oh no LOL

[Petunia]

I have two young foster girls, one about 9 mos and the other maybe 4 to 6 mos? The older one is confident and curious.....
and very hard to contain!!

I discovered that although she doesn't climb down from things or try to jump off, she DOES climb on me and they promptly goes down my back where I can't reach her and tries to work her way to the floor that way

yesterday I was kneeling next to the sofa, where both girls were playing and Remi, the runaway, climbed up my arm onto my shoulder, down my back and onto the floor and took off

I put her in a bonding pouch and she was out of that and down my arm before I could get the other girl into it

ROFL

ok while this is funny, I can't lose these girls!!
How do you teach Remi that she can't use me as a 'ramp' to the floor and parts unknown?

I need to be handling them more and getting them ready to be adopted but I'm afraid they're going to take off and get lost in the apt somewhere

although I do have one "ace in the hole" so to speak- My intact boys. Chances are good that the girls will head straight for the boys cage, so they may be easy to find

at least the last run away girl I had, always made a bee line for the boys LOL


suggestions? please?

 

[Sheldon]

Can you take them to another room and shut the door? I’ve used door sweepers to keep them from crawling out under the door.

 

[Petunia]

um, not really. I think I need to train them that it's not ok to run down off of me, but I've never trained a rat to do (or not do) anything so I'm not sure where to start.
I had them on the sofa tonight and now they are acting all shy with me, hiding under blankets and not exploring the way they were earlier in the day.
I guess we need to get to know each other better, they arrived Wed.

 

[Fidget]

If she's going under your shirt you could wear a belt, if she's climbing outside your shirt all I know is that when they do something successfully just once they want to keep doing it! So I wouldn't let her on my back at all, if she gets there you can stand and lift the bottom of your shirt til she's on you shoulder again then remove her?

 

[jorats]

I think the best way would be to train them to know their name. Take each one, say their name, when they look at you, give a treat. Keep doing that until they are 80% consistent with looking at your or going towards you. Then you should be able to phase out the treat. This way, she will come to you when she's loose. Some rats have escape in their blood and no amount of training will stop it.

 

[Petunia]

well, I haven't had a chance to train them at all, they are being adopted!! They're really sweet and easy going girls so I'm sad to see them go but glad they got adopted so fast!

 

[Fidget]

I hope they got adopted by a hunchbacked person! (o no, is that un-PC? )

 

[Petunia]

ROFLMAO probably but that's ok!! Remi will still try to run down my back any time she's on my shoulder so my solution was to not let her on my shoulder
lol
the new owner is an MRR foster home who also adopts their own personal rats from MRR, these 2 ladies are going to have a buddy! another little girl to play with. I think they'll really enjoy that

I'm going to miss them though. I was offered a group of 4 boys to foster but it's not a good match for me- They wanted me to take a DCN and I can't move those any more, they are too heavy, even to just push around on the wheels. I have thick carpet. :/ Plus my 3 intact boys got kind of upset the last time I had other intact boys in the house, so I think I'll stick with just girl fosters for now.
Not sure if my old guys can handle the stress of other males. They're 2 yrs 9 mos old now!! so almost 90 yrs old in human years, I was reading on a chart someone posted. they're in great shape for their age! I hope I'm even half as spry at 90 LOL

 

[Fidget]

A grand age signifying a healthy & happy lived life! I get it Petunia, my heart flagellates my body every time I can't take a kid I want to.. I take a snack to the bathroom when I throw the cage & contents into the tub to scrub it in case it takes me a while to get up afterwards, lol. Fostering (then letting go) is a tough thing to do, I have major respect for those who do it. Love to your boys.