08 13 2007 - New La Training Procedures Pets Choice

LA New Training Procedures

• 6 female roborovskis
• Camera tracks semi-white hamsters
• Arm-chasing results are satisfactory
• Each hamster will undergo 2 times of training daily: morning & evening
• Total for one time = 10 min x 6 = 1 hour

Materials

1 large carton box (80cm x 80cm)
Black cloth
Black paper
Newspaper
Tunnel attractor with different tunnel shape

New Procedures

Day 0: Give less food
Day 1-5: Use half the box as training area
Day 6-10: Use full box size as training area
Day 11 onwards

Day 18 onwards

Try to mimic speed of 13cm/sec
Increase frequency of training or give less food in food bin if under performance.
Play noise and music during training to help hamsters get used to the noisy demo environment.
Check BCS every week.

Pets’ Choice

Plan 1

Almost equal number of times in each room
The 3 experimental hamsters like to tunnel at the divider (a T-shaped tunnel)

Plan 2

Only 1 hamster gave obvious preference towards the tunnel
Hamster likes to play ≥ 1 toy

Plan 3: Improvised Method of Duncan

White room: 3 seeds randomly put inside
Black room: Moving tunnel with occasional food reward
Each hamster was observed for 10 minutes
They gradually prefer going into black room more often. 1 hamster was panicky in the white room.