# Signs of female rats coming into heat.



## AJ Black-Savage

Our two girls are about 13 weeks old now, but we have noticed some signs (ears wriggling especially) that they might be in heat. Despite nothing has been changed with their routine, they have become rather shy and more timid (frost is very jumpy while Aslan is more clingy to me)What are the oblivious signs that they are coming into heat? Have we guessed right?


----------



## Hephaestion

Yep. You guessed it! Ear wriggling and lordosis (arching of the back, posturing the rump) are the signs. Some of my girls become more pingy when in heat, a little brazen and a little tricky to handle ( by this I mean difficult to pick up ). When in season, they will play tag and chase games all day/ night as well as create a rumpus of humping in the cage. It's all very funny really. In a few hours, all will be well again!


----------



## I love all my girls

How long are they usually in heat for ? When will they be back to their usual selves? 

Sent from Petguide.com Free App


----------



## ratclaws

Only for a few hours usually. I just give them that day that they come into heat to play it through!


----------



## AJ Black-Savage

Thank you  frost is also scent marking a lot, usually on my partner. She hasn't attempted to do it to me yet but she has got him twice now. It makes sense  I just saw that as revenge as when we were driving home with them in a box on my lap one did a massive wee on me then got pooped on that night!?lolIs there a way we can make life a bit more easier for them while they are like this?


----------



## nanashi7

It usually lasts about 6-12 hours and begins at night. The only thing with my female is that she doesn't like to be handled during this time. I keep track of her "days", since it is a cycle around every 5 days. When it's the day, I spoil her in the cage but otherwise leave her alone. If your household only has female rats, they may cease to go into heat altogether.


----------



## PurpleGirl

Only one of my females visibly goes into heat - ear wiggling, vibrating, increased speed, arched back when touched - and she can be difficult to handle. It always starts in the evening and lasts until the wee early hours. In her youth, it used to happen every 5 or 6 days but as she's gotten older, it's much less frequent (perhaps twice a month now, she's 1 year and 9 months) and before my neutered male was introduced into their cage, she had stopped going into heat altogether for several months. Her sister has never visibly been in heat and neither had the female I lost yesterday, I wondered if perhaps only the alpha female of the cage goes into heat for some reason, no idea if that's right though, just a speculation. I tend to leave her alone while she's like that, as she's so focused on her mating behaviour that she runs away from me and squeaks a lot, it's easier to let her 'dance' it out of her system.


----------



## I love all my girls

Stripe is humping the other girls cuz she's in heat. Do I just leave it be ?

Sent from Petguide.com Free App


----------



## Sahnonnah

I just let them hump. It can be a bit rough but my girls never hurt each other and they are crazy when they're in heat. The one who's in heat usually gets chased around my room hours on end, the 2 others are following her like they're a train or something like that. They argue a little too, the one in heat gets sick of the others pretty quick.  when they come out of it everyone is back to normal and happy. 

Sent from Petguide.com Free App


----------



## I love all my girls

I had to bath them as Stripe peed on them all & they were soaked. She normally only pees on the pee rocks. Is that normal behavior? 

Sent from Petguide.com Free App


----------



## Isamurat

PurpleGirl;783946. Her sister has never visibly been in heat and neither had the female I lost yesterday said:


> All females still come into heat every 5 or so days, can be longer for some. I think the thing is girls who have reasonably high levels of hormones show it more than others. Those lower in the pak often have less reason to go nutty. The first heat is normally the most obvious and intense as the girls are just not used to it, they can become semi unhandalable at that one. Most of the time though I've had no trouble handling girls on heat, they are very hard to judge in pet classes though lol.
> 
> Interestingly rates can be triggered on to heat by boy smell if they aren't used to it and even the smell of un familiar girls. Which can be very handy if you are trying to mate rats up in proper breeding. I will say you haven't seen a girl really in heat until she's with a boy, some of them virtually fly, we had one girl who was so fast her suitor never caught up with her, admittedly he badly needed a diet so it was probably for the best it didn't happen.


----------

