Hello all!
I am a psychology major and am taking a course called Learning and Behavior. In this class, a major component is the lab section of the course. In the lab, we will each be assigned a rat that we will have to train on our own over the course of the semester. This blog will be documenting my experiences with my rat throughout the class.
Learning and Behavior 1: Initial Meeting
Before taking Learning and Behavior, my interaction with rats has been limited. In Research Methods my sophomore year my class ran an experiment using rats as the subjects. We each had to take turns feeding the rats and cleaning out their cages. The first time I reached into one of the cages, a rat bit my finger. I was apparently the first person that had happened to. However, by the end of my time switching the food over that day I had gotten used to the rats and realized that they were simply scared. The day that we were assigned our rats that we are going to be training in Learning lab, I was excited. My impression of rats did not really change by the end of the lab. I did realize how cute my rat is though. I was able to hold my rat and switch her to a different cage. She did not really pose much trouble. She was obviously scared, but she did not struggle to much or make it difficult to hold her. I decided to name my rat Nala, from the Lion King. I am a Disney fan and drew inspiration from fun Disney characters.
Good first post Caitlin!
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