# Shoulder Rats?



## wrendolin (May 22, 2014)

Ive been doing really well on getting my rats to trust me! Ive been putting them on my shoulder a lot but they usually only stay up there a min before trying to crawl down. Does anyone have any tips on training rats to be shoulder rats? I would like to walk around with them places and trust that they wont run off.


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## ksaxton (Apr 20, 2014)

Do you want just a rat who will stay on your shoulder, or do you want a true shoulder rat? 


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## wrendolin (May 22, 2014)

I would like a true shoulder rat but if thats not possible one who is comfortable sitting there


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## Rat Daddy (Sep 25, 2011)

To be honest, my current true shoulder rat only stays on shoulder in stores and in places she doesn't know. When she is familiar with a place like the park she roams on her own. Sometimes she prefers to ride on my forearm.

I don't know who originally coined the term "shoulder rat". I was in a store with Fuzzy Rat and a well dressed middle age lady called out to her husband.... "Look Herb, the man has a shoulder rat!" I suppose that Fuzzy Rat was anything but a stay on shoulder rat, she swam in lakes, climbed trees, chased kids around the park and walked at heel. But oddly I had never heard any other term to describe a rat that travels around with her humans. But in my opinion shoulder rat is as good a term as any for an outdoor competent rat.

Fuzzy Rat always rode on shoulder facing backwards, mainly because she had the remarkable ability to memorize and map her travels. If we took her anywhere from the car or house, she would always ride backwards facing where we were coming from while she memorized the world exactly as she would see it if she needed to walk home on her own. And if you did put her down she would return to her point of origin by replaying her recorded memory of the trip in reverse and running through it like a video game she had played before. By the time she started losing her ability to walk long distances, she started to take shortcuts. If the path went a distance to a left turn and then another distance to another left turn and then another distance to the destination, she could actually calculate at what point to take a short cut cross country. As she originally only followed the trail home precisely the way we walked it originally, I don't think it's GPS like some animals have, but rather a very remarkable and sophisticated spacial understanding. Rats run mazes in labs because rats have an amazing spacial sense.... basically Fuzzy Rat saw the world as a giant maze. And to be honest, I believe that all rats have this ability but most indoor pet rats never develop it. Max can find the front door from the back yard and the car from a few hundred yards away in the park. Cloud who we only have had for about a month found the neighbor's house rather than ours, but she was definitely already on the right track. Neither ride on shoulder backwards yet. Fuzzy Rat rode on shoulder in order to know her way home and to spatially maintain her whereabouts. I suspect that's why other rats do it. Max and Cloud prefer to ride on my arm for safety reasons, they don't share Fuzzy Rats amazing ability as of yet although they may get there eventually. Rats tend to stay on you while you are moving from one place to another so they don't lose you. When they are in a place they know for the most part they prefer to explore rather than stay put on shoulder with patience. I suppose rats are smart and you can train them to stay on shoulder but it isn't actually a natural instinct.

So there you have it... more than you ever really wanted to know...

Fuzzy Rat is the tiny white dot next to the black trash can, she's leading the way back to the car in the distant parking lot beyond the far trees about a quarter mile away from where she started.


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## wrendolin (May 22, 2014)

How do you train your rats to be able to be loose outside?


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## Wendydp (Mar 3, 2014)

My rats do not stay on my shoulder while we're indoors and without motion. They do stay on while we're in motion, some where new, or outdoors. I used shoulder rides to get my rats comfortable with going outdoors. We then moved onto a harness and now they're getting comfy with out summer home, so I let them roam off leash in the from yard. 









Maybe try taking them to a new secure location and walk around with them on your shoulder and see how they react.


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## Rat Daddy (Sep 25, 2011)

I wrote a long thread on shoulder rats and outdoor activities. Outdoor training is done at a safe site. You pick a place where your rats can't get into trouble when things go wrong... With very few exceptions all rats have their limits and their behavioral quirks. With experience you will learn to work with your rat to travel with him or her and know his or her limits and devise strategies to keep your rat safe if your rat proves capable of going beyond the safe site.

The advantage of the safe site is that when everything goes wrong, and for sure it will, your rat doesn't get lost or killed. This is a photo taken at our 40 acre safe site.










And yes, my daughter is very good at climbing trees, which has come in handy.

Amelia who never managed to become a shoulder rat is hiding in the tree. This was Fuzzy Rat's last visit to the safe site, she was pretty much incapacitated but it was still a nice outing for her.









Fuzzy Rat never had trouble with wide open spaces and she loved to pose for photos.


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## wrendolin (May 22, 2014)

Thanks! Where can I find that thread?


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## Rat Daddy (Sep 25, 2011)

I think if you search "outdoor activities" you should find it.


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