female rats pooping everywhere

[sketchi]

my friend has these female rats, she hasn't litter-trained them since they refuse to co-operate, and they poop everywhere. even on her friends! even if they're not litter-trained, shouldn't they be able to tell 'don't poop on other rats/humans'? my own rats never pooped on me, even before litter-training.

I'm just curious if this is a common occurrence. her rats are about 3 years old now, and they've always done this indiscriminate pooping. she says they're not scared, and they just poop about casually.
it doesn't bother her at all, but I'd just like to know if there's any possible causes. she's never seen them pooping on each other, so it's weird that they'd poop on humans. insights?

 

[SQ]

At their age, pooping anywhere they are is normal (although many elderly rats do their very best to get to their litterboxes) ...

Rats that do not use litterboxs often choose places in their cage to poop, usually corners.
But rats in cages with shavings, etc. may see the entire cage/world as their litter box, pooping everywhere.

 

[Moon]

I know I've been pooed on before. LOL

 

[sketchi]

But rats in cages with shavings, etc. may be used to see the entire cage/world as their litter box, pooping everywhere.

ah yes, that makes sense. her rats have always done this, even as wee spry things!

 

[Maple]

I've been pooed on before.

Me too, and not just by rats!

 

[user 1405]

I've been pooped on before by both Titan and Gizmo, but more so Titan for some odd reason. I've been peed on plenty of times by the rest of the gang though. Also, I've been pooped on enough by my birds.

 

[jorats]

Baby rats are pooping machines. If adult rats are pooping on you, they are scared.
Rats that aren't properly trained will poop everywhere... usually I find females easier to train.