# Rat Laughter Study



## RatAtat2693 (Jan 13, 2016)

So, when my foster coordinator contacted me about this, I thought her phone had gotten hacked or she was mildly intoxicated, to be honest.

But apparently there are some people who want to study rat laughter; inaudible to humans, but supposedly a thing. They'll be coming out to my house to record some of my rats... laughing?

It works, according to them, because I currently have rats of almost every age, color, size, and gender you can think of, so we're going to find out if there's differences in pitch, etc.

...Just when I thought 2016 couldn't get any weirder, it did. Not gonna lie, though, I'm kind of excited.


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## Grotesque (Mar 19, 2014)

Ah yeah! You need a bat detector to hear them. Some device that lets you hear bats.


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## RatAtat2693 (Jan 13, 2016)

Grotesque said:


> Ah yeah! You need a bat detector to hear them. Some device that lets you hear bats.


Well, they're bringing their stuff out here, so yay?


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## Rat Daddy (Sep 25, 2011)

No! mommy don't get mad, we're laughing with you....


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## RatAtat2693 (Jan 13, 2016)

I'm just worried that they're not going to want to play since they aren't used to having other people in the rat room. It's usually just me.


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## Fu-Inle (Jan 22, 2015)

Yep, that might be a problem . When theres somebody unfamiliar in the house, playing is the last thing on my rats mind. They have to get to know someone before they relax and act normal around them.


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## Nieve5552 (May 20, 2014)

They could probably hand you the bat detector and let you sit in the rat room alone with your rats, with the bat detector pre-set up.
Apparently the rats make the laughing sound when they're flipped over and being tickled on the tummy


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## RatAtat2693 (Jan 13, 2016)

Fu-Inle said:


> Yep, that might be a problem . When theres somebody unfamiliar in the house, playing is the last thing on my rats mind. They have to get to know someone before they relax and act normal around them.


Yeah. It might take a couple visits for them.



Nieve5552 said:


> They could probably hand you the bat detector and let you sit in the rat room alone with your rats, with the bat detector pre-set up.
> Apparently the rats make the laughing sound when they're flipped over and being tickled on the tummy


Mine HATE being flipped. I saw that video and tried it. Everyone ran away.


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## Nieve5552 (May 20, 2014)

RatAtat2693 said:


> Mine HATE being flipped. I saw that video and tried it. Everyone ran away.


Hahaha! that sounds quite cute, Im just imagining multiple rats simultaneously all running away from a person sitting on the floor because they saw someone being flipped. mine struggle a bit when they're flipped and tickled on the tummy, but they jump back into my lap right after bouncing away so I have no idea if they're doing their ratty laughs or not! Maybe the bat detectors will end up recording ratty complaining noises instead of laughs


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## Rat Daddy (Sep 25, 2011)

Take a tasty freshly unwrapped fortune cookie that you really want to eat and set it down next to you, then look away for just a half second... 

I can hear my rats laughing at me whenever they snatch and run off with something I was intending to eat.


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## Gribouilli (Dec 25, 2015)

If anyone get an ultra sound detector or whatever it is called, I'd be interested to know which one you got.


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## Malarz (Sep 7, 2014)

There was a story on Science Friday about that. There is a guy at one of US universities who studies rat laughter.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j-admRGFVNM


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## Fu-Inle (Jan 22, 2015)

Ok. What qualifications do I need to become an expert rat tickler?


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## Malarz (Sep 7, 2014)

Fu-Inle, practice makes perfect


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