# How do you get your rats back in their cage?



## LizLovesRats5 (Mar 28, 2007)

So, two of my rats hide from me when it's time to go back in their cage.... Is the only way to prevent this to have out time in the bathroom? How does everyone else get their rats back in the cage?


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## lizzydeztic (Mar 15, 2007)

i don't let them free roam TOO much so there aren't a ton of places to hide except igloos and piles of towels i let them play in. 

try name training them one by one perhaps? i know little about it though. i've just heard people on here talking about it. or maybe whistle training.


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## kancerr (Apr 7, 2007)

name training is a good way to start. i also dont let mine free roam too much either. (also may be try shaking their food, one of my rats always comes running when she hears bags(she thinks its food time).


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## DonnaK (Feb 8, 2007)

Our rats tell me when they've had enough. Maybe you can bribe them back in with their favourite treats? Though, some rats will ignore treats when they are running free and super excitable... :?


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## Strike2 (Apr 26, 2007)

I have a rat the never likes to go back in the cage, but food works most the time...sometimes I have to corner him...he squeeks when I grab him and he isnt done playing...its funny.


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## Forensic (Apr 12, 2007)

All my rats are 80% shoulder-riders, so even if they're wandering they'll come back up eventually. And then they all know the cue to walk back down my arm into the cage. If I have to go get them for some reason, well... Catch me if you can comes to mind... :lol:


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## thegrotto (May 11, 2007)

Here's some suggestions that I do:
Block all the places they can hide with towels, like under a dresser.
Or if you have one rat that doesn't mind going back to the cage, use that rat to find the others...if you can. My Minttu does that for me if somehow someone did get under the dresser.


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## crapola (Feb 12, 2007)

loco usually puts herself back into her cage, but i have to hunt the other four down. i try to get them in "cages"... ginger & loco, then soot, ash & meggsy... makes it easier that way... and i know i havent missed anyone.


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## Star (Jun 4, 2006)

I tell my girls its time to go "home", and they climb up the cage or come to me to go in the cage. I just started saying when putting them in the cage "time to go home" or "home time". They learned what the saying means and now they are ready to go home when I say its time. 

I also started my girls out on "forced socializing" when i first got them. They know I'm safe and run to me when theyre scared or need something.


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## fallinstar (Nov 26, 2006)

wait till their tired lol


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## thegrotto (May 11, 2007)

fallinstar said:


> wait till their tired lol


lol. that would take hours and hours.


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## Destrega2002 (May 10, 2007)

Lets see, two of my rats go back into the cage when they get tired or bored. Stewie likes to dart back into the cage when I chase him so that makes it easy to catch him, plus he regularly steals things into the cage, so he's usually in there hiding it from me. Jinxy likes to go back into the cage to nap. But my third one Buddy is a frickin ******* when it comes to going back in the cage. I usually wait until he hops onto the windowsill to nap to catch him. They're all usually easy to catch when I leave my bedroom and walk in closet closed, cept for Stewie his fur is so slippery... (that and hes a lil one so I'm paranoid of crushing him)


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## Lise (Feb 26, 2007)

I shake the yogie container and give the rats a yogie when they are in their cage. They quickly associate that sound with a treat.

So I can shake the container anywhere and they will come running. Then I can grab them and put them in their cage, and of course reward with a treat once they are back inside.


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## kkdepp (May 22, 2007)

My little rat Raz-Ma-Taz has learned his name and I've had him for about 3 weeks. The first week was basically him getting used to me and his new home. The second week he started exploring when I let him out to play. Now I let him out and he starts going here and there. If I need him to go back to his cage or I just want him to come to me I call "Raz" along with kissy noises ans he comes scampering out from wherever he is. it is really adorable.

I would say his name everytime he just felt like crawling on me and I said Raz come everytime he would come to his cage door for treats. Now he gets really excited to come to me. he is too cute!


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## OnlyOno (Apr 4, 2007)

picasso follows me wherever i go, so i usually just have to start moving around and she'll come out to see me. mozart got like 7 hours of free range time today when she escaped while i was feeding them this morning before work. i didn't have the time to catch her (she's still skittish and won't come when called) so i closed the bedroom door and let her roam. my mom eventually found her in a drawer of my dresser stand. they like to climb into drawers from the back and they'll sit in a drawer 3 feet up and eat paper and hamsteroids.  freakin a-hole, i swear, i wish i could get her more tame. she's more a rodent than a little people, like picasso, lol.


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## lostbutnotforgot (Apr 19, 2007)

I have a little travel cage/litterbox on my desk that she climbs in and out of all the time (I only let her wander about my desk). So if she doesn't happen to run to my arm when I put it on the desk I know it won't take long before she finds a hidden treat and returns it to her travel home to eat it.


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## lilspaz68 (Feb 24, 2007)

I call my Horde of 13 (adults) and wait by their cage, they all come to see Mom eventually with a couple of holdouts and I go looking for them.

My Bronlings & Co cage (9 younger females and 2 neutered males) are easy. I have them running in the livingroom, and I open the bedroom door and start scooping them up as they run for the new "playspace". LOLOLOL

Of my older group of 3, I wait for the tricky rat to catch is around, pick her up and then call the other 2.

And my singles are easy. 

I used to shake the yogie bag, and would be swarmed, so its a good training aid. I also can open their container of Suebee's and get swarmed these days if I am having trouble...hehehe.


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