# Why has my boy started scent marking me?



## Nikadi (Jan 11, 2014)

Every single time one of my boys is out he starts marking me. Usually on my trousers. Why has he started doing this? It's only something he's started doing the past few weeks and I thought it would stop but if anything it's getting worse?!


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## Isamurat (Jul 27, 2012)

How old is he? Its not uncommon for boys to increase the amount they mark when they go through sexual maturity around 3-9 months. Marking is an important part of them demonstrating there position in the pack so they can also go through a marking frenzy when the heirachy is unstable, say the top rat is ill, or newcomers have joined. It is more common in dominant rats as they have more to "shout about" as such. Think of it as the rat version of graffeti (though its not considered a bad thing in rat society) essentially saying "I was here and Im important, dont go messing with my terratory". Essentially he's making it clear your part of his family which is quite nice really.

In terms of stopping it, it may reduce naturally as things settle down but i doubt it will stop, most males mark a fair bit, in fact so do many females too. Neutering can (but doesnt always) reduce it, but i am quite against neutering for aesthetic reasons, its a harsh reason to put a rat through a surgical procedure, albeit a relatively low risk one (rats can and do occasionally die during routine neutering even with the best vet). I would personally just wear old clothes or have a rat blanket/towel you can throw over your trousers if it bothers you


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## LeStan82 (Dec 31, 2013)

It's a male rattie thing. They mark their territory. I have found youngsters dont do it much until they get around 4-5 months old. When they hit puberty.


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## lalalauren (Jul 3, 2013)

My boys have just hit puberty, and it's gross. My older boys have grown out of it though, so I'm hoping these boys do as well. Until them, I'm just not telling my boyfriend how much they actually scent mark, and I will NEVER run a black light over my sofa


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## Nikadi (Jan 11, 2014)

They're 4ish months so that explains it  I did wonder if it was that or something else, but I couldn't really work out what else it could be! We were expecting it to start happening a bit more but not as much as Howl is doing it.


I'm more puzzled by how it's just one of the two boys doing it, surely both would in a bid to 'out-mark' one another? And why just me and not DP or other people? It's also only my lap that he does it on. All very odd.


Our vet has refused to neuter them as he feels the risks are unnecessary (as do we, but it came up in a conversation about getting our girls spayed and him feeling that the benefit didn't outweigh the risk at their age as they are a year old at least).


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## Isamurat (Jul 27, 2012)

If one of you boys isn’t really hierarchically motivated then he isn’t likely to mark as mych, they do pop up, possibly having lower testosterone levels than a typical male, I have noticed they often have softer coats too. Harshness of the coat is part diet and part testosterone (why there coats and smell changes when they first start generating the hormone properly around 12-13 weeks). Of my 2 youngsters one marks heavily, is built like a brick (a very muscular brick) and has a very bucky coat, his brother marks a lot less, is more slender and feminine and has a smoother coat. I find most groups tend to have at least one of each, though sometimes you get multiple relatively dominant rats in a group.

As to why he’s marking you / your jeans more than anything else, its probably because you are more important to him than other things. They tend to mark the important things like food, there beds, each other and their humans more than say a cushion they walk over once in a while. Marking is all about informing other rats (outside there group) that this thing is theirs, as well as communicating lots of info about the rats that own that area (hopefully to scare them off). If there is a thing that is important to them that magically becomes clean and no longer smells then they feel the need to mark it again, to make sure ownership is clear. So when you clean your jeans your wiping away the fact your lad “owns” your lap, so he has to mark it again. 

Theres also a tendency to mark certain surfaces more than others, I believe this links to how well it retains the smell (porous holds smell for longer unless its cleaned), this tends to me more done on a patrol and around the extent of the territory. Shiny and smooth surfaces are particularly popular, and rubbery surfaces which have a natural smell of there own (leather is similar). This is probably why rats love to mark remote controls and phones so much…

Looking over that I think it’s a little sad how much time I’ve clearly spent working out why my boys pee…


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## Nikadi (Jan 11, 2014)

Haku is generally the dominant one, he's bigger and wins more 'fights' with Howl, doesn't really mark either me or DP though. Very interesting to know though! We'll see what happens when/if we introduce another boy or two later on!


Yes, I think he disapproves of me washing my clothes -_-


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## aimleigh (Feb 7, 2014)

My flash does this more than jack does this mean flash is more dominant than jack? And their fur hasn't changed either and they're 16 weeks old.


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## Juliah456 (Mar 12, 2014)

I just wear a pair of sweatpants of pj pants when I play with my boys, and just kindof have those pants set aside for rattie play time. Now that I'm quite bonded with them I don't worry about it. They also seem to have started marking less after a while. I think it may be that they just know that they own me and they're not as worried about marking me as theirs. I don't know. But if it does really but you then I'd say just set aside an old pair of comfy pants for rat cuddles.


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## Juliah456 (Mar 12, 2014)

Nikadi said:


> Haku is generally the dominant one, he's bigger and wins more 'fights' with Howl, doesn't really mark either me or DP though. Very interesting to know though! We'll see what happens when/if we introduce another boy or two later on!Yes, I think he disapproves of me washing my clothes -_-


 Love your boys' names


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## Nikadi (Jan 11, 2014)

Thank you  We were supposed to get two girls who we were going to call Sophie and Chihiro, then the breeder handed DP two boys so we had to keep to the theme  We may be getting another pair of boys later in the year and can't decide which Ghibli boys to name them after at the moment! I'm tempted to go down a different route and name my pairs to different themes, rather than the whole lot over one theme though!

I do tend to wear PJ trousers when holding them (I change into them as soon as I get home from work!), I don't mind when they pee on parts of my trousers that don't feel weird, but because they mostly sit at the top of my lap it ends up in areas that feel horrid, like where the top of my leg meets my pelvis. Gits. I ended up sitting with just a blanket on the other week as they peed on my last two pairs of trousers within minutes of each other!


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