Pet Rats Playing and Doing Tricks

Spare footage of Achilles and Patroclus from May-August 2010. Please forgive the camera being a bit wobbly at times because I was filming, giving commands, and rewarding my boys simultaneously. Not easy! About half of the time they are just playing, but in the other half the tricks you’ll see them doing are fetch, spin, and walk. Fetch and spin speak for themselves, but walk, to those unfamiliar with rats, will look like they are just chasing after treats and that it is no trick. That is kind of true, but untrained rats will follow a moving treat that just out of their reach on all fours, then rear up when they get underneath it. The trick is getting them to follow the treat without putting their front legs down. Lastly, I took the audio of me giving the commands out. Sorry if you wanted to hear it, but it is really lame to hear the same three words repeated over and over and over again. At least I think so. Instead, please enjoy the musical stylings of Janet Jackson (I origi