Recommendations for Training Treats?

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Camelidae4

Member
Joined
Nov 16, 2020
Messages
14
Location
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I do some training with my rats and had no trouble finding a good training treat for my male rats (they were larger in size and very food motivated), but I've been struggling to find a good training treat for my females. An ideal training treat would meet the following: Small in size (training requires lots of rewarding and I prefer if the reward is only a couple bites worth), highly desirable, relatively cheap and easy to obtain, not too unhealthy (I try to do regular training sessions and don't want to be feeding them a ton of junk food), and is not "lickable," I need something they can take off the training spoon easily. I've tried tons of stuff like the "edible toppings" at pet stores and bits of fruits and veggies, but they really don't make great training treats at stores. The best I have found were these candy coated sunflower seeds but they definitely are not very healthy for my rats and a tiny bit too big.

Thanks!!
 
Take a hammer and break up some cashews. You can also use an oral syringe and put a tasty puree in there and give them a shot of it in their mouths. This is how they reward Pouchies who train to clear landmines and to recognize TB. They make a banana puree.
 
I take plain cheerios and break them into three or four pieces. I can take several handfuls every time I buy a box of cheerios, break them up, and it lasts a week or two! :)
 
Gerber baby puffs, broken into a few bits each. Peach flavoured is the rat crack here :) Another good one is Vanilla Blueberry. Banana is okay. Sweet Potato was ignored LOL
They are small and light but each one would take a bit to eat, but easy to break up
 
Take a hammer and break up some cashews. You can also use an oral syringe and put a tasty puree in there and give them a shot of it in their mouths. This is how they reward Pouchies who train to clear landmines and to recognize TB. They make a banana puree.
I love the cashew idea!
 
Gerber baby puffs, broken into a few bits each. Peach flavoured is the rat crack here :) Another good one is Vanilla Blueberry. Banana is okay. Sweet Potato was ignored LOL
They are small and light but each one would take a bit to eat, but easy to break up
I love the Gerber puffs. I use them for other things like puzzles but for some reason my girls don't think the puffs are high value enough for some things. They accept them during nosework and recall but not for any more complex training that isn't self rewarding.
 
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