Is this normal? Extra hyper rats after bounding time

[ratnewbie]

I just adopted my very first ratties this past Sunday- 2/17.
I have three boys I named Casper, gizmo and Poe and they r the sweetest and I'm enjoying having them in my life. They took to me right away and are already grooming me.
Today I experienced my first deep nose grooming lmfao

However I've noticed upon putting them back into their cage after bounding time they are all going crazy. They r running and jumping all over the place like if the bounding time recharged their batteries and need to get the energy out. They r running and hopping all over and climbing like theres no tomorrow and they start chasing each other and wrestle and pounce and run. And start ethusiastically nibbling on everything. Is this normal?

They are 6 week old ratties. I just wanted to know if this was typical behavior or is this my fault? Am I forcing myself upon them and are overwhelmed and just go crazy n the cage when I return them into it?

 

[Dena]

First off, welcome to owning one of the most amazing, and smartest animals (I'm kinda partial). Second, welcome to the forum!

Now, how long are you letting them out to play? Is it in the morning, evening, or middle day? Rats are most active at night, so I usually let mine out for longer periods in the evening. During the day, when I let them out, they are more lazy.

Make sure you also make their out time as fun as possible. Set up boxes with crinkled paper, and sprinkle treats in it, so they have something to hunt for, put out tubes and boxes they can explore and run through. Etc..

They are still really young, and have TONS of energy at that age. So they tend to have hyper bursts (at least all of mine did, and all the babies I've cared for did). Make sure there are plenty of toys in their cage, and different ones outside their cage, to keep them busy, and not let them get bored. It just may be that they aren't ready to be put away and have their playtime cut short.

Other than that, I don't know.....