Deborah: SQ's Double-rex wannabe??

[Godmother]

Deborah is one of the girls I fostered. She is now living with SQ. We figured she must be American, because she demands the right to bare arms! She's quite the barberer, just like her brother Loki who is with Riana.
Here is Deb with her bare arms showing:

Here she is, struggling to regain her dignity while SQ holds her for a photo of her barbered chest:

this was two weeks ago, and SQ tells me it's gotten worse. She doesn't have mites, doesn't get picked on, doesn't have any stress that we are aware of. She started barbering when she lived with me.

 

[jorats]

Wow, that is a bad case of self barbering. And she's there thinking, what? I like it like this. :lol:

 

[Moon]

Maybe she just likes the feeling of the breeze on her arms... LOL.. funny girl

 

[lilspaz68]

YOu cannot stop them, and I am sure its not because she's bored, in too small a cage, etc. :roll:

Ariel used to barber over her shoulders, and then she would chase and pin her cagemates so she could barber their forearms too... They would rear up (a huge rat over tiny Ariel) and she would grab that arm and start nibbling away like on a cob of corn. There would be pitiful squeaks from the rat being groomed. As long as she doesn't damage herself and cause scabs she'll be okay. Ariel actually grew out of it eventually.

 

[SQ]

Our little double rex wanta-be :love4:

 

[Riana]

Wow, Loki's isn't nearly that bad. I spotted a while back that there looked to be a bit of pink showing on his belly, so he may have been barbering that area as well, but that seems to have gone away. His arms aren't completely bald like hers are, but they are pretty clean-shaven-looking.

I'd like to know what causes them to do this *pout* I worry that he's unhappy or there's something wrong.

 

[Godmother]

I have heard that some rats do this under stress, but Loki and Deborah aren't under any particular stress... although maybe they are keeping back some secrets :? .

I believe that it's a habit. The same way that some people bite their nails or stroke their mustaches or chew pen tops (as far as I know, none of those people are any more troubled than the rest of us!), some rats barber. habits are really hard to break, even when you want to. Deborah obviously doesn't want to. the only way to change that behaviour would be extremely labour intensive, might not work, and wouldn't be worth the effort.

Nobody knows why some people develop trichotillomania. The main reason it's a problem is that others react strongly to the sight of a person with big chunks of missing hair, and it does waste a lot of the person's time and angst.

 

[SQ]

Well, with all the double rex lovers on this forum, Debbie doesn't have to worry :wink:

 

[RatsForever]

Two words: Bitter Apple.

I had a rat that loved to barber and it took only one shot of Bitter Apple to end that!

Heh heh heh... :lol:

 

[SQ]

Linda, want to come over and help paint my couch with bitter apple? 8)

 

[RatsForever]

If I didn't live so far I would give you a hand!

:lolsign:

 

[lilspaz68]

typically its just unsightly but there's no discomfort involved. I would only think about really trying to stop them if they are scraping themselves raw.

 

[jorats]

The only time I'd say there's discomfort is if they are dealing with stress in barbering. But this doesn't look like it's the case. The barbering doesn't look deep at all. I've seen some really bad barbering.

 

[SQ]

You are right, her skin does not look red and irritated.

And it doesn't seem to be stress related - she appears to be happy in with her 6 sisters, Grace, Joy, Hope, and Faith. She enjoys zooming around the free range area and the playpen. She eagerly comes bouncing when I call. When the cage door opens, she is right there , climbing out for a cuddle or a chance to go exploring.