How Can i earn a very good amount of trust in my rat?

Question

I have a dumbo rat named Kief, who is about 2 months old? ish?

here is a pic for a good estimate of age: http://i92.photobucket.com/albums/l28/Jade177/kief2.jpg

he will climb on me, but he squirms if i try to pick him up. occasionally he will crawl on my hand, but this is a new behavior he hasnt been doing it long. Whenever i treat him with a frozen pea of rat pretzel he takes it and runs off to eat it. I feel like he doesnt trust me enough to eat it in front of me. So my question is, how can i boost our trust?

NOTE* I have two rats, another larger one, but he is developing respiratory symptoms, and ive had him less than a week so he is going back to the petstore tomorrow to get replaced.

Answer 1

Just keep working with him. Some rats take a bit longer, remember they are intelligent and have different personalities. Spen as much time possible interacting with him.

Respiratory problems? I am sorry! Be sure you are not using any type of cedar bedding as this can cause respiratory infections in small animals.

Answer 2

Debbie the rat lady has a good article on trust training frightened rats. Although your new rat might not be completly scared of you it will help him trust you quicker. Go to rat fan club and click on it. When you get to the website look to the left and click on rat info. Scroll down to behavior and click on trust training frightened rats. Read this whole page it helped me loads with new rats that I have gotten through the years. About your rats being ill. Rats get respitory infections extremely easy. You may want to take these two back but some time down the road if you have a rat for a while and it gets a respitory infection it will need to be taken to the vet for antibiotics. My vet charges $20 for a rat and her meds usually run $40 for a bottle of Vibramycin. Vibramycin doesnt go bad and if only using it on 1 or 2 rats you will probably have enough to treat them at least twice when they get sick. Good luck.

Answer 3

Play with him,put him in a cup and carry him around in it,talk to him softly and say his name quite a bit.This will let him know he is safe with you.repeat this routine once or twice a day,till you think you can handle him without him jumping out.They like to be played with atleast once a day.Good luck! hope i helped.

Answer 4

just keep handling him. it takes time, so you just keep doing it, and he will trust you alot!