Training Your Rats To Stay Inside A Playpen
A common question I get is how I get my girls to actually stay in their playpen during free-range time. In the past, I've gone through all the same problems as other people, with my rats digging out, jumping out, or even chewing out. But that all changed when I found a method to train them to willingly stay within the playpen walls and communicate directly to me when they want out.
Step 1:
Teach your rat to jump onto your shoulder for a treat. You can do this by using a treat to lure them upwards, then reward them.
(If your rat is reluctant to jump up right away, you can practice rewarding your rat for jumping onto your hand, then practice luring them up to your wrist, elbow, forearm, and finally, practice luring them up to your shoulder.)
Teach your rat to jump onto your shoulder for a treat. You can do this by using a treat to lure them upwards, then reward them.
(If your rat is reluctant to jump up right away, you can practice rewarding your rat for jumping onto your hand, then practice luring them up to your wrist, elbow, forearm, and finally, practice luring them up to your shoulder.)
Step 2:
Fade out your lure by only using it to guide your rat upwards as necessary. Once your rat will climb up onto your shoulder whenever you pat it, you can move on to the next step.
During this entire training process, make sure to prevent your rat from jumping/digging/chewing out of the playpen. If they manage to get out on their own, they'll see no reason to go through you instead!
Fade out your lure by only using it to guide your rat upwards as necessary. Once your rat will climb up onto your shoulder whenever you pat it, you can move on to the next step.
During this entire training process, make sure to prevent your rat from jumping/digging/chewing out of the playpen. If they manage to get out on their own, they'll see no reason to go through you instead!
Step 3:
Now comes the hard part. Once your rat gets into a habit of climbing onto your shoulder for a treat, you now want to wait until they do so with no external prompting from you. Once they climb up, hand them a super good treat, then place them back into their cage. After 15 seconds, take them back out. Repeat this whenever they climb up onto your shoulder.
Now comes the hard part. Once your rat gets into a habit of climbing onto your shoulder for a treat, you now want to wait until they do so with no external prompting from you. Once they climb up, hand them a super good treat, then place them back into their cage. After 15 seconds, take them back out. Repeat this whenever they climb up onto your shoulder.
Step 4:
After a day or so of repetitions, begin to leave your rat in the cage for longer periods of time. Where before you might only put them up for 15 seconds, slowly increase this to maybe 30 seconds, then 1 minute, then 5 minutes, and so on. Your goal is for the rat to realize once they ask to be put up, they aren't going to come out again.
At this point you also want to stop giving your rat treats when they climb onto your shoulder. I'd suggest fading them out when your rat is consistently climbing u[ several times per session, so as to not confuse them into thinking that climbing onto your shoulder is just a good way to get a treat later on.
After a day or so of repetitions, begin to leave your rat in the cage for longer periods of time. Where before you might only put them up for 15 seconds, slowly increase this to maybe 30 seconds, then 1 minute, then 5 minutes, and so on. Your goal is for the rat to realize once they ask to be put up, they aren't going to come out again.
At this point you also want to stop giving your rat treats when they climb onto your shoulder. I'd suggest fading them out when your rat is consistently climbing u[ several times per session, so as to not confuse them into thinking that climbing onto your shoulder is just a good way to get a treat later on.
And that's it! At this point, your rat should be jumping up onto your shoulder whenever they want out of the playpen, leaving free-range time fun and relaxing for both of you :)
If you would like more help training your rats to stay inside their playpen, I suggest you watch the video below:
Disclosure: Esther (and her site rattrix.weebly.com) is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com