Should I be correcting humping habbits?

[Roo]

Freya is a humper.

I had Nibbler for about a year and when I got Freya, the humping began.
They got along great, bathed each other, snuggled together, etc.
But whenever Freya got hyper, she would chase Nibbler down and hump away.
I thought it would just be a dominant thing that would pass, but months and months went by and it never ended.

Now we have Zumi and the same thing is going on. Grooming, snuggles, etc.
But when Freya gets excited/hyper she chases Zumi down and goes into hump-mode.

Zumi doesn't like it, but she doesn't fight back. She just squeaks protest.

I'm not really sure if Freya will ever stop since she never did with Nibbler, no matter how "submissive" Nibbler was.

----
I only did intros for a couple days, starting in the tub, then play time, then added their play-time-cage (hammock, food and water) then had them in the CN. There are no fights, no boxing matches... just the humping.

I guess I'm unsure if it will do anything if I go "backwards" with the intros and stop them from all sleeping in the CN together, and if I should be correcting Freya once it gets clear that she's driving Zumi bonkers... or if it's just a rat-thing that isn't causing any harm and I should just leave alone.

ETA: Pretty sure I put this in the wrong category as well

 

[SQ]

The girls are likely in heat.
Do you notice wiggling ears? Does the hyper girl freeze and quiver if you stroke her back near her tail?

 

[Roo]

oooo that could be it. She never ever does it to Badger.

I haven't seen the wiggling ears or the quiver if I stroke her back near her tail, it's like she snaps out of it as soon as she sees me. She'll run over for kisses/love. I'll have to watch closer.

If it is in heat, should I just let it be? And tune the protest-squeaks into just being a song of love? lol

 

[mamarat]

I would just leave them alone to do their thing especially if they're all sleeping together after.

 

[Roo]

:giggle: Poor Zumi.

Okay, I'll do that for now and just keep an eye on things. Boyfriend freaks out a little EVERY time he hears the smallest squeak (he had a blood-filled incident with hamsters when he was younger) so I think his "Oh my gosh, what's going on!?" is making me more paranoid.

Thanks :nod:

 

[jorats]

No humpers here but mine are all neutered and spayed.
But really, humpers are harmless and in fact help when there's a rat in heat. It's weird but it's like doing their humping helps calm the rat that "needs" in a way... am I making any sense?

 

[SQ]

No humpers here either ..... I also spay and neuter my rats

 

[xxchelle]

Ava is spayed and she STILL humps her neutered boyfriend, Clod. And he can't get away from her since he's at a disadvantage being a tri-pod. :giggle:

 

[Godmother]

I had a group of nine daughters and their mama once and, before the girls got spayed, they put on quite a show chasing each other and humping away. I found it hilarious. No harm done!

 

[Roo]

Ava is spayed and she STILL humps her neutered boyfriend, Clod. And he can't get away from her since he's at a disadvantage being a tri-pod. :giggle:

Ahaha! Poor Clod. :laugh4:

they put on quite a show chasing each other and humping away. I found it hilarious. No harm done!

Haha, I think I'd find it funny and cute if Zumi didn't get so annoyed by it. It's definitely not fun for her.

But really, humpers are harmless and in fact help when there's a rat in heat. It's weird but it's like doing their humping helps calm the rat that "needs" in a way... am I making any sense?

That does make sense. I'm not sure why I didn't think about her going in heat. :wallbang:
Probably because she's always crazy. lol

 

[fenshae]

Einstein went through a stage where he would hump anything that sat in one place, but he seems to have *almost* totally outgrown that. He still does it sometimes, though. And then if he tries to hump the wrong thing (like, say, alpha-rat Basil) he usually ends up flat on his back with a confused look on his face.

 

[smilez_n_hugs]

If I remember correctly Freya was Alice at CCH right? If so she may have picked that up my from my Lily (who I also adopted from CCH) if I remember correctly Lily humped poor Freya/Alice when they first met. I've since had Lily spayed and that completely eliminated the humping but other than spaying I'm not sure how you would correct her humping if it's a hormonal response to her or the other girls being in heat. Like everyone else said, I'd just leave her be unless it gets to the point where Zumi is aggressively fighting back.

 

[Roo]

Good memory! Freya was Alice. I'll blame Lily then. Thanks, Lily! :lol2:

It's still confusing us. Zumi is SUCH a squeaker. And Freya is super "I'm in yo face!" all the time.
So if they're both awake, all I hear is "squeak... squeak... squeak... SQUEAK! *silence* ... squeak. squeak." for about a half hour... then sometimes Badger will get involved (I have trouble figuring out who the 'alpha rat' is) and then there will be peace for 15 minutes or so. Then the casual squeak again from Zumi will start. :roll:

But Zumi squeaks over nothing.

I just hope Freya will annoy her less sometime soon. :giggle:

 

[hprats]

My four boys have all humped one another at one point...