Games to Play With Your pet rat

Just like human beings, rats love to play. Coming up with games you can enjoy with your rat is a great way to bond with it and add interest to the time you spend together. It is also a great way to keep the big brains behind those little pointy noses healthy, active and engaged.

Your rat enjoys playing games with toys. By establishing a trusting relationship, you should be able to initiate active play with your rat. Providing mental stimulation through play and training will enhance your rat’s natural intelligence. Use positive reinforcements like praise and little treats.

If your rat looks like it is becoming comfortable being held and is happy spending time relaxing on your lap or riding on your shoulder, you can start playing games. Pay close attention to cues and stop playing a game your rat does not like, but remember that even though your rat is feisty, it is still small and can be easily hurt.

Before we proceed to the kind of games you can play with your rat, check out our latest addition of hamster toys and  gerbil toys

Types Of games your rat can play

1. Bonding Games

Playing games is a good way to bond with your rat as it learns to trust and accept you.

You can do this by moving your hand and the treat a little farther away each time you say your pet's name, and when it comes to you, give it the treat. Eventually, your pet will learn its name and come when you call her.

Baby rats tend to play with each other by chasing and wrestling. You can play with them by your hand inside the cage and pretend your hand is a rat by imitating their movements.

1. Water Games

Pea-fishing is a terrific game for rats. Play by putting a plastic cloth or tarp on a table, then taking a bag of frozen peas and putting a handful into a shallow ceramic or glass container of tepid water.

Then proceed to add some large smooth rocks for your pets to climb on. Show them their pool, and enjoy their fun as they jump into the water and dive for peas, or sit at the edge while feeling for peas with their front feet.

1. Mazes and Chases

You can build mazes and obstacle courses by using cardboard boxes or tubes taped together. Since rats are climbers, you can also stack boxes up as long as the climbing structures are sturdy enough to collapse under your pets' weight.

 Use treats or moving objects to lead your rats through a built course or maze. It will instinctively chase something that moves quickly, so get it excited about trying to catch string, feathers or even small crumpled balls.

1. Dirty Games

Give them a digging box full of sterile soil to allow them to dig and forage without damaging your plants or eating something poisonous to them. Put a big towel or outdoor tablecloth on a flat surface, add soil to a box, bury some treats or your pet's favorite toys into the dirt and put your rats into the box. This game would be just as entertaining for you as it is for your rats.

1. Chasing Games

Rats are natural predators. In the wild, they chase and sometimes kill smaller animals or intruders on their territory. Hence, rats love a chasing game.

In this simple game, you can get your rat’s attention by finger grooming and then running your hand away spider-like across the selected floor or chair. If your pet is in the mood for a game, it may chase you. You can combine the chasing with stopping and finger-grooming your rat’s side, which encourages gentle wrestling. Always let your rat elect how much it wants to play so you don't get rough.