marking

Question
i have a male hairless rat that is roughly 6 months old. whenever someone holds him he marks (urinates)multiple times on them, its only a drop or two each time, but it discourages people from handleing him. he's my baby and always with me so i either hold him on a towel when i need my cloths to be clean, or i just tough it out. is there anything i can do to lessen him marking? or is it just something he will continue to do?

Answer
Ah yes, marking!  

it is something rats do both male or female, but males do it more than females.  They do it for several reasons.  Sometimes they just do it because they are marking their turf which is pretty much the main reason they do it in the wild, too.  In the wild, rats travel underground in tunnels at night. Since they have lousy vision as it si already, mother nature has given them something they can use to help them during navigation from the nest through the tunnels to the outside world looking for food.  Urine marking!!!  A rat can tell alot from urine from another rat. He can tell their age, gender and even identify their own colony. A rat will mark his tracks through the tunnel with urine so when he returns to the tunnel he will be able to follow his trail of urine back to his nest so he isnt lost.Both sexes do this which explains why some fancy rat females may mark too.  

They also do it to show territory/ownership and to let another rat know "Hey, I am here!!"
It isnt because they are dirty or because they have to pee and cant hold it in so it dribbles out!

You cant really stop it, but neutering may help some.  I dont advise risking anesthesia to neuter just to stop urine marking.  Most rats outgrow it after puberty, which is around 9 months of age, give or take a month either way.  Its not the most pleasant thing, but a box of baby handiwipes/diaperwipes  (unscented) will help clean it up .  Again, he should outgrow it as time goes on.  Hormones play a role in a rat being territorial so if he is marking his turf and trying to mark YOU, this is a high compliment from the rat.