# What did you do for humping?



## CourteesRatties (Feb 23, 2016)

Now most people say humping is a dominance thing and i have to disagree from what ive read its just a young rattie thing and a horomone release and usually fades. Right now leo only does it when their in their play pen not the cage. Just to satisfy my curiosity what have you guys done to help this aside from neutering?


----------



## Fu-Inle (Jan 22, 2015)

I don't do anything, I let my rats hump eachother as much as they like.


----------



## moonkissed (Dec 26, 2011)

It is some of both. Some rats will do it during hormone surges. You can see that with females who do so during their heats. 
But you also have it happen when rats first meet each other and even in rats of all ages. 

There is nothing to do or nothing you should do. It is just what they do lol

It is normal animal behavior and not something to be worried with.


----------



## Lucozade126 (Jul 31, 2016)

One of our two girls tries to hump the other nearly every time she is in heat, I'm not sure who is in charge at the moment (it seems to be changing again) but the last time she humped her she was very much the underdog and wasn't getting away with it in the slightest.


----------



## Veileddreamer (Sep 21, 2015)

What do I do? I politely look the other way, haha.In seriousness, like Moonkissed said, there's not much you can or even should do for it. I don't think you can train them out of it even if you tried, and personally I think it'd be not the best choice to punish them for it anyway, since that'd unfairly put stress on them for something harmless. However if it's just a small part of an ongoing dominance issue (which it seems like for your rats it's not as far as you can tell) then there's things that can be done to try to fix the excessive fighting situation.


----------



## Kelsbels (Aug 12, 2015)

*sigh* My girls do it all the time when they're in heat. Not much I can do except say, "NOOOO YOU'RE SISTERS! WHY?!!" hahaha


----------



## TheRatAttack (Mar 29, 2016)

I just close my eyes and wait for them to finish


----------



## Heyyouguys (Jun 19, 2016)

Aha! Was just about to write my own question about this very topic... but what do you do if your rat humps you!? I was playing with my boys and my dominant chunk got super crazy playful and started attacking the other one and he was squeaking so I stepped in, then when I was just checking to see if they were okay (I was maybe overreacting as they are perfectly unharmed) chunk went insane and straddled my arm and started violently humping my forearm! He did nip but it wasn't painful at all and I flipped and pinned him as soon as I was able to wrestle him off my arm. Both of my boys are coming up to 6 months now so hormones are flying I realise that.. but is humping ME normal? I've never seen them hump each other, they just wrestle. Sorry to hijack the thread a bit


----------



## Gribouilli (Dec 25, 2015)

I don't think I ever saw my female rats humping each other...maybe...I can't remember. My neutered male rats NEVER humped, not sure if it would always be the the case with neutered males, but it is in my case.


----------



## Rat Daddy (Sep 25, 2011)

Girls will take advantage of an exposed forearm too.... That being said girls will be girls and I have enough trouble with them not being girls with our boy Spot... He's such a big romantic spud, he doesn't realize the girls just want him for one thing... and it isn't his big intellect.


----------



## Grotesque (Mar 19, 2014)

When Guy gets overexcited during our playtime (he is aggressive with other rats so he lives alone), he goes after my hands. I'm glad he is neutered or it'd be a bit more disgusting.


----------



## moonkissed (Dec 26, 2011)

Heyyouguys said:


> Aha! Was just about to write my own question about this very topic... but what do you do if your rat humps you!? I was playing with my boys and my dominant chunk got super crazy playful and started attacking the other one and he was squeaking so I stepped in, then when I was just checking to see if they were okay (I was maybe overreacting as they are perfectly unharmed) chunk went insane and straddled my arm and started violently humping my forearm! He did nip but it wasn't painful at all and I flipped and pinned him as soon as I was able to wrestle him off my arm. Both of my boys are coming up to 6 months now so hormones are flying I realise that.. but is humping ME normal? I've never seen them hump each other, they just wrestle. Sorry to hijack the thread a bit


It is 100% normal. Boys will hump everything and anything lol

I have a cat who has humped every stuffed animal in the house, all the pillows and blankets and my leg..... ugh boys lol

I would not -"flipped and pinned him as soon as I was able to wrestle him off my arm" there is no reason to flip and pin him (really ever IMO). I would just remove your arm from him.

As someone else said, it is not anything bad or something that needs to be punished. It is natural animal behavior and comes with having frisky little animals lol. 
I would just simple redirect him to doing something else and not worry about it.


----------



## Heyyouguys (Jun 19, 2016)

I only pinned him because I see them playing like that and I thought if I try and play rough he would maybe be distracted enough not to hump me again haha. He does it when I move him away from things he's not meant to be near (like the bin) too, almost like a temper tantrum. He's limp when I pick him up, relaxed and stuff, then when I put him down he popcorns around and hump attacks my arm! 

Glad it's normal though and he's actually completely non violent, just super hyperactive and playful... just wondered why the humping was reserved for me. Then again, he probably gets a nip from his cage mate for that behaviour lol


----------

