# Peeing on me



## deadgirl (Sep 18, 2012)

So every once in a while when I take Dante out, he pees whenever he crawls on or over me. It's really strange because
1. He's not scared of me- every time he hears my voice he gets excited and started jumping around and crawling up the side of his cage where the door is, and he spends a good portion of his "out" time just sitting or snuggling with me
2. He's not scared of being out- Just about every time I open the cage to feed them he tries to jump out

I have potentially ruled out a bladder thing, because he doesn't pee on anything else. Just me,
And this may not be the same for rats, but he doesn't stay in one place like dogs do when they're marking their territory. He does it as hes crawling on me.
Help? He's super affectionate, I love having him with me and I feel bad because they haven't had much out-time since I moved in with my boyfriend, but I don't love the pee.


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## tifffanyadams (Oct 23, 2012)

It could be a territorial thing, pretty much marking you as a sign of affection to say "smell this? This is MINE!" and that honestly could be my only guess.


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## SezSorkin (Jun 11, 2012)

My boys pee on me all the time, its gross but its a territory thing... he's marking you


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## Cupcake&Candy (Jun 5, 2012)

I would have to agree; my 6 females all pee on me most of their "out time" also. It seems to be a universal behavior for critters.


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## LightningWolf (Jun 8, 2012)

It's scent marking. In rat language that's how they strengthen and reconfirm that they are in the same colony, and sometimes even what rank you are in the colony. Rats do the same thing to each other.


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## TachisMom (Oct 17, 2012)

I'm pretty sure he's marking you as his


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## deadgirl (Sep 18, 2012)

awww that's so sweet, I wish it wasn't so gross! Oh well, it's usually just a little dribble, I'll deal with it.
I can't get over how cute that is.


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## Rat Daddy (Sep 25, 2011)

It gets better as your rat gets older... And I got tagged after I took a shower and smelled wrong. And with my new rat when we are outdoors because she doesn't know where to go outdoors or want's to make sure no to lose me by marking me...

That said, rats have to go to the bathroom after they wake up from a nap. They will run to be picked up and just like little kids forget to go to the bathroom before they go out. If our rat just woke up, we take her out and put her back in the cage or in her travel cage to pee after about 3 minutes out. I also keep the travel cage on my desk. This really helps avoid the big puddles.

As to a bladder thing... after swimming outdoors or being really cold for a few hours, she "leaks" for a few days afterwards. I've only had one rat with this issue, she's had it all her life, but that's what it looks like.


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