[splinter]

Haven;t been on for quite some time!!!

Anyways...

For my birthday, I got a new rat. Did all the necessary precautions...etc. We noticed she was was holding her paws and swaying side to side, kind of dazed. I shrugged it off, because she was in a 10 gal. aquarium, and I know that rats sway and bob their heads to judge distance and such.

In addition to the new rat (Tweezer), we got a purple...coast cage, I believe it is called. It's a 75 dollar purple cage with a wheel. I put Tweezer and Splinter in the new cage, and they tussled a while, then got along great. They run on the wheel together, steal food from eachother and sleep with each other. When Tweezer isn't fooling around and sleeping, she'll be swaying and looking kinda of dazed. She was doing it in the aquarium and I thought it would stop because the pan of the cage is about 4 inches high.

Can anyone help?

Thanks
Haleigh, Splinter and Tweezer

 

[BlueSkyy]

is she a PEW (albino)?
i hear that they tend to sway a lot more than most rats, but that could just be rumor

 

[splinter]

No. Tweezer's a champagne hooded, normal eyes (black). I've been reading, and it says it can be from poor eyesite, and they can see better thru "parallax". It might be because she was gotten from Petco, so she's never been on shelves, she's in a new cage and a new home.

She hasn't been doing so great with human contact. I can pet her, but I tried picking her up and she tries to bite. I back off. I make a huge show of picking up and playing with Splinter, and I hand feed her fresh fruits and veggies, and she nibbles on my finger nails in return. Any tips on bonding with her? Splinter was easy. She was a bit skittish, but didn't really mind touch.

 

[Mana]

I've only seen my PEW and ruby-eyed rats sway like that. (And champagnes have pink eyes - which is how I know my Coconut can't be champagne, which I originally thought.) Does she possibly have ruby eyes? Some of them are so dark they look black, but in bright light you can see the red in them (Coconut's redness only comes out in camera flashes)

What do you mean by "holding her paws"? Does she seem to be just as mobile as Splinter? Any problems walking? It might just be her vision, especially if she is actually ruby-eyed.

Does she ever try to bite you when you're not trying to pick her up? If not, try just putting your hand in the cage and leaving it there, let her sniff you and get comfortable with your hand being there. She'll crawl on it, and off it, and sniff it, possibly a tiny test nibble. I'd do that a few times a day without ever trying to pick her up for a while until she's comfortable with you. Lift her up for a few seconds and then put her down again. Do that for a while and she'll realize that being picked up isn't that bad, and she should stop biting. Since she's from Petco, it's a safe bet she was rarely if ever handled, and probably doesn't have good experiences with hands.

 

[Mana]

Oh, and that cage you have will be small for two fully grown rats, even females. It's a definite improvement over the aquarium, but you should probably start thinking about saving up for a bigger cage for your girls. (I have two of those Coast Cages, and they're okay for travel/QT but don't provide much space for permanent housing.)

 

[Forensic]

If she's a beigey color I wouldn't doubt she's probably got ruby eyes...

My Baileys (the one in my avatar) seems to have black eyes until a flash of light hits them (you can see the red in the photo). He sways all the time, none of the rest do. Not exactly sure what you mean by 'holding her paws' though.

 

[splinter]

What I mean by holding her paws (for lack of a better phrase) is just holding her paws together on the ground, like she has food, when she doesn't. It's kind of weird, just watching her sway like that.

Upon further investigation, she does have ruby eyes. So, should I chalk it up to poor eyesite?

 

[Mana]

Yep, it's just her trying to get a focus on her surroundings

I personally love the swaying. Especially when my beige hooded Bella is running around like a madrat and comes to a sudden halt to sway a little bit, and then takes off again. My PEW Magic will sometimes look like she's in a trance, just sitting and swaying back and forth for a while.