[rattikins]

Hi everyone! I had a strange thing happen with my little rat girls tonight and I'm hoping someone knows what the heck they were up to.

I have two female sisters, about 4 months old. I often take them out to play and let them run loose in one of my rooms where it's "ratproofed"

Anyway, to the point - tonight when they were out playing and running around I noticed something very strange on 5 seperate occasions during the half hour play time.

One of the girls kept jumping on the other girl and the one being "mounted" raised her behind way up and it seemed that she made a rather suggestive sexual signal, while the other girl on top responded with what looked like "humping" (and I apologize for the graphicness) :?

They have never done anything like this before and being that they are both female and sisters, I found it very strange.

Someone please reply and let me know if you have ever seen this or know what the heck they were doing?!?! It concerned me quite a bit.

Thank you in advance!!

 

[Forensic]

It's a form of dominance play.

The one on the bottom is likely in heat, and the one on top is showing that she's the alpha female right now.

Or something like that.

My boys mount each other too (they just don't welcome it when they're on the receiving end. :lol: )

 

[rattikins]

Ahhhhh.... well that makes a lot of sense actually. Thank you so much!!

You know the other one (the mounter) was doing the tail lift thing a few night ago (and I have read that they go into heat every few days right?) and the girl who got mounted tonight didn't do anything to the more dominant one, but tonight when it was the other way around, the aggressor did mount her sister.

It's funny because when I hand them a treat through the bars, it's always the mounter who tries to eat hers fast and steal the other girl's treat. She is the Alpha rat.

One last thing though, if you happen to know, WHY did the meak one seem to "present" though? Was it her way of saying "I'm in heat, are you a male rat?" or was she saying "I'm in heat, and I'm challenging you" (kinda along with the dominance thing)???

Thanks again!!

 

[Forensic]

Well, some females will actually present to their humans if touched on the back... In a rather instinctive reaction, perhaps that has something to do with it?

 

[crapola]

my girls try to mount each other all the time. i really must try to get a photo of the 5 of them trying to mount all at once...

 

[rattikins]

Oh my goodness!! I'm so glad to hear that I'm not the only one with crazy mounting rat girls!! Ha ha!!

To get even more crude, and I do apologize for this next question, do they "spray" anything on each other when they do their tail lift presenting thing??

Thanks!

 

[crapola]

i hope not or mine would be almost permanently covered in spray, lol!!!

 

[Forensic]

They might widdle on each other a bit to mark each other, but I don't think they'd spray anything... I don't know if they can...

 

[rattikins]

Okay, so my girls are still doing this. I really don't care for it, but I suppose it's natural so it's okay.

However, the more they do it, the more I have to think about it, and I still cannot quite understand one thing.

For the female who is in heat, presenting her backside, tail lifted makes perfect sense. She doesn't understand that her sister isn't going to impregnate her, she's just doing what she is supposed to do.

However, WHAT does the mounting rat get out of the exchange?!?! Why in the world does she get on top of her sister and shake her leg the way she does? It's so strange and does not make any sense as it is not useful in procreation.

Anyone know the answer?? I cannot find it anywhere online. It's so frustrating that there is so little information out there about rats. When I google it, I come up with more results about how to kill (waahhhhh) pesty rats than about them as pets.

Thank you for your help!!

 

[chrisstrikeagain]

i'd like to know too! Victoria is in heat and Coco has been taggin along her all nite. even victoria is sick of it.

 

[Pomperella]

i think the mounter gets the pleasure of reinterating her dominance?

and can i just say....forensic said "widdle", i love that word!!!!

 

[mopydream44]

First of all, this has been rather entertaining to read.

Secondly, given the current discussion you might find this interesting.

Some species of Whiptail Lizards are made up entirely of females, and they reproduce by parthenogenesis. Parthenogenesis is the development of an embryo without fertilization from a male. Even though they can reproduce without males the females will mount others females and act out mating. This stimulates the female and increases her chances of reproducing.

So I dunno, as odd as it sounds, perhaps the reason girl ratties will mount eachother is similar to why Whiptail Lizards mount eachother.

 

[rattikins]

Thank you everyone for your help!

I guess I'm just going to have to get used to this behavior. Although I don't like it, because I feel that it make the omega girl unhappy, I will tolerate it because it IS natural to them. Ha ha!

Thanks again!!!!