Are you serious? You could actually go out with RatBertha on your shoulder and she did not run away?? Was she tethered in some way?

Have you thought about getting a clicker for the food noises? They are used in dog training. It is just a small piece of plastic with a piece of metal in it and when you press on it, it makes a click noise. The whole idea of clicker training a dog is that each time they do a behavior that you want to reinforce, you click the clicker and give a treat. You could train the rats that the clicking noise meant that treats were on deck. I have a blind dog and I got the clicker that I use for him at Pets Mart I think - pretty cheap. I'm sure that you could get one on the internet.

I think that once the Quack Pack is trained we should get you on Pet Star on the Animal Planet. Most of the contestants are not nearly as entertaining as your descriptions of the antics of the rats.

Patty