# Ratty The Fatty Rat lol



## Violet_SilverBlueWolf (Nov 4, 2012)

Hehe so Ratty is doing really well in his new home  he even knows when food is being made so he jumps up in his cage and sniffs of course if I give him a lil bit like popcorn (no seeds) I open his cage door to give it to him and he sticks his head out to take it then runs off in a corner  He lets me pet him sometimes but still not sure about me holding him still a lil skittish but I think the more I hold him the more he'll eventually warm up to it. He doesnt bite or squeak when I do try to pick him up just runs away and hides and when I do get ahold of him he trys to jump out of my grip. Any ideas on how to get him comfortable?


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## Rat-1- (Jul 22, 2012)

Maybe give him some yoghurt on a spoon. I think Greek yoghurt is good good luck.


Sent from my iPhone using Petguide.com Free App


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## Violet_SilverBlueWolf (Nov 4, 2012)

Rat-1- said:


> Maybe give him some yoghurt on a spoon. I think Greek yoghurt is good good luck.
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Petguide.com Free App


Ooo I should try that I need to buy some yogurt


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## JBlas (Oct 21, 2012)

http://www.squidoo.com/how-to-make-a-pet-rat-carrier

I don't know if you sew, but I made one of the bonding pouches to carry my new baby blues in. They loved it and it made them feel safe. They would crawl out and explore a bit on me, around me, etc. and could run back into their pouch whenever they felt insecure. It was easy enough to sew. If you don't sew...maybe a small purse, etc. that you could wear or a hooded sweatshirt where he could get used to being near you. I will say that all my rats love the little bonding pouch. I throw in a few cheerios and that is a big hit as well I made it quite small since they are babies. I plan to make a much bigger one for my boys.


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## Violet_SilverBlueWolf (Nov 4, 2012)

JBlas said:


> http://www.squidoo.com/how-to-make-a-pet-rat-carrier
> 
> I don't know if you sew, but I made one of the bonding pouches to carry my new baby blues in. They loved it and it made them feel safe. They would crawl out and explore a bit on me, around me, etc. and could run back into their pouch whenever they felt insecure. It was easy enough to sew. If you don't sew...maybe a small purse, etc. that you could wear or a hooded sweatshirt where he could get used to being near you. I will say that all my rats love the little bonding pouch. I throw in a few cheerios and that is a big hit as well I made it quite small since they are babies. I plan to make a much bigger one for my boys.


Hmm it is a good idea I need to keep trying to bond with him so far he feels safe bonding from his cage but bonding while holding him would be awesome especially if its in a lil purse or sweater


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## Rat Daddy (Sep 25, 2011)

The important thing to remember is that bonding is best done as a marathon and not a series of sprints. One really long bonding session is more than equal to many brief encounters at the gates of the cage. Get Ratty out of his cage and take him to a relatively confined area and sit down on the floor with him. Let him explore, and let him come to you and if he doesn't come to your go after him. Pretty much, you want to interact as much is possible with your rat. If these common enough put him on your desk or table and share a meal with him. Try to include him in as many activities as you can. At first, try to clear your calendar so you can spend multiple hours playing with him at a single stretch.

Pretty much every play session will start off at the point your previous one ended at. So progress will build on progress. The problem with brief encounters and short play sessions is that you rarely make any real progress in under an hour so you're always starting at the beginning.

It really doesn't matter whether you use a bonding bag, or hoodie, or the bathroom floor, what matters is that you invest the time. It's also important to remember that progress isn't slow and steady it's more like a series of small accomplishments. First your rat might think of you as a threat, then it will have a lightbulb moment and realize that you're actually more of an obstacle, then somewhat of a vending machine and somewhere along the line he's going to have the realization that you're part of his pack, moreover he's going to learn that your the alpha of his pack and you're going to become the center of his universe.

With baby rats, this whole process seems to take a couple hours. With our last adopted seven-month-old adult female, we settled into the hallway with our new girl in their old girl and in six hours everyone had bonded, everyone was exhausted and the ratties went to sleep curled up together in their cage. Trust training, introductions and pack ordering was behind us. In fact, it wasn't until after we had everyone on the same page that we introduced our new rat to her cage.

As long as you are boy isn't biting or squealing thing should go pretty quickly. Actually, I find when new rats have too much time to adopt a cage lifestyle it actually seems to get harder to bring them into your family. In fact, I tend to believe that the longer it takes to get your rats socialized the harder it becomes.

Good luck with Ratty.


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## Violet_SilverBlueWolf (Nov 4, 2012)

Rat Daddy said:


> The important thing to remember is that bonding is best done as a marathon and not a series of sprints. One really long bonding session is more than equal to many brief encounters at the gates of the cage. Get Ratty out of his cage and take him to a relatively confined area and sit down on the floor with him. Let him explore, and let him come to you and if he doesn't come to your go after him. Pretty much, you want to interact as much is possible with your rat. If these common enough put him on your desk or table and share a meal with him. Try to include him in as many activities as you can. At first, try to clear your calendar so you can spend multiple hours playing with him at a single stretch.
> 
> Pretty much every play session will start off at the point your previous one ended at. So progress will build on progress. The problem with brief encounters and short play sessions is that you rarely make any real progress in under an hour so you're always starting at the beginning.
> 
> ...


Oh yea I need to spend a longer time with him then just a few minutes even though I always say hi to him when he's in his cage and he comes up to greet me. I thank you very much for the advice and will try to spend some more hours with him outside of his cage


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## Rat Daddy (Sep 25, 2011)

I know that rats look more like hamsters than dogs, but they really are much more like dogs in intellegence and behavior and in the kind of attention they need. When working with your rat... think dog. That will make it much simpler to train. If you had a dog and only reached into his cage occasisioinally what would you expect the outcome to be? If you were training a new dog that was afraid of you, how would you go about it?

Rats that are treated like hamsters usually behave like hamsters, or worse. Rats that are raised like puppies become great life long friends.


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## Violet_SilverBlueWolf (Nov 4, 2012)

Yea I see what U mean I do think rats are more like dogs depending on how they act around you lol atm Ratty is sitting on my shoulder hiding under my hair lol but he's not trying to escape or anything so thats a good start lol other then that I'm giving him snacks while he's up there and petting him


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## crimsongypsy (Jun 5, 2012)

Something I did was wear a hoodie backwards so the rats could chill in the hooded part and could run around if they felt like it. I just cradled the hood in my arms so they had some more support. Worked like a charm for me!


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## Rat Daddy (Sep 25, 2011)

Now you're on the right track. Ratty is out of her cage and on your shoulder where she belongs. Keep it up, introduce Ratty into your lifestyle. The more she is treated like a member of your family the more she will act like a family member.


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