Another Rat Question...

[AnnShh]

I've had my rats for about a month now and they are awesome. However, I have a question about untraining a behavior out of them.

I made the mistake of giving them a cheerio or yougart drop before bed every night through the bars of their cage. Now however, they assume that everything that is stuck through their cage bars is a treat and this has caused them to bite, quite hard at times (because they assume its a treat). They ONLY do this if you stick a finger through the bars. They have never ever offered to bite if I stick my hand in through the door of the cage or while they are out with me.

Is there any way to train them out of this? I've stopped giving treats through the bars hoping that will slowly stop the behavior... but I was wondering if there's anything else I can do.

 

[menagerie]

Stop putting your fingers through the bars.

It's good you've stopped treating through the bars. They may stop associating everything that comes through the bars as a treat, but they might not.

It also helps if your fingers do not smell like food. You could try to retrain them by eeeping loudly when they grab your fingers. Unfortunately, my eeping usually sounds like a bunch of bad words strung together. :laughitup:

 

[AnnShh]

Stop putting your fingers through the bars.

It's good you've stopped treating through the bars. They may stop associating everything that comes through the bars as a treat, but they might not.

It also helps if your fingers do not smell like food. You could try to retrain them by eeeping loudly when they grab your fingers. Unfortunately, my eeping usually sounds like a bunch of bad words strung together. :laughitup:

Lol, well *I* may know not to put my fingers through the bars. But everyone who goes to see them seems to have a first instinct of putting a finger through their cage bars and exclaiming "aw how cute!" :rolleyes2:
I suppose I could put a sign on their cage that says "enter at own risk" lol! but it would be nice to not have to do that

 

[GorillaJTA]

The only ways to stop a behavior like that (without replacing it with another) is to wait for it to extinct itself (which can take months) or provide negative reinforcement (punishment). How you go about punishing them is up to you, be it a verbal reprimand meant to startle them or tapping them gently on the nose.

 

[eroomlorac]

Unfortunately, my eeping usually sounds like a bunch of bad words strung together. :laughitup:

Coincidence? I think not.