No balance and can only gently push with back legs newly adopted teenage dumbo.

Today I went to adopt two male dumbos from this guy who had tons of them and couldn't keep them anymore. Upon walking in there were rats all over. At the back of the room was the cage of males , all had his siamese like coloring or where white. I picked one up and noticed it was paralized . His back legs were limp and crossed. The guy didnt want me to take that one so i put him back. I notice a rat sorta flopping on its side ... it looked normal like not sick he had a lively look. but i looked closer and he was only able to give a small gental push with his back legs. All the other rats were running over him as he flopped on his side. I picked him and this other identical male that was cleaning the flopping rat and would not leave his side. As i looked almost alm the rats had something wrong with their hind quarters. The floppy one now named Otis was in the worse contidion.
I cant help but thinking they are inbred. He does get around but in a sad way. He loves slouching against things and trying to run. I was wondering if anyone knows what could be wrong... i have a feeling its a mental issue. Im going to try to upload a video link of him walking. even when hes tying to stand still he seems to wobble in a circular motion. His head expecially. He doesn't use his tail much either but he eats , plays, bathes and drinks just in her own way.... please help ive never seen this in rats before.

Here is a link to a video of him walking https://vid.me/2TPN

https://vid.me/2TPN

Thats the link to a video of Ottis trying his best at walking.

More than likely, it is a (physical) genetic disorder and the cause is from this guy over-breeding. I imagine he's what we call a BYB (backyard breeder) and just throws any two rats together and has them mate. This is one reason why we are so against breeding here... Rat genetics are complicated, and people just don't care what happens to these babies.
Of course, maybe this is the first and only time he's bred rats (I could hope, right?) but this is still the possibility when someone breeds any two rats that they do not know the extensive histories of.

What this reminds me the most of is hopefloats disabled babies. They were also the result of some jerk randomly breeding rats.
Here is their thread.
If I recall correctly, they had twisted spines. That's what this looks like, too.

I suppose it's possible he could have some sort of severe infection.. Does he act like he's in pain at all?
Sniff his ear reaaaalllly good, does it stink at all?

He is cute though. <3
It's so kind of you to give him a hoem. Hopefloats' disabled babies lived long and happy lives (I believe they have all passed now, my bad if I'm wrong on that) so I'm sure he can too.

I smelt his ears and they don't smell like infection and no he seems to not be in pain he gets around super well , lol I put him the living room floor ( all carpet ) and man can he squirm around fast. It's like his own way of walking , and yah the Guy said he bred two hairless dumbo rex's over and over to try and get another and now he has 4 litters living within 2 maybe 3 cages ( that I saw anyways ). He is such a Big baby and loves attention . However since he's been home with me I've had him on the bed or in the living room to free range and he seems more cheerful and is moving around a lot better than yesterday. I just can't believe this guy just left him there to die, he couldn't access food or water and is a bit on the light and bony side. I thought maybe he just stopped eating , when I got him home I gave him a mix of chicken, romaine lettuce and some other veg and he scarfed it down like he hasn't had a good meal in a long time. His Brother Milo was just as hungry and on the bony side as well. I reported the Guy to the SPCA in my area. Thanks for helping and giving me some hope . I don't know if he will ever live as long as any other rat but I promise that he will be spoiled

Hopefloats has had a lot of experience with this

He looks like my mom's Flip flops as I call them. It's similar to cerebellum ataxia I believe. They can live full and happy lives. My mom had 4 in total, one developed seizures early on and passed away at 18 months. [ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cgDvRM5Gk_E[/ame]

This isnt the best video but our babies were very handicapped so we had to learn as we had them. We kept ramps covered. We put the water bottle inside the cage, kept extra hammocks in in case they fell. Low shelves. basic HED set up for older rats

[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MZUpe19Pmhs[/ame]

here is some of how they walked

[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Me0F0ZF9ENs[/ame]

This show how their legs move together

[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pU4H5BdXisw[/ame]

and a very low litter box. We use some sort of plastic container that is about 2 inches high for their litter. It had a top but we removed it.

I'm glad you have this boy and his buddy. As you can see from Jorats and Hopefloats, with a few modifications to your cage to keep him safe and happy, he can live a long and normal rattie life.

jorats said:

He looks like my mom's Flip flops as I call them. It's similar to cerebellum ataxia I believe. They can live full and happy lives. My mom had 4 in total, one developed seizures early on and passed away at 18 months. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cgDvRM5Gk_E

Click to expand...

That's almost identical to Otis who is now being called wobbs ( short for wobbles) He is such a cuddly rat ! He moves quite quick when he wants to !

hopefloats said:

This isnt the best video but our babies were very handicapped so we had to learn as we had them. We kept ramps covered. We put the water bottle inside the cage, kept extra hammocks in in case they fell. Low shelves. basic HED set up for older rats

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MZUpe19Pmhs

here is some of how they walked

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Me0F0ZF9ENs

This show how their legs move together

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pU4H5BdXisw

Click to expand...

Yup that is exactly how he walks, His brother Milo seems to drag his back legs a tiny bit when he walks slow, but has no issues balancing and looks normal when running or moving quick. I have the one that can barley walk in a single level shelf as I've tried him in hammocks and on levels and he just falls everywhere. He loves being under blankets where he tunnels around. He seems to be more comfortable with no levels and lots of fabric.. He builds like a little ditch where he can lean on both sides and walk better. I'm worried mainly that he needs more exercise. His free runs are on the bed or a carpeted floor where he's safe to roll around but when placed to free run he only plays for a minute or so before running to his blanket to bury himself.

The problem we had with our babies and fleece is they would get stuck and not have the momentum to free themselves. We keep them on vet bedding generally and fleece with no holes in it. Roo is 2.5 years old. To get him to move would be a miracle LOL I even introduced him to two girls thinking they would make him move, nope, he comes out to eat and goes back to bed even when I let him out he just sleeps but he is chunky and healthy so I dont worry to much. We watched them go from pinkies with this to seniors and they all did amazing. Roo does not use ramps at all, but he mostly pulls himself around. He is the pew boy in the videos. the worse problem we have with him is he drags himself in pee so his coat is constantly stained and we bathe him often..

Glad you reported the breeder to the NB SPCA because what he is doing is animal cruelty and he needs to be stopped.

Can you also send me a private message and give me info about this breeder, who he is etc
(Is this the guy with the kijiji ad who is getting rid of his rats because he is moving to BC?)

If you can get the paralysed rat you mentioned, I would take him .... if he was letting you boy starve, I imagine that is also happening to the other boy

thanks