I just bought 2 pet rats today from PetCo, and as soon as I got them in their cage I realized they are sneezing. So I immediately started to worry they might have a respiratory infection. But one of them is doing something odd. When I was trying to let him get to know me he was very skiddish and I let him hide his head in between my arm and body. It felt like he was chewing on something so I tried to peek and see if it was my shirt. But he was just sitting there and his mouth was vibrating almost, like his cheeks were puffing in and out so fast it was like a vibration. There are times he seems like he is in a daze too and his head kind of moves from side to side and he doesn’t seem to notice anything in front of him. These are my first rats so I don’t know if this is just some sort of normal rat behavior or if he’s sick. The other one isn’t doing any of this but he also isn’t as scared of the new surroundings.
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First of all, you must realize that your new rats must be absolutely petrified! Imagine how scared two tiny little rodents will be when they are ripped away from everything they know, and suddenly exposed to all sorts of new and strange places, sounds, sights, smells, etc. Whenever I get new rodents, I don’t eve touch them for the first week they are home with me. This is very important to allow them to get accustomed to their new cage without strange humans scaring them more than necessary.
It is incredibly important to take things really slowly. Rats, when stressed, secrete poryphorin, which leads to respiratory illness like symptoms, and eventually the real thing. Healthy rats must be sneeze-free, and have ttheireyes and nose clear of any red stuff. If there is red, that is the poryphorin, and they are either ill or stressed. It is very normal for all new rats to be stressed, and any stress will cause things like sneezing, but if the stress goes on, they can actualyl become ill. So you see why it is important to avoid stress in rats.
Do not handle them for at least the next day, and start out slowly by first touching them, then taking them out for a second, and slowly increasing in the amount of time you have them out. After the first 1-2 weeks, you can start handling them normally.
The chewing and vibrating is called bruxing. This is like the rat equivalent for purring. They do this when they are content, and letting you know that. It is a wonderful sign that they are doing this, but they still need that buffer zone to get used to things.
And the swaying is for sight. Rats have terrible vision, and sometimes focus on something so much, they sway to distinguish their feild of vision. This is also normal.
I suggest looking through these sites:
http://members.aol.com/juliesrats/e4nindex.html
http://www.petratscanada.com/ratcare.htm
http://ratguide.com/
There may be a lot more you didn’t know, and it is always best to prepare yourself before hand rather than find out the hard way, right?
I have gotten 3 (count ‘em THREE) unhealthy rats with previous respiratory infections…. from Petco. The sneezing is normal, all new rats will do it, I Promise it’s not strange. However, the weird, head waving, vibrating jaw thing I’ve never heard before. Give him a night or two, and if he’s still doing this take him back. Be sure to be on the look out for the signs of an infection. On a sadder note, if he does die, Petco will give you a store credit or a new rat (the can’t give you cash because they don’t want people killing the animals for $). Best of luck!
Hi! Congrats on your new ratties! The one that was making the vibration, that is normal, mine do it too, not sure what it means, but I think it is called bruxing or something like that.
Is the one that is moving it’s head back and forth albino by chance? All of the albino rats I have had or the ones that have some red in their eyes at all would look at me and move their heads back and forth. I loved it and thought it was cute but it concerned me when I was first caring for rats many years ago. My vet told me that it is that the rat is trying to see you and that the albinos do not see too well. As far as the other rattie that is sneezing, is it sneezing constanly, or just some? Sometimes mine sneeze several times in a row and they are healthy. If the rat is sneezing a ton, or has discharge around it’s nose, it could be sick. Keep and eye on it. If it keeps up, take it to the vet or back to the pet store. I bought a rat at Petco a few years ago and it was really sick, they took it back from me. I did not want my other ratties ill. Keep me posted if you like. Hope this helps! If you have any other qestions, I’d be happy to help!
You’ve gotten some good advice but I just want to add the swaying is a way for rats to focus because they have such terrible vision, the way an object moves will tell them how far it is from them…this is normally pink and ruby-eyed rats who do this as their vision is much worse than a black-eyed rat.
The bruxxing sounds like stress bruxxing. Most times its a contented, sleepy eyed grinding of teeth, like a cat purring, and it also is the way they keep their teeth ground down. But when a rat is stressed, ill or in pain they can often stress brux, and its much louder and their little bodies are tense.
Just go quietly and remember you are their first real humans and imagine how big and scary you are to them?
Keep an eye on the sneezing, it could be New Home Sneezies where they are acclimating their sensitive respiratory systems to a new environment or it could be the beginning of a URI which is an upper respiratory infection(Petco is notorious for sick rats). In this case the sneezing will get worse and they will start to act more ill. You will need a vet at this time for a minimum course of 2 weeks of oral (not put in water) antibiotics like baytril or baytril/doxycycline.