Frankie has Become Obsessive Recently

[lilspaz68]

Frankie is my 2 year old black berk girly, who lives with biiig Declan and little "biter" Frida. She used to be cagemates with the tiny and lovely Lia before she had to be pts. This all started a few months ago. She was aging, her eyes were a bit cloudy but she was still very bright. I had Chelle and Amanda over and she went into that strange maternal nesting mode that some girls go through. They will drag their cagemates back to the "nest" like they were eepers crawling away from the nest. They often drag the other rat meeping quietly in protest by the fur, ears, etc. We watched her put little Lia back in the "nest" (behind a couch pillow) over and over. Lia was a good sport until Frankie grabbed her tail then she shrieked and avoided her friend LOL.

After this Frankie was on the alert for other babies and noticed her tail...she grabbed it and it moved, she ended up chasing her tail!! It honestly was hilarious, but these behaviours usually pass within a week so you don't worry. Well, Frankie's didn't. No neuro signs, just these continuing on and off obsessive behaviours. I have seen her chase her tail in the cage as well. Here's the newest one. She will ignore hammocks in her cage for days, weeks, months, then all of a sudden, she decides one must die! :cuddle:

She becomes a buzz-saw and nothing will distract her...in 10-30 mins she will have chewed the bottom off any hammock. This hammock was a fleece on top, cotton on bottom flat. After that part, she will chew through the hammock itself, not caring if her sleeping friends end up tumbling out. :cheeky: Then she chews down the sides

Poor Hammock just didn't have a chance! :wink2:

and off it goes to be stuffed in the sputnick in the base of the cage

 

[Kimber]

lol, poor girl....although she's found a reason for living, the death of hammocks and nesting

 

[temblabamomo]

They often drag the other rat meeping quietly in protest by the fur, ears, etc. We watched her put little Lia back in the "nest" (behind a couch pillow) over and over.

That painted a most humorous mental image in my head. I am glad your girl is staying so busy though, would much prefer to see aging ratties active than just lying around like bumps on logs.

 

[fenshae]

My girl Velvet (RIP) was like this her whole life. She never drug her cagemates around, but she would compulsively redecorate her cage to the point that it was pointless to try and put up hammocks or anything because they wouldn't last an hour. And she would chase her tail. Probably the single most hilarious set of rat antics I've ever had the pleasure of watching.

 

[M0onkist]

LoL, what a nutter! Adorable though - could you put up 'mock' hammocks, perhaps, like a square piece of fleece with little holes in the four corners, where she can just chew on it?

 

[lilspaz68]

LoL, what a nutter! Adorable though - could you put up 'mock' hammocks, perhaps, like a square piece of fleece with little holes in the four corners, where she can just chew on it?

Declan and Frida LOVE their hammocks, so I just keep putting in older ones and pray the Mood doens't hit her for awhile LOL

 

[M0onkist]

lol, that's a good strategy - poor them though, if she chews the hammock out from under them!

Princess and Plumeria were obsessive about chewing through their hammocks, but oddly enough, since them, I've yet to have a chewer. The Pips might do an experimental nibble here or there, but they don't do serious chewing.

 

[jorats]

A change in behaviour is always a concern... I'd be on the lookout for any other neuro signs. Or if you have pred on hand, give her a bit and see if that changes her in any way.

 

[lilspaz68]

A change in behaviour is always a concern... I'd be on the lookout for any other neuro signs. Or if you have pred on hand, give her a bit and see if that changes her in any way.

I have been watching for months. She's very agile and very accurate, especially when chewing through those hammocks. LOL No issues grasping, no tilt, nothing worrying be but these new behaviours. I wonder if she misses Lia?

 

[jorats]

Oh... that might be it. Hopefully it is... so that means she might get out of her "seek and destroy" hammocks.

 

[lilspaz68]

the only thing is that Lia has been gone since Jan. 5th (almost 2 months ago) and Frida joined them a week later. I wonder if she's just getting a bit addled in her head.

 

[Godmother]

Frankie really is the Hammock Terminator, wow. And I thought Caramel was bad. I hope that she is just a little eccentric, or bored without her old friends.