Hi all,
I was wondering if you could help me. We are first time rat owners and are really in love with our girls. They are now 4.5 months old and have just both recovered from middle ear infection. They were absolutely fine this week and suddenly yesterday started becoming extremely skittish and scared. We haven't changed anything in their diet and we take them out of the cage for free roaming twice a day (2 hours or more in total) which they normally cannot wait to do. But now they were both just staying in their Sputnik bed and not wanting to come out. We normally just sit on a chair with the cage door open until they come so we can take them to the free roam area for which they normally are very keen. But now all of a sudden they just stayed in.
Their weight has stayed the same (I quickly checked to see if they hadn't lost any) and they are eating and drinking as normal. They do want to take treats such as malt paste or sweet peas but only from their hiding spots. I read it might be their "fear period" but I also read different ages for this (most saying 2 months old and not 4.5).
Thank you for the help!
Kind regards,
Nynke
I was wondering if you could help me. We are first time rat owners and are really in love with our girls. They are now 4.5 months old and have just both recovered from middle ear infection. They were absolutely fine this week and suddenly yesterday started becoming extremely skittish and scared. We haven't changed anything in their diet and we take them out of the cage for free roaming twice a day (2 hours or more in total) which they normally cannot wait to do. But now they were both just staying in their Sputnik bed and not wanting to come out. We normally just sit on a chair with the cage door open until they come so we can take them to the free roam area for which they normally are very keen. But now all of a sudden they just stayed in.
Their weight has stayed the same (I quickly checked to see if they hadn't lost any) and they are eating and drinking as normal. They do want to take treats such as malt paste or sweet peas but only from their hiding spots. I read it might be their "fear period" but I also read different ages for this (most saying 2 months old and not 4.5).
Thank you for the help!
Kind regards,
Nynke