Fi-B versus Sniffy: Who's the Better Rat?

I found using the program, the Virtual Rat Sniffy, to be very helpful in training my rat, Fi-B. It was a solid foundation in learning how to handle the training session. Before using the software program, I only understood the basics of operant conditioning. However, the program gave me an interactive experience with a rat. I had a better understanding of our project and what we were expected to accomplish over these past few weeks. I would absolutely recommend using the program for future classes. I believe it helped prepare me for the training periods with Fi-B. Though I made a few mistakes in the Sniffy program, I was able to correct for those with my live rat. 

That being said, training a live rat is much different than training a virtual rat. A virtual rat is not realistic. The virtual rat was instructing me exactly how to train a rat, while the live rat is unpredictable. 

Another difference is the interaction with the rats. Since the rat is virtual, we are unable to show it the unconditional love that we showed our live rat. We are also unable to give the virtual rat the large amounts of verbal encouragement that Fi-B received. Further, we couldn't do other activities such as scroll Facebook or Twitter or complete crossword puzzles with our virtual rats. 

Pictured above is my partner, EP, and Fi-B completing a crossword puzzle from the New York Times. I knew our rat was brilliant - but I didn't think she was this brilliant!