The Quirky Side Of Rats

When someone new learns about my obsession with rats, it’s usually met with surprise and a handful of questions. I know their curiosity only extends so far though, so I try not to infodump everything I know about these loveable oddballs — which is a lot!

What I’d really like time to tell them about is all the delightfully, amusing quirks that make rats bizarrely fascinating and never boring. Instead, I give short answers, hoping to avoid their eyes from glazing over.

Thankfully, I do get to write about my favorite animal. Which means this month, dear readers, you’ll be the ones who get to hear about the endearing habits of a rat. At least a few anyway. Some of their quirks even have layers of extra quirks, just adding to the greatness of rats. Note that while some behaviors may only be exhibited during supervised out-of-cage time, they’re no less adorable.

Brux And Boggle

I frequently mention the phenomenon of eye boggling and bruxing in my articles, but it would be absolutely sacrilegious to leave them out of this one. They are unequivocally the most well-known (by owners) of all rat idiosyncrasies and are probably the most favored.

Bruxing is the act of teeth grinding, which is a necessary action rats use to keep their teeth trimmed. But more importantly (in my opinion), it’s also done to express emotion. Some rats will brux when upset or frightened; but more typically, it occurs when rats are happy and content. It’s essentially their version of purring and is a most welcome sound.

Eye boggling is a rapid eye movement that causes the eyes to literally bulge out of the sockets over and over again as if the rat was a Looney Tunes character. It’s as ridiculous looking as it sounds, and bizarrely adorable.

This visual action and sound effect actually go hand in hand. The only way you’ll even see boggling is if there’s a lot of (happy) bruxing. That’s because boggling requires a lot of rapid movement of the jaw muscles placed just behind their eyes to make them vibrate. Once they do, it means you have one blissed-out rat!

The first time I experienced this cartoonish eye protrusion, I genuinely freaked out. This was long before the internet, and it was never mentioned in any of the rat books I owned. Considering how unnatural — and frankly implausible — looking it is, I legitimately had no understanding of what was happening. So, I decided to take Rory the eye popper to the vet. But when I described what I had witnessed, I was looked at like I was a crazy person. And considering how unhappy Rory was to be there, he was not inclined to demonstrate said boggling. Irritatingly, the vet suggested I had imagined it.

It’s clear to me now that this very normal and common rat occurrence was not being taught in veterinary schools; maybe it still isn’t. Once the internet was available, however, I learned that I wasn’t the only new owner to panic the first time they experienced a really happy rat.

Obsessive Grooming

Rats have a reputation for being filthy, disease-spreading vermin, when in reality wild and domestic rats alike are fastidious groomers. Owners are keenly aware of this, since a rat’s grooming habits are so easily observed.

While locked in hyper focus, rats will spend hours bathing almost every square inch of themselves, numerous times a day. OK, not really hours, but it sure seems like it. Using their paws to wipe their fur down and teeth to nibble on any dirty area, these meticulous rodents can even become contortionists as they try to hit those hard-to-reach-spots. They are also willing to go where no one ever should, by digging around in their ears with a back foot and then diligently inspecting their toes for earwax. They are nothing if not thorough.

I particularly enjoy watching an exhaustive foot-bathing session, where close attention is spent cleaning each and every toe as they are splayed out as far as they can go.

Ironically, these clean freaks rarely include their tails. In three decades, I can count on one hand the number of times I’ve actually witnessed a tail being groomed. It was always a real double-take, stop-what-I-was-doing moment when I did see it occur. So, if you happen to have a rat that actually cleans their tail, then I’d say you have one quirky rat!

Allogrooming Obsessions

Rats can get so obsessed with being clean that they have the audacity to frantically start grooming themselves immediately after being touched by their humans. It’s not hard to be a little offended by this blunt critique of theirs, and it makes me wonder if they think we’re the filthy ones. Thankfully, they are very willing to provide us with a bath of our own.

Rats are known for allogrooming (grooming another). They love grooming their cagemates and grooming their owners as well. This alone isn’t peculiar, many types of pets do this, but rats can get a little pushy about it. They can also have favorite areas to clean.

Many rats are captivated by their owner’s hair and will lick or chew on it. Other rats like to groom their owner’s face. Several of mine would regularly demand to clean my cheeks and eyelids for me. While I appreciated their desire to look after me, “gentle” little nibbles of allogrooming can feel very ungentle on such delicate areas.

I’d say the majority of rats, though, go straight for their human’s fingers, nails included. And some rats are even habitual “nail biters.” Instead of chewing their own nails (which some actually do), they want to chew on yours! But act thankful, because they probably think you need them “trimmed” and are unselfishly providing you a free rat-icure.

Rodentists

Perhaps the wackiest allogrooming obsession a rat can possess involves their human’s teeth. I discussed this one already in a past article, Quirky Rat Traits Or Rat Pranks?, but it deserves another mention. This quirk is so well known among the rat community that there’s even a term for it: Rodentistry. And a rodentist is a rat that LOVES cleaning their owner’s teeth!

They also have absolutely no fear of shoving their defenseless little heads into the mouths of their humans to rid them of — of what I don’t know exactly. But rest assured, these rats won’t stop until they’ve got it all.

Rory the eye boggler was also a rodentist, and man did he take his job seriously! There wasn’t a single day that boy wasn’t actively trying to pry open my mouth with his itty-bitty paws, with very sharp nails, so he could feverishly clean my teeth. Even when I protested with muffled laughter and a, “no, no, no” through my tightly pinched lips, Rory was determined to do his daily inspection. Even if it meant using his nose to shove his way through. Despite having tiny little scratches around my mouth for the entirety of his life, it was extremely amusing. I secretly loved Rory’s unrelenting determination.

Taste-Testers

Rats have zero manners when it comes to your food. If they are out of their cage while you’re trying to eat, they will expect a taste or your entire portion. They will not politely ask for whatever yummy morsel you have either, nor will they bother begging with puppy eyes. Instead, every rat within a 2-foot radius will immediately take notice the second they smell your food and will come rushing in a mad dash to brazenly snatch it from your plate or fingers. And don’t think stuffing the food in your mouth will stop them, because they are absolutely willing to dive in after it! Or at the very least, lick your lips clean.

But hey, they aren’t treating you any differently than they’d treat each other. I’ve watched my rats steal food away from their friends and even right out of a cagemate’s mouth more times than I can count.

You’re better off accepting that the bowl of ice cream you plan on eating on the couch will be enjoyed with a rat or two, or four, trying to pry the bowl or spoon away from you. And don’t think your beverages are safe either. Rats are more than happy to sit perched like a gargoyle on the side of a glass or mug, helping themselves to whatever it contains.

Sleeping

Nothing is cuter than a snoozing rat, but some take this cuteness to the next level. I’m talking about back-sleepers. Generally, rats are less inclined to lie on their backs, likely due to feeling too vulnerable. However, some rats prefer to sleep sprawled out and belly up like there should be a chalk line drawn around them.

My twin boys, Moffett and Brinley, must have been born with some sort of back-sleeping gene. Not only did they do this as a joint effort, but they even taught their cagemate Kelton (not related) to sleep that way, too.

Drinking In Tandem

Years before the twins, I had another back-sleeper named Potter. He took being quirky as a challenge and added an extra level of flare by doing his back sleeping directly under the water bottle. This prevented his cagemates from being able to get water without waking him up, which I suspect was his plan. Potter hated drinking solo and saw it as a group event. If another rat approached the water bottle when Potter was awake and away from his perch, he would stop whatever he was doing to race across the cage and join in. His behavior was even contagious apparently, because eventually all four of the rats in that group were regularly drinking simultaneously from the one tiny water bottle nozzle. Adding even more weirdness to it all, Potter also chose to do his drinking while lying on his back, too, as the other rats stayed upright.

I’ve had other tandem drinkers over the years, so this is not a Potter-centric quirk, but he was certainly my most codependent of the bunch and definitely the most dramatic about it.

More Quirks To Be Discovered

I haven’t even scratched the surface when it comes to all the amusing traits that rats possess. There are countless ways they continue to surprise and delight their owners, and each rat has the ability to make a quirk uniquely their own. Plus, the moment you think you’ve seen every strange habit a rat can possibly have, they’ll find a way to prove you wrong.

I’d love to read comments below about the silly things your rats do that entertain you!