odd behavior, rubbing (lower body), digging, etc.

[coreline]

ok, forgive me if this post is a mess! I am running on 5 hours sleep and need to pass out!

so, just over a week ago I brought home 1 boy and a pair of sisters. the boy obviously lives in one room and the girls the others, as we do not want any litters. the girls are set to be spayed as soon as they are big enough.

they are from a shelter who took them in from a hoarding situation. they are super friendly, but quite a bit skittish still (loud noises means a freak out. and loud doesn't have to be very loud for them). they are getting braver by the day though.

tonight I was doing a pre-bed time check in and playing with the girls. everything was dandy, except for one girl being skittish (she was a little hand shy after being held still for revolution dosing the night before. she was held still for like, 30 seconds and she still resents it lol) until I noticed the other girl doing what I associate as territorial behavior. she was rushing around the cage, rushing at the bars (not lunging, but very much so needing to BE at the bars. like when there's something right on the other side they see as a threat.), etc. so I let her out when she slowed down a bit. she then proceeded to go between being normal and rubbing her lower body (almost frog legged. like she was rubbing her genitals on the carpet), digging at the carpet, etc. she would go up to a book and rub on it flopping around (this probably being the more traditional territorial behavior that I am familiar with). in between she'd just be running around exploring, thought a bit more intense/energetic than usual. it was all very charged/frantic.

she had been fine just a moment before and for about 15 - 20 minutes of play time. I probably had boy smell on me, as he lives in my room and I handle him off and on. but they've been exposed to his scent all week and even have a few things with his scent in their room and haven't reacted to it at all.

my first instinct is to say this was territorial, triggered by what I am not sure. it just happened so out of the blue and was so frantic, I am puzzled.

I've been very lucky in the past, I've only had a couple territorial rats (both girls), but neither did any rubbing, etc. behavior. they were more "we won't let you intro ANYONE into our cage >".

 

[jorats]

Yep. Your first instinct is right. She may or may not get over it after her spay. She'll be your bossy little girl. My Chu was like that. Had to rub herself on everything and rub with her paws everything in a digging motion. But she was the sweetest and gentlest girl of all.

 

[hopefloats]

After intros with my males and females my bindi did that. Templeton would rub on something bindi would go right behind him and rub it too. Hilarious to watch. She was never mean or horrible. A little cocky with the school girls but that was it.

 

[coreline]

that makes me feel SO much better. it was a bit surprising, because we'd been playing for 15 minutes and she'd smelled our boy rat before. she had actually just been playing in the room fine the night before as well. he only came home the night before the girls and we've had to be a little less vigilant on separating smells because of my limited resources (we kind of fell in love with the boy when not expecting to bring home rats for another 3 months lol. then we fell for the girls as buddies.). so they've shared (washed) hammocks, etc. all ready. his carrier is also stored in their room.

she must have just been a bit worked up last night!

I may have some interesting intros in 4 months lol. the boy is a super marker. like, he unleashes 1/4 of his bladder on me constantly. I don't know how he stays hydrated they are both little squishes though. behind the skittishness they just LOVE people. I think with some more trust training they are going to be so relaxed...with people at least hah.

so hopefully neither of them are like my girl Mini. Mini was 200g of pure bossy pants. when I tried to intro a neutered boy to the crew, she wanted nothing to do with him. first she just ignored him, then she tried to drag him off my Dad's lap when they got to non neutral intros, and in a cage? screaming and lunging. no biting thankfully, all noise. ironically, her bossy daughter took to him and they were my dream couple :giggle:

 

[jorats]

It sounds like you've got experience and is quite ready for this one.

 

[coreline]

a little bit! I hope it's enough if she's truly bossy. Mini was my worst intro ever, especially since I think she'd be one of those rats who would take months to accept a new rat, if ever. thankfully I have these forums to go to for advice if Pepper turns into that kind of situation

Pepper (the territorial little lady!) was at it again tonight. I noticed that her main spot she was marking was a book that I know for sure had been marked by my previous girls (ironically, over 1 year ago. no one has had free roaming time in there in a long time. since once everyone hit middle - older age we just had out time on the bed). like I said, it was 1 year ago +. so you'd think most of the odors would have died down, but I am thinking that this is what actually triggered her, not the boy smell. the spots in her cage she was trying to get to were where I had cleaned the wall behind the RUUD before bringing them home. I'm thinking maybe there are some odors I missed! she's pretty relaxed about it though now. I think she's realizing this is her place now and wants it to smell 100% like her.

is there a Febreze like product for spot cleaning primarily fabric surfaces to eliminate odors, that is rat safe? I may harass my vet again tomorrow and ask about it with them too. I don't think a full carpet clean would make sense right now because they'd have to stay out of the room for a few days to let it dry and they are just now getting comfortable in the room as it is.

 

[jorats]

I wouldn't use any fragrance spray, usually those things just end up masking the odour and with rats, or any animals, they can smell the underlying scent.
One thing you could do is apply baking soda to the carpet and book, leave it on for a few minutes and then vacuum. You could spray the book lightly with vinegar and wipe, don't expose too much vinegar to the rats though, some are sensitive to it as well. Baking soda usually neutralizes smells, not mask it so that would be your best bet.

 

[coreline]

that will be perfect! exactly what I need ~ I am not a huge fan of febreze, I just couldn't think of any spot cleaners that might be gentle lol.

I can probably just use some more soap and elbow grease for the wall spot that I think is bothering them. my previous girls were talented at managing to pee out of the cage and onto the wall >.> I still don't know how they did it, but they did.