Rat Behaviour

Each individual rat’s behaviour will vary according to its personality, but generally rats are inquisitive, active, and sociable. Young rats are usually particularly active, and will play with each other much like puppies do. Wrestling, chasing, and play fighting is common and only very rarely ends in any sort of injury. Babies will sometimes play in the same way with their people and will chase and battle with hands. As rats get older they usually calm down. Male rats are usually more cuddly than females and enjoy scratches and snoozing on their owners. Females tend to stay more active, but will often check in with their owners periodically for a quick pat before running off on another adventure.

Common rat behaviours include:

• Boggling: This is when a rat vibrates its eyes, causing them to bulge in and out rapidly. It looks strange, but usually indicates pleasure or contentment. Spometimes it can indicate that a rat is in pain if it occurs alongside other signs of pain.

• Bruxing: This behaviour is often seen in conjunction with boggling, when a rat is particularly happy. It involves the rat softly grinding its teeth together and creates a rasping sound. Sometimes stressed rats will exhibit this behaviour, though it is usually more of a chatter combined with an alert or aggressive pose.

• Sidling/crab walking: This is when a rat inches sideways with it’s back arched. It is an aggressive or threatening behaviour, usually displayed by a dominant rat. This is not a behaviour usually seen in play but is often part of more serious fights or stand offs. 

• Boxing: Boxing rats will stand on their hind legs and paw at each other. This is usually a defensive behaviour used to keep an aggressive rat from biting. Playing rats often box for short periods of time, if two rats are boxing for more than a minute and exhibiting other signs of aggression it is more likely they are engaging in an actual fight rather than play fighting.

• Food Stashing: Some rats will move food from their bowls and hide it in piles around their cages. This is mostly a personality based behaviour and doesn't mean a rat is under or over feed. Some owners will give thier rats a 'fast day' once per week where their bowls are left empty which gives them a chance to eat any hidden stashes.

• Ear Wiggling: Female rats in heat will display distinctive ear vibrations when touched, while holding their bodies tense and still. They often also hop rapidly with pauses in between each jump. Females come into heat every 5 days and will usually remain in heat for up to one day.

• Head swaying: Pink eyed rats sometimes sway from side to side to compensate for poor vision.

• Squeaking: Squeaking is usually heard when a rat feels threatened in some way. Most commonly a rat will squeak when a dominant rat is showing aggressive behaviour toward it. Some rats will squeak when picked up to indicate displeasure or discomfort. Squeaking can vary a lot between rats with some being very vocal and some being almost completely silent to human ears.