24. To prevent the marble from rolling out of the lower end of the ramp, glue in place a small piece of plastic or other item. The size of the piece should not interfer with placing the marble onto the ramp for the rat to push up the ramp and out the hole. The piece should be far enough in to allow the marble to be at rest completely within the training box. A distance of 1/2" is adequate.

25. For constructing the rod, cut a 5" length of 1/4" dowel. Lightly sand the ends for easy insertion and to prevent splintering. Cut a piece of 1" pine or other scrap to 1-1/2" x 1-1/2" and drill a 1/4" diameter hole in center. Purchase 1" electrician's nipple (for hanging lighting fixtures).

26. Insert the dowel into the hole. You may want to use a mallet to gentle force the dowel into the hole.

27. Drill a 3/8" hole on the side "c" , OPPOSITE the feeding dish approximately 6" above the base of the bucket and 1" off center, shifted to the side closest to the marble ramp.

28. Thread the electrician's nipple so that the metal edge just barely protrudes into the inside of the bucket, about 2-3 full rotations should be enough.

29. The rod assembly will slide through the opening...

30. And can be pulled into the box until the back of the rod assembly prevents any additional movement.

31. Here are the parts, in assembly order, for the hoop. Cut a 1/2"" slice from a 3" diameter PVC pipe. Drill a centered 1/8" hole through the hoop. The pieces will be assembled in the order shown. The saw blade represents the position of the plastic bucket; the friction washer near the hoop is on the inside of the box, while the other friction washer, large flat washer and wing nut go on the outside of the bucket.

32. Drill two holes, one 2-1/2" and the other 8" from the bottom, centered on side "d."

33. Using a hack saw blade, cut out an 1/8" strip of plastic between each of the holes, or merely drill a series of 1/8" holes the full length between the two original holes and then file smooth using a small flat file. The goal is to have a 5-3/4" x 1/8" strip removed from side "d" to allow the hoop to be raised during the rat training.

34. Place the 1/8" x 3/4" round head machine screw through the hoop with the threads facing out. Test

35. On the outside of the bucket, fit the other tension washer , larger washer, and wing nut on the machine screw. Tighten the wing nut tight to check for a good firm grip of the hoop assembly. Loosen the wing nut and check that the hoop assembly moves freely up and down along the total length of the cut in the box.

36. Here's how the hoop will look in its raised position. It is, however, best to start training with the hoop assembly removed and , once inserted, have it mounted in its lowest position when the rat begins training on this trick.

37. This is a view of the completed operant conditioning training box with all the tricks installed.

38. To make a class set, allow less than 2 hours per bucket. Once you've successfully completed the first one, it will take you less than an hour to complete each of the others.

39. And now for the star of the training show....our reknowned rodent "Ruby the Rat" (Be sure to check our Quicktime TM movie clip showing Ruby successfully navigating the sequence of tricks) You will need about 20-40 hours of training time spread out over 6-10 weeks. Training should take place several times a day, so for students working on this as a project it is a good idea to allow both class time, before/after school training time,and even training time at home, especially on weekends. The fastest training group was a trio of middle school boys who completely trained their rat in just 11 days back during the 1992-1993 school year. And now..... the training sequence tutorial...

40. Having your rat "feed on command" is the first trick in the series. But even this modest feat requires a series of steps. Place your rat in the box and begin by placing single small food items like sunflower seeds in the dish from the outside. It is important that you choose a food that has been pre-determined to be a "favorite" in order to successfully train your rat, so experiment with different food sources to find out what they really like. Training will go better if you use healthy but delicious food during training. Give them the somewhat more boring food items as their regular diet (care and diet will be reviewed in a later portion under "Care and Diet")

41. When the rat is in the box and food is in their dish, knock twice on the side of the box only when the rat eats from the dish. Knock promptly. This will allow for the rat to associate the knock with the act of feeding from the dish. It is important that the "trainer" pay close attention, always knocking immediately when the rat eats the food. Feel free to give the rat as much food from the dish as they will eat, but knock each time they eat a piece of food. Eventually you should be able to knock on the box, without food being in the dish, and with the rat on the far side of the box, and the rat will come running. It's as if the double knock on the side of the bucket is a call like "dinner is served." You know you're rat is ready to move to the next trick if you can knock on the bucket and your rat consistently comes a runnin'. If I'm not fast enough, my rat even gives me a nasty look and desperately reaches its little paw through the opening to the outside hoping to find the food. Remember to place food in the dish only AFTER they have arrived from hearing your knock.

42. With the feeding on command mastered, you're ready to move to the first REAL trick in the RAT RACE TRIATHLON series. Begin by placing the marble at the low end of the ramp, next to the feeding dish. The marble should rest against the small piece of plastic you placed at this end of the ramp (see step 24) and not roll out. The training begins by rewarding your rat with the double knock and food IF they touch or sniff the marble. They need not even move it, yet. Repeat this numerous times until you're certain they have mastered touching or sniffing. The "feeding on command" trick took Ruby about 4 hours of training time over a period of about 2 weeks.

43. They may not notice the marble for some time, but be patient.

44. Eventually, through trial and error (and your ever-ready reward), your rat will learn that by touching or sniffing the marble they will receive the food reward. Pretty soon your rat will just about park itself near the feeding dish and move quickly back and forth from touching the marble to eating its food reward. Have your food pile handy and be prepared to place the tiny food item in the dish rapid-fire style AFTER each time you double knock on the side of the box. Don't keep your hand too close to the opening to the feeding dish, as your rat may believe that food is actually being delivered.

45. Eventually, you must raise the expectation for reward. Instead of just sniffing or touching the marble, the rat must push the marble up the ramp just slightly to receive a food reward. Your rat will start with a modest accidental nudge of the marble, but respond quickly to rewards of this behavior, and through time you will be able to reinforce an increasingly larger push of the marble up the ramp. Don't let the rat condition you, forcing you to knock and give food because THEY have come to the dish asking for food.

46. Some rats push the marble up the ramp with their paw(s), others may use their nose. Here's Ruby at the half-way mark. About this time in this photo I knocked and she ran to get her food reward.

47. It doesn't matter how they do it, the marble just needs to go all the way up the ramp and out the hole. This particular trick took Ruby about 7 hours of training time; about 10-15 minute training sessions over a period of 3 weeks. When your rat pushes the marble up the ramp and out the hole , repeatedly, without any hesitation, go ahead a move to the next trick, adding the rod.

Continue to steps #48-#65