Alyssa's weird food fedish???

2737 Views 13 Replies 4 Participants Last post by DonnaK, Apr 1, 2007

Alyssa_Rat

Discussion Starter · Mar 31, 2007

So like I was preparing alyssas food today and while I was preparing it I figured id give her a peice to snack on till her food was ready ((she seemed restless about it)) so I gave it to her then I remembered a game I heard about that you could play with your rat... "Food Tug-of-War", I thought it'd be cool to se how she reacted to the game so I sort of tugged on her food then let go ((to let her win)) and she freaked!!!

I'd never seen her act the way she did before!! I was sorta worried.. like she ran around the cage with her food and wouldnt stop.. so I tried the tug-of-war thing again and she freaked even more!!!! so I tried to pick her up to try and calm her down but she started sqeeking or something... I was worried... so I gave her her daily meal and left her alone to eat.
Any ideas on her behavior???

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Also:
She was acting pretty restless today also... like something was wrong or going to happen. She kept running around her cage, chewing on the bars, and hanging upside down in her cage!! I let her out for a while like I usually do and she was normal again but still once I put her back in the cage she was restless again, normal shes pretty quiet in her cage and calm... idk what to say, think or how to react to it.... any ideas???

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DonnaK

· #4 · Mar 31, 2007

Is her cage big enough? Our rats do that with the bars and hanging from them when I put them in a holding cage briefly, when I can't let them run around. The holding cage is too small for them, and so they are trying to find a way out.

If the cage is big enough, then I would suggest that she is just bored and needs a bit more exercise.

As for the freaking out with the food thing, I read in a book that I have that you should never play with food or turn giving food into a game. I've been searching through the book, but I can't find it right away. I'll keep looking for you, though.

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DonnaK

· #5 · Mar 31, 2007

Oh, it just says, under the section Rules for Preventing Rat Bites, "Never tease your rats, especially with food, and don't feed them through the wire of the cage". That's not much help with why she went nuts, though :lol:

I wouldn't think it's an advisable thing to do though, really. Accidents can happen, and she obviously takes her food seriously, so it's just not worth the risk... that and it's probably stressful for her. I imagine when she was running around nuts, she was looking for somewhere "safe" to stash it.

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DonnaK

· #8 · Mar 31, 2007

Stephanie said:
I would say that she was worried that you were trying to take her food I feed my boys and then leave them alone to eat. I think it is just don't right mean to tease any animal with food. I play tug of war with cloth and paper towels and things but never food. I would freak out if someone tried to take my plate away just as i was about to bite into something. Also she may be bored how many toys do you have in there for her? I always have those little cat balls with the bell on the inside in their cage with them i have to replace them daily cause they chew out the bells and run around with them in their mouths.

I agree. If her cage is big enough for 3 rats, I would go with the boredom thing and wanting out of the cage more often. I also play tug of war with paper towels, but never with food.

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DonnaK

· #12 · Apr 1, 2007

Alyssa_Rat said:
I might consider buying her a friend.. it wont ruin our relationship will it??

I was concerned about that too, before I put our two ratties together, but nothing's changed - they still love us just as much.

I would highly recommend it.

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DonnaK

· #14 · Apr 1, 2007

Alyssa_Rat said:
Ok.. good, its ganna take a couple days ((posibly 2 weeks)) before i can get Alyssa a friend, but i am ganna get her a friend. Thanx for helping guys.

Very cool! Let us know how it goes.

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