Sexual frustration in rats?

[Nimue]

I am in the process of painting my living room, and I temporarily moved the rats into the dining room, out of fume-range.  Because I live in a wee little house, I had to stack the cages on top of each other to make room, and bungeed them, so they won't fall.  Anyway, I like it like this, and was thinking about doing it when I move them back into the living room.

My husband says that putting the girls' cage on top of the boys' cage is "torture" for the boys, and the constant frustration will make them grouchy.  The boys are 7 weeks old.  He knows nothing about rats, but apparently remembers something about being a frustrated teen!  

Anybody know?  I know better than to put the cages side by side (just in case), but is it okay to put one on top of the other?  I was going to put hooks in the wall for extra stability, but if it's a bad thing to have them together like that, I won't bother.  They seem fine this way, but I don't think any of the girls are in heat right now.

[zenith931]

Personally, I wouldn't.  When the girls DO go into heat, your boys will be going CRAZY to get out at any moment. Taking them out for playtime?  They might cling to the walls of the cage and try to scale up to the other.  I don't know how'd they act through the cage.... it IS torture for them.  

[sugarfoxx]

I have 6 adult males.  My two females that I have only had for about 2 months are of course apart from the males but I can tell u that since the girls have had their babies......when the girls are out to play and after that I let my boys out (they are over 1 years old and the others are nearing 2 years old) they get pretty ummmmm.....wired.....puff their hair.....bop each other around a little more than normal and its like they are searching for the female. They can smell her and it makes them angry.  Now I know that I will have to find a new area for the girls to play so it doesnt upset the males like it has.

Boys will be boys!  LOL

[obsession]

ah gizmo just loves to tease the boys.. she will scale their cage and then sit on top and just groom herself etc.. . she also likes the steal food from the boys(grabs the food from outside the cage, sometimes even when they are mid-chewing) its hilarious.. but the boys tease the girls when they are out. So i guess you get what you give

[Nimue]

I seem to have underestimated the power of the testicle.  Thanks for the advice, before I put hooks in the wall!

So, how far apart does everyone keep their boys and girls?  Should I keep the cages in different rooms, or ten feet apart in the same room?  Don't want the boys agitated every time the girls are in heat....

[zenith931]

You DID say you have a very small house.  I think the most opportune place would be in separate rooms.  But if that's not feasable, I'd put them in separate ends of the room, the boys still might act a little wired with the girls in heat, but they won't be going as BESERK if the cage was right above theirs.  

It was a good idea, though!    If you had two cages or girls or boys, that would be a great idea.  But the power of .... well, sex, is pretty powerful.  

[Nimue]

Okay, "wee" was my term, but I'm not living in a Lil Tykes house, so I think I can manage separate rooms.  

Still wonder what the scent range of an in-heat female is...

[Heather]

I have my cages about 5 feet apart on the same wall and my boys don't even notice the girls anymore. When Mala and Meeu ran around my room a few times (now I put them in the hallway and shut my door)when I was cleaning their cage, they'd run up to the boy's cage (which is a homemade Ruud and on the floor) and stare. I think the boys were more interested in "Why does this rat not smell like Fritos" then trying to try getting out to mate with them.

[flambled]

I have my boys cage right next to my ladies cage.  I can't tell they act any different than they did when they were in seperate rooms.  

[Johari]

My girl's cage is right above my boy's cage. The boys don't really seem to notice that the girls are even there. Of course there is a tray seperating them.. I dunno..

*Jo*

[scout]

My boys weren't the problem with all the rats in the same room, it was one of the girls! If she smelled the boys on my hands, she'd nip at me. The boys were quite interested in the scent the girls left, but other than some power sniffing the floor, you wouldn't have known they knew. And with 5 girls, someone was always in heat.

[Marybelle]

Yeah, my boys and girls are in the same room, and other than very interested sniffing if I smell like girls, they don't act any differently.  Of course, they did the same thing when they were in seperate rooms, so...   No changes at all.

I don't know what the scent range of a female in heat is, but we've got the cages within a foot of each other, and it doesn't seem to upset them.  In fact, the only time the boys seem upset is when the girls are getting treats and they're not.  

[menagerie]

I've got two cages of boys 1 ft from the girls' cage. Two boys live in the top level of the 3 level girls cage.

A couple of the girls like to walk on the little boys cage and the big boys like to waddle over to see the girls in the morning. I don't notice any difference in behavior from one day to the next.

If it works better for you to have one cage on top of the other I say go ahead.

[sugarfoxx]

I can HEAR my boys sniffing really loud from the hallway with the door shut....thats how good they sniff the ladies out!!
Course they all have stuffy noses half the time and deep whiffing actually clears their clogs and they get a good sneeze out after a deep whiff. Its so funny!!

boys will be boys but those girls can be a tease too!

[LittlePixie]

I have four males and two females... the four boys are in a cage on a stand and the girls are on the ground. So, while they are right next to each other I'm not entirely sure they're aware of each other's existence... as Marybelle said it's only if one cage gets a treat that the other doesn't!

[Nimue]

Hmm.  Well, maybe I should wait and see what kind of boys I have before I make any arrangement decisions.  (It's going to take forever to finish my paint project, anyway!) Sounds like some of the boys on this forum are more laid back than others.  So far, mine really don't seem to care much about the girls' cage, but they're only 7 weeks old.  

Thanks for all the input!

[sugarfoxx]

My older boys (that are both at the rainbow bridge waiting for me and the other ratties) were 3 years old. They didnt care about the girls. I think they were beyond their "courting" years.  Some boys care while others dont. My two very high strung 1 year old males go nuts and end up fighting each other if they get a good whiff of the girls. I cannot allow them to even play on the same floor AFTER the girls. I put the playpen out on a rug.....when the girls go in......i remove the rug. That still didnt help so now the boys come out first on the rug.....girls second.....no rug.  
Oh the things we do for our fuzzy bum rats!

[BabyBlue]

I have 10 boys and 7 girls in my room, about 3 feet apart from each other. I used to have them right next to each other before and haven't notice my boys being any more naughty or frustrated than they normally are Sometimes one of them would get too close to the cage of the opposite sex and some of them don't like that, but it really depends on the individual rat more so than the gender IMO. I have girls who hates other girls in other cage and would hiss at them if they walked by

[Adventure Rats]

Right now 4 out of my 31 rats are intacked males, they are 7 months old and I have had to separate 2 of them toatlly because of teh sexual aggression. We are in a VERY small living space so all the rats have to be on some what close to each other (they can't make any type of contact at all). I'm having teh boys neutered next week. I can't take it. Not to mention of them is even sexually aggressive with ME...sound wierd I know but I'm telling you his thingy pops out and he tries to hump my hand. I've had it, I like him A LOT but not that much

Good luck, I'd wait to see how they are once they get a little older. Since they are just small boys they may just grow up accepting the fact that girls live next door...or...up stairs with no problems at all.

[menagerie]

Not to mention of them is even sexually aggressive with ME...sound wierd I know but I'm telling you his thingy pops out and he tries to hump my hand. I've had it, I like him A LOT but not that much

  Misha got amorous with my arm a few times when he was young. I thought it was the funniest thing. I hope my laughing didn't hurt his little male ego.  

[stripedrats]

I was just wondering- How long does a female rat stay in heat? One of my girls causes physical damage to my boys when she's in heat, she bites them if they crawl on the cage. I was thinking I could move the girls' cage to my mom's office next door when she's in heat, and move them back when she's "normal" again. When she's not in heat, everyone gets along fine. I'll be getting her spayed, as well as the other two girls, but we can't afford it right now, unfortunetly  

[Adventure Rats]

I was just wondering- How long does a female rat stay in heat? One of my girls causes physical damage to my boys when she's in heat, she bites them if they crawl on the cage. I was thinking I could move the girls' cage to my mom's office next door when she's in heat, and move them back when she's "normal" again. When she's not in heat, everyone gets along fine. I'll be getting her spayed, as well as the other two girls, but we can't afford it right now, unfortunetly  

I THINK....females go into heat for a few hours every 5 days. Not 100% sure but it's often and for very short periods at a time.

[flannel]

Now I have the exact opposite experience from most of you.  My boys and girls live right next door to each other.  They can sniff each other and interact but not actually get to each other.  They love having the social interaction with their neighbors.  There is no fighting or squabbling beyond the normal "Hey, that's MY banana chip" stuff.  I guess it just depends on the rats.  I know my boys got plenty of hanky panky before they lived here(long story) and don't seem to miss it.  They are almost 2.  It doesn't seem to matter much to the boys or the girls that they can't get to each other.  I can't even tell when the gals are in heat.  I've never seen the dance or the ear fluttering or anything with them either.

So there, I guess you have to decide based on their own personalities.