Hello,
We have had two male rats (now aged 7 months old) for 3 months now and have not run into trouble since then. The rats are very happy in their cage and have always had a 'normal' behaviour, playing with us when we let them out with us on the bed but never being too over-the-top with affection either. They would always run around in circles on the bed quite happily doing their own thing, never staying on us still for too long.
But since today their behaviour has changed dramatically over the course of the afternoon. We have not changed anything about their cage yet they are extremely afraid to be anywhere near it. We have always kept the cage open, allowing them to roam freely onto the chest drawers and area around it. Today however they just 'freak out' when on their cage and lie very low and huddled on top of it, head looking down either into the cage or looking down outside of it. They remain motionless and jump onto us crazily to get away from it whenever we go near the cage. We tried putting them in the cage and closing the doors but Lemy (one of the rats) jumped out of it, literally head-butting the door, slinging it open and jumping onto our shoulders. They have been doing this for hours now.
It doesn't stop there, however. At first we thought they were just being very affectionate but when in our hoods they just stay there, hidden and motionless for endless periods of times - something they never ever used to do. When put on the bed it becomes worse: they go hide behind the pillows and huddle each other, we even found them squeezed tight against the matress and the wall at one point! They look distressed to be honest and really out of it.
The only thing which changed today was my partner giving them a bone to chew on in the afternoon - we had done that once before and they absolutely loved it. Today however a tiny amount of meat and sauce remained at the ends of the bone, is it possible that they are having some kind of digestion problem? Surely we won't try that one again!
Bottom line after this very long post (I'm very concerned for them sorry...
), we could use some good advice people. Any ideas on what is going on? Any help will be greatly appreciated!
Chris
EDIT: I forgot to mention another unusual thing - their testicles look absolutely HUGE today. I mean they were big before but they seem very elongated and inflated today. Here is a link to a picture as well, showing the rats in their odd crouched down behaviour. When I took this picture they had been remaining still in this position for more than twenty minutes.
http://img12.yfrog.com/img12/3126/img8816q.jpg
We have had two male rats (now aged 7 months old) for 3 months now and have not run into trouble since then. The rats are very happy in their cage and have always had a 'normal' behaviour, playing with us when we let them out with us on the bed but never being too over-the-top with affection either. They would always run around in circles on the bed quite happily doing their own thing, never staying on us still for too long.
But since today their behaviour has changed dramatically over the course of the afternoon. We have not changed anything about their cage yet they are extremely afraid to be anywhere near it. We have always kept the cage open, allowing them to roam freely onto the chest drawers and area around it. Today however they just 'freak out' when on their cage and lie very low and huddled on top of it, head looking down either into the cage or looking down outside of it. They remain motionless and jump onto us crazily to get away from it whenever we go near the cage. We tried putting them in the cage and closing the doors but Lemy (one of the rats) jumped out of it, literally head-butting the door, slinging it open and jumping onto our shoulders. They have been doing this for hours now.
It doesn't stop there, however. At first we thought they were just being very affectionate but when in our hoods they just stay there, hidden and motionless for endless periods of times - something they never ever used to do. When put on the bed it becomes worse: they go hide behind the pillows and huddle each other, we even found them squeezed tight against the matress and the wall at one point! They look distressed to be honest and really out of it.
The only thing which changed today was my partner giving them a bone to chew on in the afternoon - we had done that once before and they absolutely loved it. Today however a tiny amount of meat and sauce remained at the ends of the bone, is it possible that they are having some kind of digestion problem? Surely we won't try that one again!
Bottom line after this very long post (I'm very concerned for them sorry...
), we could use some good advice people. Any ideas on what is going on? Any help will be greatly appreciated! Chris
EDIT: I forgot to mention another unusual thing - their testicles look absolutely HUGE today. I mean they were big before but they seem very elongated and inflated today. Here is a link to a picture as well, showing the rats in their odd crouched down behaviour. When I took this picture they had been remaining still in this position for more than twenty minutes.
http://img12.yfrog.com/img12/3126/img8816q.jpg
