Quirk or something wrong?

[1095732]

Comet is one of the boys who came from the former snake owner. He's always had an odd behaviour which at first I attributed to him being scared and living him life in a tiny feeder bin. He's been here for a bit over 3 months and he still has the behaviour. My second thought was that someone picked on him before they came to me (they all lived together, except the nakie). But even if he is alone or with any of the others, including the boys he doesn't live with, he does this.

He doesn't really do anything. He sit in the corner of his litter pan, all day, all night. If I move the litter pan at all, he gets out and does rat things for a minute, but comes back and sits in it again. Always the same spot. He does it wether he is inside the cage or out. And he won't take food from me while he's in that mental zone. It's like he's not there. He also doesn't want anyone to come near him when he's there. He and his cage mates are a really solid group. I've never had problems with them, not even normal dominance scuffles. He's not neutered, none of them are.

He and his group are moving on to their new home really soon, so I'd like to figure out what he's doing. He does do rat things, eats, digs, plays, hoards, but always quickly goes back to his spot. Even if I move the pan or give a different one. If I take it away, he does it in one of the houses.

In these two videos he's in his spot (we were having playtime) and that's him making the noise. He does it all the time, but usually quietly. (The two other boys in the second video always cuddle with him in the pan at night. On occasion he moves to a hammock with them.)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FONJFPigiIw
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u6ePqMew0zs

In this video I moved the litter pan and you can see how he gets out, but goes right back to that spot. He was a bit jumpy with the other rats, but normally isn't. He gets like that when the others (non-cage mates) are out with him.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=onwJ6iQcV7I

Being a normal boy...

 

[lilspaz68]

When I first saw him so still he looked like he might be having mild seizures, but later on with the noises (which are extreme fear noises) and how he stiffens a bit when other rats go near him, he's frightened. You said he's like this with his non-cagemate rats? You let several cages run at the same time? For his this might just be too traumatic, and if he gets along just fine with his own cagemates you might want to just have them out instead of the big group.

 

[jorats]

Poor little guy, ya, I'd say it's fear based. But you say he does this in the cage too?

 

[1095732]

Yeah he does it in his cage or while he's out with his cage mates as well. That's why it's confusing me. I've tried keeping him with one other boy at a time, either a cage mate or one of the docile oldies and he still does it. He did it when I kept him separate for about a day as well.

 

[jorats]

Any chance you can get him neutered? I wonder if that might help. It did for my Captain but he wasn't nearly as scared as your little guy.

 

[1095732]

I can get him neutered if it might help him. I'll see if I can get an appointment quickly for him. So would it possibly be some sort of hormonal fear?

 

[temblabamomo]

Poor boy. It makes me sad to see him so frightened. I sure hope a neuter will do something for him.

Sent from my SCH-I415 using Tapatalk 2

 

[jorats]

My Captain was like that. He would freeze and bolt and stay away from his cage buddy. Once the stress of hormones are removed, he started to live like a happy rat. He wasn't the most outgoing but he actually played with his buddies.

 

[Joanne]

That poor little boy - those sad, pitiful noises broke my heart.
If a neuter might help even a little, it would be worth it.

 

[1095732]

He's going in for his neuter on the 28th. He will be with his new family then (relatives of mine). I didn't want to have him done then travel down to South Carolina, just in case there was problems and needed to get him in right away. Hopefully it helps him, even just a bit. It will be so weird not to hear those noises anymore. I hear the "crying" noise almost all day and I'm so use to hearing it. When I didn't hear it for a few hours I checked to see if he was okay.

 

[jorats]

That poor boy, hopefully this will help him a lot.