I felt a little lost with Buddy tonight. I didn't get home until afternoon, so started trust-training late. He just wouldn't come out of the igloo any further than his shoulders. I think last night scared him or maybe the applesauce wasn't incentive enough. He wouldn't come all the way out for dinner, though, either.
I took a break from holding the rats tonight; watched tv alone. Then before bed sat in one of the many chairs in front of the rats' tables because a girl drew my attention. As I sat there letting her and her roommate crawl on me, I asked the room of rats, "What should we do about Buddy? I feel sad about him being alone all day." Suddenly I had a mind picture of a low table for him, like the rest of the rats. (We only had a tall cabinet left to put him on.)
I decided to pull in a banquet table from the shop and put his cage on that tomorrow. Ideally trust-training should end with the rat crawling into your lap, anyway, which he can't do from that height. I may even remove him from his cage and set up a makeshift cage. He is not using the top floor at all.
I am excited about a new set-up for him tomorrow and, hopefully, a fresh start on trust-training. Meanwhile, I asked all the other rats to chat with him tonight and explained the situation to him. Pray for Buddy! Pray for me to make a good decision about introductions, too. I would really like for him to have a friend sooner rather than later.
No comments:
Post a Comment