My rat’s trick

I trained my rat to stand on her hind legs on top of a mini skateboard.
These are the steps I took as illustrated in the video

Each step was taught to Boy using pieces of  a three gram rat pellet broken into about 20-30 pieces.   If boy performed the desired movement he was given a piece of food as a reinforcement.  The entire process took about 6 days using 7-10 grams per day.
1) touch the skateboard
2) mount the skateboard
3) stand atop box on hind legs
4) stand atop cap on hind legs
5) stand atop metal piece on  skateboard on hind legs
6) stand atop skateboard on hind legs

I used the same technique as described in clicker training to achieve these goals.

This is a chart of the weight and amount of food in grams I gave my rat.  Cassie fed my rat on day 8

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info about clicker training and my rat boy

My rat’s  name is Boy.  She weighs on average 190.6 grams.  I did not feed Boy after the first week except for when it  performed in the terrarium, clicker training.  I trained her twice a day averaging 1 hour per session.  Boy recieved approximatley 3 grams of rat pellot food each session.

this is a picture of the food pellet next to a nickel and a dime

clicker traing video

this is a video of my rat clicker trained 

my first rat post

For the first week I am going to handle and observe your rat at least one hour a day in order to tame her and foster possible questions about her behavior.  “During periods of stress and/or certain diseases, the tears overflow and stain the face around the eyes and nose. When the tears dry, the pigment has the appearance of dried blood” (Ace  Animals, Inc).  If I were notice enlargement iat the neck, axilla, or groin I should become altered, because it is possible my rat has lymphomas and needs to seek medical attention.  If my rat shows mechanical disturbances, gradual weakness, or lack of coordination, once again I should become alerted and take note of this because it is possible my rat has pituitary tumor and should seek medical attention. (Rat Guide)

References
Ace Animals, Inc. (2006). Sprague Dawley. Retrieved January 19, 2009, from Sprague Dawley Web site:     http://www.aceanimals.com/SpragueDawley.htm

RatGuide.com. (2000). Rat Guide: A Layman’s Guide to Health, Medication Use, Breeding, and Responsible Care of Pet Rats. Retrieved September 10, 2008, from http://ratguide.com/

MY RAT –  Boy

my rat Boy

personal on my rat

my rat weighs 20 grams and is totally white.  other rats have pink marks by their neck or discoloration, mine does not.  My rat likes to run on the rim of the box and jump into the box from the rim.  today I left him with 8 food pellets.