help

Question
Hi Janine
I have 2 female rats aged 15 weeks ive had them since they were 10 weeks old. I bought them from a pet shop the lady had breed these but they had not been handled and were terrified of everything i have had rats before but never this scared, i thought with trust training i could win them round. ive had then 5 weeks now and they are still so scared when you approach the cage they run for cover they will come to the cage door and take a treat they know there names now i have a play area for them they do come out at times but as soon as you move they run and will not come back out. is it just time and with patience i can win them round or will they always be this scared. Thankyou for your time.
Denise

Answer
well they were obviously never handled as babies, but thats okay, what you should do is handle them everyday, regardless if they want to come out of the cage or not. Just go in and take them out.. don't let them train you to leave them alone just because they run and hide, this will become a habit that will be very very hard to break!.

so try to get them out of the cage everyday for at least 30mins each.. alone ..just one on one time with you.. holding them cupped next to your chest so they can't squirm out of your hand and take a flying leap to where ever..  rats have a very short attention span so your actually just retraining them that your a save place to be. and after a week or two they should be a lot better.

if you have a hut in the cage or anything they can hide in.. I would recommend taking it out so they can't hide in it for the length of time your going to be doing the trust training, as that can be counter productive.

all my rats don't get huts until they are 6mons old.. but as a breeder, its sometimes hard to handle all the babies when I have 2-3 litters on the ground, but doing it this way I have been able to socialize all the babies and each one always turns out very people friendly..

so give that a try..and let me know how it goes in a few weeks.
Janine