had a calm, confident, cuddly, and friendly personality.

This video was made with my at the time tame girls, however I have a more recent series with my girl Mocha and S'more who are quite timid rats and it spans their first few months with me. One thing I do want to say is that I usually cut out any clips where the rats are feeling particularly skittish or running off because that's just boring to watch. I doubt anyone wants to watch a static scene for 30 minutes while I tried to tempt them out, so I'd just cut that and move to when they were moving forwards. Even so you can see how skittish those girls are, and the progress they make video to video: kzfaq.info/sun/PLGThSDBAdLEK_jb6nq5XgI47mQ0YRpfWF

@@ShadowTheRat Thank you so much for the reply, this is really reassuring! Hopefully, our rats will get to this stage soon :) Good to know it's not a fruitless venture haha!

Cold Flower That’s peculiar. I’ve never seen domesticated rats that hate their owner unless they were abused.

D A Y C O R E Y they’ve gotten used to me and tolerates my existence