How to Teach a Pet Rodent Tricks

Rodents are considered pests by many homeowners who take every measure to ensure they don't become a problem in their household. Domesticated mice and rats, however, have become popular pets. These rodents, especially rats, are highly intelligent, interact with their owners similar to cats and dogs and can even learn tricks.

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Appropriately sized rodent cage
• Water bottle
• Food dish
• Sleeping box
• Appropriate bedding
• Rodent toys
• Exercise wheel
• Gnawing blocks (to wear down teeth)
• Rodent food
• Treats
• Patience and gentle touch

The Basics

1. Teach your pet mouse or rat to be awake during the day. Although rodents are nocturnal animals, they easily adjust to daytime hours, allowing pet owners to teach them tricks during human hours.

2. Train your pet rodent to trust you and come to you on its own, even when getting them out of their cage. Whether it's a mouse or a rat, for the first few days, hand feed your pet rodent as much as you can. Also, always give them a treat every time you handle them to reinforce positive rewards from you.

3. Call your pet rodent by its name every time you take him out to play. At first, give him a treat each time so he will associate his name with a reward. Responding to their name is one of the easier tricks to teach a rodent. Although mice don't always get the concept, a rat will often learn his name by using this technique.

Teach to Respond to its Name

4. Begin teaching a rat this trick, even is she hasn't quite learned her name. Again, mice may or may not understand this trick, especially if they are having a hard time learning their name.

5. Use her name and say "Come," to reinforce both learning her name and the new command. For the first few times, give her a treat, like a Cheerio.

6. Start moving the Cheerio further away and repeat saying her name and the command "Come." Only give her the treat once she has come to you and keep increasing the distance every training session.

7. Work on this trick every day, always increasing the distance. Eventually, when she hears you call her name, she will come to you wherever you are.

Teach to Shoulder Sit

8. Begin placing your pet rat up on your shoulder for short amounts of time. This is a handy trick to teach them if you want to take them out with you. You can teach a mouse the same trick, except you will want to use a pocket instead of your shoulder.

9. Sit, and then stand, quietly next to his cage. Slowly increase the amount of time he spends on your shoulder (or in your pocket) each day.

10. Start walking around the house with him after you've spent a few days with him getting used to being on your shoulder (or in your pocket). Increase the amount of time he spends walking around the house with you each day.

11. Take him out with you to a friend's house. Only try this once he's grown comfortable with you walking around with him for extended periods of time.

Tips & Warnings

• Provide toys for your mouse or rat to play with to keep them happy and active. When you don't have time to play with a pet rodent, they quickly become bored and may injure themselves trying to escape from their cage.
• Spend at least half an hour each day playing, training and interacting with your pet rodent outside his cage. This not only provides time to teach your pet rodent tricks, but also time for bonding and allows him to escape the confines of his cage for a little while.
• Some rats are smarter than others and easier to train. Really intelligent rats can be trained to do most things you can train a dog to do, including sit up, fetch and jump through a hoop. Some can even learn human games like tug-of-war, peek-a-boo and hide-n-seek.
• Although rats can be taught to play anywhere, mice should not be played with on the floor. When a rat gets scared, they tend to run back to the safety of their owner, but mice spook much more easily and will find the closest place to hide and won't come out until they feel the danger has passed.
• Once a pet rodent learns a new trick, don't give them a treat every time they do it, but trade off with affection part of the time.
• Some rats are so smart they can learn a trick in just 2 lessons, but others may never learn a trick no matter how much you work with them. Remember each rat has their own personality and limits on what they can and cannot learn.

[smacquart]

on 7/22/2007 Great article! Please let me know how I can use it for a small, tabolid-size newspaper that I'm trying to start related to all kinds of pets (and plants and other creatures) Thanks.