Rubbing up against stuff?

[Scythe]

Lately, Al's been acting a little bit odd with the way he walks. He'll walk fine, but then suddenly he'll 'scoot' his butt(like a dog, but his butt doesn't actually touch the floor) a bit and I'm trying to check for a plug but he wont cooperate.

Then, after I tried checking for a penis plug, he started... rubbing up against things. Not standing there and rubbing back and forth, but he'll... slide up against it and them keep walking? And he just keeps doing it. He'll walk by something and he has to slide up against it, his whooole body, and he sort of tilts into it.

Someone said its a sign of aggression but none of the other rats are anywhere NEAR him(Ed and Roy were on the bed) and he was being completely friendly to me.

Is this a sign of something I should be worried about? It's something he just recently started, and I haven't seen him doing it in the cage yet. Just out-time.

 

[xxchelle]

He's probably marking his territory. "This is mine and this is mine and this is mine." I've seen some rats do it during out time here, and Jo's rat Chu does it in the video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tbIsiPs04O8

 

[Rachael]

Don't worry about it, I've had both boys and girls do it, just as said marking everything as their own.

 

[lilspaz68]

How old is your boy?

 

[jorats]

I'm guessing he's between 5 and 8 months old? Yep, he's marking his territory. Don't let him do that to you though. Push him away with a firm "NO" when he does. Same with the digging. That's another way they mark they rub their front paws on things.

 

[lilspaz68]

Also, don't let him mount your hand or arm...definitely stop him from that! Sometimes it can turn into a bad attack on you, not often but its best to just prevent it, plus you are the alpha here, and you don't want him getting any ideas that he can dominate you.

 

[Scythe]

He's actually a year old. Never does it inside the cage, and about a week ago he started the 'shuffling' and it was just the night that I posted the topic that he started the rubbing up on stuff....

LOL, Lilspaz that's a funny scenario. I never thought of that, but he's never tried.

I'll start telling him 'No' when he does. He's still not fighting any of the others(That's Ed and Roy's job; to fight each other and ignore him *rollseyes*), seems pretty chill to lay around in the cage.