48. Begin by introducing the rod and drawing your rats attention to it by jiggling it from the outside. When your rat comes over to check it out (touching or sniffing the rod), REMOVE the rod and then insert the marble at the base of the ramp. Allow your rat to then push the marble up the ramp and out the hole, then double knock and deliver food. Notice that the rod here is inserted its entire length. Use this technique IF you'd like your rat to learn to PUSH out the rod.

49. If you're thinking you'd prefer to have your rat learn to PULL in the rod, insert the rod only slightly and work from that position to get your rat to keep pulling in the rod further and further. Ruby seemed to do best with the pushing option, so that is what you will see her doing in the remaining frames. The goal is to get your rat to move the rod through its entire length, either pushing it all the way out, or pulling it all the way in.

50. Here's Ruby pushing in the rod. Remember to start small. Reward your rat with the marble IF they first sniff or touch the rod, then raise the expectation for a gentle push or pull of the rod, then expect them to push/pull the rod through an even more significant distance until, after a few weeks of training (about 9 hours of training in Ruby's case this was hard for her for some reason. This was the longest period of time spent on any one trick) the rod is moved through its entire length. Be patient, and reward your rat promptly for behaviors that approximate the desired outcome.

51. When your rat is ready to move to the hoop, mount this trick on the slit on side "d" at its LOWEST position . Again, as before, if the rat touches or sniffs the hoop, give them the previous trick mastered - - the rod is this case. Then when they push/pull the rod all the way, give them the marble, and when they push the marble all the way up the ramp and out the hole give them the double knock and feed them AFTER they have arrived at the hole. It's amazing that you can now expect so many behaviors for just one tiny food reward at the end. Here Ruby has just succesfully sniffed the hoop and has moved speedily to push out the rod that I just inserted.

52. Once your rat is accustomed to the presence of the hoop, expect to reward them only when they walk through it. This took several training sessions of waiting for IT to happen, but once Ruby caught on it didn't take long to master the walk-through of the hoop even in its final RAISED position. The goal is to raise the hoop little by little once they learn to walk through it. Ultimately, the rat must almost jump up to get to and through the hoop.

53. Be patient if the rat seems to be distracted. Here I have already put in the rod after Ruby has gone through the hoop, but my guess is that she is trying to find a way to use the hoop to climb out of the box. This will happen at any point in the training. If they do get out, just place them back in the box. If you rat does this for more than a couple minutes, take a hint. Maybe your rat really wants to take a break.

54. Here's Ruby ready to make a break for freedom, still ignoring the rod after having successfully climbed through the hoop. Too much time training during any single session is not productive, and will only frustrate you as your rat rapidly loses interest.

55. Besides, your rat might be needing to tell you something rather important...

56. Like that they have to "go to the bathroom."

(Repeat 3 frames) 57. General Care and Diet: A 10 gallon glass terrarium should be sufficient housing (about $10 plus $6 for a screened lid with security clips). I use ASPEN shavings as bedding since pine shavings have resins that may prove to be unpleasant or cause lung irritation. You'll also need an 8 ounce water bottle with ball bearing tip (reduces leaks; about $3) and a metal frame (about $3) for hanging the water bottle inside the cage and protecting it from being chewed on.

Rats, like humans, have a defective gene for the production of vitamin C so they need a liquid vitamin supplement that includes C and other vitamins for good health (about $4 for a 1 ounce bottle. It lasts over a year. It is behind the banana and next to the Nutriphase food). As for food, although dog food is a very cheap alternative to real rat formula, it is higher in fat and protein than rats really need. Best to make the investment in a mixed formula or, my favorite, a "green block" style food formulated specifically for rats. (about $8 per bag).

I also recommend that you get a number of toys for your rat. The increased stimulation provided by hanging bells (my rat now rings for me when it wants to play... now who has conditioned whom?) and things to climb on is valuable to help them learn faster. Ruby especially loves her "roller ball." Open it up and drop her in, seal her up and she can roam around the entire house, unsupervised. BUT WATCH OUT FOR OPEN STAIRCASES!!! VERY DANGEROUS!! I've also mounted 3 training hoops from the screened lid (like those in the training box) in the rats cage, and Ruby jumps from hoop to hoop, often spinning around deliberately by pushing off on the sides of her cage.

58. I do recommend that you do some getting acquainted "therapy" with family pets. If your rat should ever get out, heaven help it if the other family pets haven't somehow been trained to treat it as something other than food. This is especially serious if you have cats as I do. I spent a little time every day during the first 2-3 months trying to get our household pets to satisfy their curiosity and view the rat as another family pet. I watched very carefully and scolded the cats when they started looking like they were preparing to eat something (Ruby!).

59. Pretty soon the old family pets will get the message that your rat is not food, but another household pet.

60. Be especially wary of your sneaky family pets like this one. This cat is our yard gopher catcher and needs some special retraining.

61. Here Tigger the cat begging to play alone with Ruby out in the yard.... "I promise I won't eat the rat...don't you trust me?"

61a. Ruby wishes you the greatest of successes, and reminds you to be patient and persistent. All healthy, frequently handled rats can be effectively trained. Give them lots of attention outside of the training environment.

62. The next few frames are for views of Student and Teacher Records and Assessment pages which will be loaded to the web shortly. They include this sheet; the "Operant Conditioning Training Log" which is required of each member of each team. This log sheet is designed for student use to record the date, accomplishments, and future strategies for each training session. Click the link to go to a downloadable PDF version.

63. The "Rat Training Vitals Monitoring Log" allows students to record the rats tail length, mass and food consumption through time. This info is used for plotting a graph that shows the rats growth as a function of food consumption. It also helps students to see if there are any dramatic shifts in weight that might indicate illness. Click the link to go to a downloadable PDF version.

64. The "Grading Criteria" page is used as the cover sheet for the completed project. It shows the value of each component of the project like "training accomplished," "conditioning box design" for the designed and painted exterior sides of the box, "training log," "vitals monitoring," etc. Click the link to go to a downloadable pdf version.

65. The "Rat Training Competition" sheet is for Teacher use to document the levels of achievement of each student team. Teachers enter the date for each training category as each team moves through the training cycle. For example step 1 is "rat feeds from dish, step 2 is "rats feeds from dish on command," step 3 is rat touches or sniffs marble," step 4 is "rat pushes marble slightly up ramp," etc. Click the link to go to a downloadable PDF version.