Challenges.. There were many

Unfortunately, the entire experience of shaping was a challenge for me. I could never get Penelope to consistently press the bar. She was very interested in things occurring outside of the box, so I dealt with that by putting the cover on the box. This helped with the outside distractions, but it did not help in getting her attention on the bar. She did not seem interested in the chocolate food pellets, so I food derived her a little more until she was under her target weight. This worked for the first 10 minutes or so of each training session. After she had eaten about 20-30 pellets, she would not touch anymore. There would be a lot of pellets that stacked up in the food magazine that she didn't eat. I had a problem with her staying in the front left corner of the box, so I began reinforcing her anytime she was away from that corner. I also wiped down the cage and gave her fresh shavings before each session, so the operant box wouldn't smell like other rats. Nothing really worked. Penelope did not like to cooperate with me.