Our rat is showing excessive bruxing and sleepiness, normal?

[lexipath]

Hello, I have two rats, one is a year old and the other is two. We had three but we recently had to put one of them down, and he was the same age as our two year old rat. They've been together since they were young. We've noticed a change in behavior in our older rat recently. He has been a lot sleepier and seems like he won't stop bruxing. When he does this, it's often slow and deliberate and he puts his hands under his mouth like he's trying to pull something out. Also I've noticed his eyes bulging alternating rather then simultaneously like every other time i've seen him do it. He also hasn't been very interested in cuddling with us when he's out, but rather he likes to go off and sleep under blankets. I'm not sure if this is strange or not.. Our vet said he could possibly be depressed because he also has had trouble with over grooming (before we lost our other rat). We will be bringing him to the vet as soon as we can but I'm just wondering if anyone has seen this behavior before or might know what it means, and if it's normal or not?

Thanks for any help guys.

 

[victoria]

Can you give him a cheerio or something similarly shaped to see if he can eat it normally?

 

[lilspaz68]

See if he fails the Test like Calla does in this pictorial sequence

http://lilspazrats.wikispaces.com/Healt ... eerio+Test

 

[lexipath]

we gave him a treat, he has no trouble eating it with both hands and maintaining balance.

 

[jorats]

When a rat pulls at their fingers, like trying to pull something out, to me, it seems to have been related to discomfort and/or stress. I'd get his lungs checked out.
How long ago did he lose his buddy? Rats can grieve for sometime and grieve hard.

 

[lexipath]

we lost our other one about a month ago now.. we have given him a lot of attention since, given them more stuff in their cage, etc. and he isn't really pulling at anything, just sort of brings his hand up to his mouth. i think he licks it ocassionally but other than that he just pulls it up there. we havent heard any wheezing or sneezing or any of the other respiratory symptoms either... its a very strange behavior. thanks for everyone's help so far.