All rats have one weakness: food! To entice your rat towards you, offer it a tasty morsel. I prefer a small, easily eaten food such as bits of cracker, yogurt drops, or anything else that can be quickly eaten. Another good idea is to use liquidy foods like yogurt, jell-O, or baby food that he cannot hold and must be eaten from a spoon you are holding. Don't force the food on the rat, he will take it if he is brave enough. Either hold it out to him from the door of his cage with your fingers or leave some in the palm of your hand, but make sure not to feed him through the bars, as this may train him to bite at anything poked through later on. He will very likely come to investigate and will probably take the treat from your hand and run off to eat it in a safer place. Keep repeating this process and he will eventually see that you are a source of food and will not hurt him. Every time you go near his cage, offer him a treat, and soon he will look forward to your visits!
After he begins to show progress from the above method and appears to be a bit less shy, you can start trying to pick him up. First, see if he will crawl out to you on his own by putting your hand into the cage and seeing if he crawls up your arm, or set the cage down with the door open on the couch beside you while you watch TV and see if he decides to come out to visit. It's always better to have the rat be the one who decides to come out, as having a large hand go into his personal space to grab him can be frightening if he is not used to it. If he comes out on his own, allow him to investigate you and crawl on you, and if he seems all right with it you can try petting him gently or picking him up. Doing this frequently will help him learn to trust you, and eventually he should enjoy coming out of his cage to play.
If he doesn't decide to come out of his cage on his own after several attempts, you may have to pick him up out of his cage. Often even tame rats will run away when you try to pick them up, so unless he is acting agressive or extremely terrified, just grab him and take him to the couch where you can sit with him on your lap, repeating the above procedure until he feels more comfortable around you.
Another good way to take out your rat is to allow him to crawl into the front pocket of a hoodie and let him sit in there while you do low-key activities. He will be able to feel your warmth and smell your scent, and if you reach in there and pet him every once in a while he will get used to your touch as well. It is a good place to keep a rat out where they can feel safe and yet they are with you. More tame rats may like to sit on your shoulder instead.
Keeping your rat's cage in a busy location close to where you are most of the day will also help him learn to trust you. Even if you are not playing with him, he can see that you aren't trying to hurt him and he will grow accustomed to your scent. It will also remind you he is there, and remind you to keep up this trust training. Hopefully if you take things slow and be gentle and kind he will eventually become a very tame and loving pet!
