Activities: None (Still Trust Training)
Treats: Yogurt and A solid yogurt treat for Leonard, Yogurt for Sheldon
Currently: In the cage Relaxin'
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Hi guys,
It has been so long. So sorry! But I got my new rats and I've been busy trust training.
So, here is a step by step catch up for the days I've missed.
Day 1 - Finished the cage. Got the rats that night. I mostly left them alone, but I was in the room on my laptop all night. Any sound or movement would scare them, since they had just left their old home, smells, and 5 other brothers behind. The pic is the finished cage in my room. They are hiding in the bottom area. I have many more toys but I wanted too keep it simple for them for now.
Day 2 - Was so exited to get started. At first they would not take any treats from me and were still really nervous. I tried every kind of treats I had, but they wouldn't take it. So I let them rest a little bit. My friend Robyn came over and we sat in the room and talked. At first they were afraid of our voices, but they got used to it over a good 20 minutes. Sheldon ran on the wheel that day for a good 5 minutes, but would pause every so often to make sure i was still away on my bed. They started eating food in front of me, when they never would before. I added another rat house from Robyn on the second floor (not in pic above). They would run to the back of the cage when i opened the door. I tried yogurt on a spoon since they wouldn't take solid food or anything from my hand and after a few tries, Leonard caught on. He would lick it but stay in his spot and run if I scared him. Sheldon still wouldn't trust me.
Day 3 - Now that I knew they'd take yogurt, I tried that more often. Sometimes Leonard would take it, sometimes he wouldn't but towards the end of the day he almost always took it. I was able to put a little treat in it and he took it once. Sheldon would still not take anything, but he was eating fine out of the bowl so I just assumed he needed time. By the end of the night the farthest I got with Leonard was moving him a few inches towards me with the yogurt on the spoon. The farthest Sheldon got is that he wouldn't run while i was putting pellets in his food dish.
I also discovered that the rats could crawl under the bottom layer of fleece. I had to edge them out and tape it better. Debating whether to just remove it or not.
Day 4 (Today) - So far I got up and edged them out of the fleece once again and taped it better. Than refilled their food, cleaned up stray poops, checked the water, and left them to be since they were hiding by than. Next time I checked on them I did the yogurt again. This time Leonard took it as usual and let me lure him closer to me, but would pull away when I brought the spoon out to refill it. He also took a small solid treat out of the spoon and went and ate it happily. Sheldon took some yogurt from the spoon for the first time. He wouldn't take a treat, but that's where Leonard started and he's so far now.
Well, that's about it. I'm going to try again soon, but I'm so happy to see the progress so far!
Thanks for reading!
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