Freak out and bit my brother

[WOSMU]

so i have a rat that was being all cuddly, just sitting on my brothers leg and bruxing, when all of a sudden he started freaqking out for no reason and started kind of hoping with the front part of his body, when i went to stop him from jumping off the coach he drove a claw quiet deep into my hand and i put him down. he was standing in one place and my brother slowly reached for him to put him back in the cage and he bit my brother and ran under the chair. after about 10 minutes he came out and i put him in the cage without a problem.

my question is he was so relaxed and is always sweet and he just freaked out for no reason. sooo why do you think he freaked out? and has this happened to any of you before? because right now i have a pretty deep cut on one of my fingers.

any ideas would be nice.

right now he is just pacing back and forth on the cage floor which is unusal because he is always climbing on the cage.

 

[MumsyRat]

Sounds to me like he smelled/sensed/heard/felt something that upset him and went into defensive mode. You may think it was for no reason but rats don't do stuff like that for no reason. You may never figure out what set him off unless it happens again.

In the meantime just handle him gently and quietly and let him come to you when you want to pick him up.

 

[Dahlas]

Something startled him, and then he was frightened when your brother went to pick him up.......
I am not sure what it was but it could have been something he smelt, saw or felt.....
Could he have a sore spot?

 

[WOSMU]

see i thought something scared him aswell but there were no loud noises because i was studying, so i dont know what set him off, and he had a very weird facial expression.

i dont think he has a sore spot he is very healthy and well taken care of..ummmm.he has stopped pacing but it now wdigging a hole in the shavings..its very weird...usually he will lay back and let you scratch his cheek of, literally, hours and lick you hand like nuts. so this is very weird for him.

thanks for the opinions though they are very appreciated

 

[mercurydust]

Do you have any other pets like dogs maybe, or have one of you petted a dog? I have noticed that when I have a dogs scent on me the girls get a little, iffy. They aren't used to that smell because we don't have any dogs...just a tought.

 

[Dahlas]

Very strange....maybe he is not feeling well? I don't know what could have happened. Hopefully he is back to normal soon.

 

[SQ]

As Dahlas said, perhaps he isn't feeling well ...
Please let us know how he is tomorrow.

 

[lilratsy43]

How old is the rattie? Did he break the skin when he bit?

 

[WOSMU]

he is relaxing with his brothers right now, but he is just over three months old. and yes he broke the skin on my brothers hand, and cut really deep into one of my fingers...no infections seem to be present though.

i'm still going to wait before i pick him up again. just to be safe.

 

[SQ]

?
Did you get more rats?

Has he been scratching a lot lately?

 

[WOSMU]

no he hasn't, he seems to be doing fine now, back to him old self. so i guess something must have scared him somehow, i see no other reason why he would have flipped out and hid.

but he is back to normal now, thanks for the inputs and help