Animal Science students forge bond with rats to learn valuable lessons

 Experience with rats gives Animal Science students an edge

Gianna Chiaramida arrived at the Center for Career Services last year as a self-professed dog lover. Although that passion led her to enroll in Animal Science, the New Rochelle resident never considered that she’d soon form a very different bond with a very different animal.

“A lot of people who I know were surprised — me included,” Chiaramida said. “I have a rat and I love him. I’ve learned that they need the love just like a dog needs.”

Chiaramida is now in her second year providing that love, as well as steady training and discipline, for her rat, who she named Squeaky, in Michael D’Abruzzo’s Animal Science class. First-year students have now just begun to forge that same relationship; they each recently received a baby rat to care for and train.

The students will learn valuable skills through trial and error while working with these newborn rats. D’Abruzzo said the student-rat partnership is a vital tool used throughout the two-year Animal Science program.

“They each work with their rat for the first 15 minutes or so of class every day. They take daily logs, measurements, learn scientific terminology, etc.,” D’Abruzzo said. “There’s no better way to learn how to train an animal than to do it every day.”

Although the class allows students to care for many other animals — a diverse list that will include dogs, snakes, rabbits, guinea pigs and more — the rodents represent an opportunity to practice various techniques that apply to training any animal. Students consistently compile data, both measurable and anecdotal. They will chart the rat’s growth, but also keep a detailed account of its behaviors.

The students feed the rats yogurt on a stick to help establish positive behaviors. They also will gently blow on them or use words to discourage negative behaviors.

The rats are observed and trained in a plastic bin. They might be fed yogurt while practicing a trick — rats can learn to do flips, spin, or play fetch — or blown on gently if they attempt to climb out of their bin.

“You have to show a lot of patience with them in order to get them to respond,” said Chiaramida, whose rat will now perform a spin or jump through a hoop on command.

The techniques the students learn in the classroom during their two years of working with the rats can provide them with valuable lessons they can apply to working with animals in a professional setting after graduation.

“The magic of working with rats is the feedback they receive from the animal,” D’Abruzzo said. “After two years, the students’ confidence level dealing with the rat really gives them an edge working in this field.”