Snake Charming?!?

[Pauley]

One of my little PEW girls, Snowball, moves her head from side to side, apparently when she's looking at something distant. (by distant I mean more than about 2 feet)
We think she may be mostly blind, maybe making out differences in light and shadow only, but we can move our fingers near her eyes, and she'll blink only sometimes.(does that phrasing make sense?)
It's definitely not an inner ear or balance problem, we have dealt with more than a few of those over the years, and other than the "snake-charmer stare" she's a normal, healthy two-month old ratty.

Any ideas if we are guessing right on the vision thing or not? It's not a worry to us if it is , because she has family, and she's in a safe environment, and she can get around familiar places OK. It's actually kinda cute to see the concentration level on her face, and it doesn't seem to frustrate her. I hope :?

 

[MumsyRat]

What you are seeing is a very normal rat behaviour. There are different theories about why they do it (mainly vision related). Bottom line is you have nothing to worry about. You just need to feel sorry for all the rats our there whose name is Stevie because they sway their heads like Stevie Wonder!!

 

[Pauley]

I was only worried if it wasn't vision-related.


Stevie! we talked yesterday about nick-naming her that too! :lol:

 

[jorats]

Hi Pauley, not only pink eyed rats do that but many of the red eye rats as well. Stevie is a cute name.

 

[Pauley]

Thanks! It really is cute to watch I'm gonna sit on the bed with her and toss pencils over into the corner of the room :idea:

Little Elvis was doing it a little too. He's a PEW also. But he's not as intense or nearly as adorable about it tho'.

 

[starfoot]

Oh sweet! I like the name Stevie.... what they're doing is the Pink-eyed Sway! A lot of rats with pink/red eyes do it. They're vision isn't as good as a rat with dark eyes, so the sway helps them to focus on far away things and judge their distance. Not an issue at all... All my pink eyeds have done it, some more than others. Saffy got a right boogie on when she swayed! All you had to do was walk past her and she'd be off whewwhewwhewwhew left right left right rmm rmmm rmmm rmmm

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=OMTieT0z8Ts -look at this... is this what's happening? Actually this is quite extreme, mine never swayed that much!!

Mine swayed more like this... Jiggy doesn't sway at all actually, but flute is like this one
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=XDotDy6pz8c

 

[Pauley]

That first video looks close. She's probably 90 percent of that. But her little face is more intense and focused than that one is. You can definitely tell she's trying to look at something.

 

[Willow Bean]

The first vid is, I think, with the person holding something and the rat following the fingers. Baby Girl stops every few feet and sways her head to see what's coming up and how far she's yet to go. She is a black-eyed girl but she has a cataract in the one eye, so we attribute it to that. Ate the Pink eyes nice and clear and without a cloudiness to them?

 

[Pauley]

No cloudiness in her eyes. Bright and pink like her sister and brother. She's not really light-sensitive, well no more than any other rat, she's happy and healthy and still has that new-rat smell.

I don't think that first vid is staged like you said, tho'. What Snowball does is pretty close to that. It's very rhythmic like that, like she's a snakecharmer. (or Stevie Wonder) I have had PEWs before and never noticed this behaviour, though I might not have noticed because it was not so extreme .

All in all since I've heard it's normal for PEWs, I think it's really interesting. And goshdarn cute. 8)

 

[lilspaz68]

That wasn't staged at all. More of an extreme case than most but not the most extreme either. My maritimer Kyrie (fawn, ruby eyes) took that award. Her forequarters would sway too, I was sure she was going to topple over...plus she could sway super fast, like a metronome.

But weirdly, pink-eyed does not automatically mean that bad vision. Bronwen does NOT sway and can see very well. She runs to me if I move my hand feet away from her LOL. I have had other PEW's like that as well, but I think her vision has to be the best of them all.

That first video with Sorrel was adorable! I love PEW's with big upright ears like that :heart:

 

[Pauley]

I love PEW's with big upright ears like that :heart:

I second that!

 

[Godmother]

Some of Kyrie's full sisters can really do the sway, too. It can be quite eerie for someone who doesn't know what it is!

 

[starfoot]

But weirdly, pink-eyed does not automatically mean that bad vision. Bronwen does NOT sway and can see very well.

very true... pinkeyeds are definately prone to it more, but Jiggy doesn't sway at all, and see's very well.... Flute on the other hand, sways quite a bit and will not notice your finger if you hold it over her forehead, and if you touch the top of her head she jumps because she hasn't seen you. Other than that though, her vision is fine.

So yeh, pink eyes increases the chance of it, but doesn't gaurantee it.. have you ever seen a dark eyed sway?? Maybe if they have eye problems?

 

[Pauley]

Of my other two PEWs, Little Elvis does it very slightly and only rarely, and Spork, I have never seen her do it.. Does it change as they age? They're almost 10 weeks old now.

 

[starfoot]

It will only change if their eyes worsen, with something like cataracts... or shortsightedness? Do rats develop shortsightedness?? Not sure! I guess it's just the way they are born. some have worse (although not bad by any means) eyes than others and sway. x