# Getting a Deaf Rats Attention



## ClassicFAIL (Aug 2, 2013)

So confirmed. Chase has very minimal to no hearing. He lost it gradually over the few weeks i've had him and it was just genetic nothing caused it. He use to come to his name but knows to come when he sees me. Its just getting his attention when he doesn't is the frustrating part. Banding on the bed only does so much and he just learns to ignore it.... What hearing he may have is also very selective hahaha


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## ClassicFAIL (Aug 2, 2013)

Can I get some help here?


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## Phantom (Apr 4, 2012)

When it comes to free range time I have all small bed areas and such blocked off incase someone would go under the bed and find it too comfortable to come back out. 

I have one deaf rat, Lynn, and one partially deaf rat, Toast. 
Since Toast can still hear me when I speak up I'm never too worried about him. 
For Lynn I use touch and scent. When she's asleep I usually tap her on the shoulder to let her know I'm there. I also use treats that have a strong smell to them. The Gerber Baby Puffs have a pretty good scent to them. She also likes paper or feathers tied to the end of string and she will chase it like mad. All of these things I use to get her out from under my dresser or out from a tight space. She's usually pretty good at coming to me. She will also follow my other rats when they are being called. 

It sort of helps that she is a pretty clingy rat and loves to come visit me during free range time. Usually when she hops over to my lap during free range time I reward her with a treat so she can repeat the action. This way she comes to visit me more often and I don't have to worry about her hiding somewhere for too long. 

The other thing I did with her when I first got her is that for the first week or so that I free ranged everyone she sat on my lap. Only after that week was she allowed to play with everyone else. This got her used to my lap and got her more comfortable with coming to me. Of course she got treats and love as well. She was really sick the first few weeks that I had her so she did not mind sitting on my lap at all. 

The other thing I do with her that keeps her coming back is I try to play and focus a lot of attention to her when she comes to me. I will usually flip her on her belly, tickle her, and make her popcorn all over the floor. She loves that and keeps coming back to me for it. 

Deaf rats are a little different from rats that can hear. I try using touch and smell as a training tool for Lynn. Those are her two most heightened senses (she can see pretty well too), and she will most likely respond to them. They are a bit of a challenge and take a while to work with, but it does really pay off in the end. I got a little lucky with Lynn because she seems to have become really attached to me the first few weeks I had her.


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## Rat Daddy (Sep 25, 2011)

My rats are all severely hearing impaired when they don't want to come when I call them, but their hearing improves when I have something they want.

I'd go with a small flashlight and train him to come to the light.... Blinking lights on phones etc. work with deaf people, so why not train a rat to do the same thing?


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## Nieve5552 (May 20, 2014)

I've never had a deaf rat but maybe look into doing something like tapping the ground that he is on or speaking a bit louder? I imagine rats are able to sense vibrations from the ground as well as from the air


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## ClassicFAIL (Aug 2, 2013)

Rat Daddy said:


> My rats are all severely hearing impaired when they don't want to come when I call them, but their hearing improves when I have something they want.
> 
> I'd go with a small flashlight and train him to come to the light.... Blinking lights on phones etc. work with deaf people, so why not train a rat to do the same thing?


I assume it would be kinda like clicker training were everytime he looks at the light I give him a treat type thing?


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## delilahrene (Nov 1, 2013)

Yeah positive reinforcement for any behavior you want repeated. He needs to get to the point where you can poke him and he will not freak out. When in the house, I trained my deaf dog to follow me when I flicked the lights on and off, it is very useful when I want to leave a room and she is not paying attention. Outside, she knows to follow behind me until given the "free" command. Even then she checks in for further instruction every few minutes. Have you tested him for true deafness? Not to doubt your conclusion, but to be sure I would put him through some sound trials and see if he responds to anything. If he can hear anything, it can be used as a training tool. Also sign language will be your best friend. Start communicating to him through hand signals now, so he will learn to associate them with events, items, and commands. Just for beginning basics, he should know his name, "treat/food", the command for "come here", and "(get on) shoulder". I am not sure what your end goal is with him, but I would be very hesitant about taking him anywhere outside the home until he is 100% trained. Coming from someone who has a deaf pet, they are just as smart, even more aware of your actions, and a potential hazard when you do not have complete faith in them. I only started letting my pup off leash when she had her recall down perfectly and had learned to follow at heel and keep her eyes on me regardless of distractions. I would be even more worried about a rat because the outside world is even more dangerous for them.


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## ClassicFAIL (Aug 2, 2013)

delilahrene said:


> Yeah positive reinforcement for any behavior you want repeated. He needs to get to the point where you can poke him and he will not freak out. When in the house, I trained my deaf dog to follow me when I flicked the lights on and off, it is very useful when I want to leave a room and she is not paying attention. Outside, she knows to follow behind me until given the "free" command. Even then she checks in for further instruction every few minutes. Have you tested him for true deafness? Not to doubt your conclusion, but to be sure I would put him through some sound trials and see if he responds to anything. If he can hear anything, it can be used as a training tool. Also sign language will be your best friend. Start communicating to him through hand signals now, so he will learn to associate them with events, items, and commands. Just for beginning basics, he should know his name, "treat/food", the command for "come here", and "(get on) shoulder". I am not sure what your end goal is with him, but I would be very hesitant about taking him anywhere outside the home until he is 100% trained. Coming from someone who has a deaf pet, they are just as smart, even more aware of your actions, and a potential hazard when you do not have complete faith in them. I only started letting my pup off leash when she had her recall down perfectly and had learned to follow at heel and keep her eyes on me regardless of distractions. I would be even more worried about a rat because the outside world is even more dangerous for them.


He lost his hearing gradually. He understands when i get up from sitting to follow me. If i have my hand out touching my stomach (like a ledge) he knows to get on my shoulder. I have tried many different tests. a semi loud plastic whistle while he was resting, a paper/plastic bag while free range, calling his name both in and out of the cage, yelling no or ow when he grooms too hard.... no dice. only flinches when i blow on him. He has been out of the house a number of times to come with me on errands. He stays right on my shoulder or in my hoodie pocket. He's very very good about that.


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## Rat Daddy (Sep 25, 2011)

Wow, a deaf shoulder rat, now that's new... Shoulder rats really are rare and a deaf one is exceptional by any standard. 

If you really want to know if he's deaf, go to an auto shop, which you can do with a shoulder rat, even Fuzzy Rat had problems with air tools, the hissing of rushing compressed air stressed her to her limits and the sound of an air gun was really terrifying.... She didn't break training but she looked shell shocked on the whole ride home from the tire shop. If your rat isn't bothered by air tools and hissing compressed air like the sound of a truck air brakes, she's stone deaf. But if you are wrong be ready to control him before he panics and you lose him... For a rat that can hear auto shops are the worst nightmares, worse than fireworks.


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## ClassicFAIL (Aug 2, 2013)

Rat Daddy said:


> Wow, a deaf shoulder rat, now that's new... Shoulder rats really are rare and a deaf one is exceptional by any standard.
> 
> If you really want to know if he's deaf, go to an auto shop, which you can do with a shoulder rat, even Fuzzy Rat had problems with air tools, the hissing of rushing compressed air stressed her to her limits and the sound of an air gun was really terrifying.... She didn't break training but she looked shell shocked on the whole ride home from the tire shop. If your rat isn't bothered by air tools and hissing compressed air like the sound of a truck air brakes, she's stone deaf. But if you are wrong be ready to control him before he panics and you lose him... For a rat that can hear auto shops are the worst nightmares, worse than fireworks.


He absolutely loves it outside! He will spend HOURS boggling away and sniffing. Loud parking lots dont scare him, dog barks dont, loud metal construction work doesnt bother him either. I think his deafness kind aids in creating the bond that we have because it forces him to trust me that there is nothing that will go wrong.


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## mimsy (Jun 8, 2014)

I always taught my deaf ferrets to come to vibrations. Thump the floor with my hand, give a treat.

Outta curiosity, do rats have waardenburg? He's markings look like like classic waardenburg in a ferret. (he's a adorable btw) But the blazes, dews, pandas , all have a high chance for the genetic disorder, which can have a higher chance for ibs and deafness.


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## ClassicFAIL (Aug 2, 2013)

Thats al good when they constantly want treats lol. hes basica;;y impossible to find something he likes.


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## Rat Daddy (Sep 25, 2011)

Then if he's not a treatahaulic follow the concept of communication.... Just blink the light when you want him up on hand... associate the a light blink with being picked up and other familiar motions you generally use to let him know you want to pick him up...

I realize that some theories have it that you need to reward good behavior, when sometimes all you need is to get your message across. When I call my rats they know I want them to come. I never associated come with treats. Naturally when the rats come when called they get some skritches and a hug, but sometimes they don't even want that. 

I actually avoid the treat type operand conditioning model. Some times you don't have treats along and rats quickly learn if you aren't holding something tasty they don't have to do their trick. As a matter of fact rats actually resent doing a trick and getting ripped off as do humans that don't get their pay check on time.

I basically pushed Max off my keyboard a few times when she was a few weeks old and she still avoids stepping on the keys at a year old. I never treated her or punished her just let her know my keyboard was not to be stepped on... Amelia learned it overnight and now I'm still reminding Cloud, but she's pretty much gotten it. Fuzzy Rat on the other hand realized that her stomping on my keyboard annoyed me to no end and sometimes trashed all my work and pounced on it on purpose to get my attention. Rats learn by association and just like humans we learn without a reward or a punishment being associated with the experience.

I teach all of my rats at an early age to point and direct me. If they point right I walk right, when they point left I go left... eventually they learn to steer me. Max can climb up to her cage, but it's easier to get a lift from me. So she will sit on top of her travel cage when I walk by and motion to be picked up, then she will point to her cage with her nose, I take her there and she climbs in... I'm the transport for my lazy rat. If there's food in her bowl, I'll point to the dish and she will run right to it, so she understands when I point too.

If your SO zaps you with a cattle prod every time you forget to wash the dishes or gives you a brownie every time you take out the trash, you might do more dishes or take out more trash but for the most part asking nicely would do the trick just as well. And affection or just communicating can be more motivating than a brownie. 

The behavior mod people have gotten teachers to keep treat jars on their desk for years now. Finally the latest teaching theories have proven that learning is better facilitated for the sake of the joy of accomplishment and most teachers have ditched their treat jars. It turned out that kids actually got less motivated if they only worked for treats...

Rewards and punishments do work, but they only work short term. Eventually you get tired of getting zapped by a cattle prod or sick of brownies and then you will refuse to do the dishes or take out the trash and the same reward or punishment will cause the inverse effect. It's not that the operand conditioning people didn't know this all along but their goals were short term behavior change not personality development. I might add that as soon as you stopped dropping food pellets or they weren't hungry rats stopped pushing the lever. On the other hand if you taught rats to push a lever whenever they wanted out of their cage, they would push the lever whenever they wanted to get out of their cage... they learned a behavior appropriate to their interests without any treats at all. Useful learning doesn't require negative or positive reinforcement just association and understanding. No one ever gave you a snickers bar for learning how to turn a door knob. If your rat learns that you want him to come when you blink a light, he'll come if he feels it's appropriate to the situation at the time.

Operand conditioning seems so simple when you first learn the basics, then it fosters resentment and backfires in so many unanticipated ways. I had a friend who actually worked on a study to "cure" homosexuality through behavior modification... believe it or not they had very promising early results... but we all know how that worked out in the end... If you discounted the minor side effects and suicide and depression and long term recurrence of the behavior in most subjects, you might even say they were very successful.... especially if you ran the experiments short term and only enlisted subjects that wanted to be "cured".... 

Work on teaching through association and understanding, rats are smart and they want to communicate with and understand you. Eventually they will understand what the light means if you are patient and consistent enough.

Best luck.


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