When is the popcorn stage over!?

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OrangishPinkishBlue

Well-Known Member
Joined
Feb 20, 2013
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194
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United States
Oh god help .

These baby rats are driving me nuts! They literally THROW themselves off the second shelf. All legs go splaying out in different directions and they bellyflop onto the floor. THEN THEY DO IT AGAIN.'

We get them out for play time on the bed and one walked right off the edge. Just kept walking as soon as he hit the ground. I swear its like being in a cartoon! :panic:


They're cute, but my goodness! Even the mother rats are trying to get away from them by hiding under the towels. :laugh4:

So, my question being when is this stage over and gone with and what can I do to help them not kill themselves until then? Do they sell ratty helmets?
 
Well, I've got a 2.5 year old gal, and she still throws herself off the play table. She used to leap quite the distance, but these days she just ends up going straight down. Out-time is spent either chasing her away from the table edge, or diving to catch her as she leaps/falls. Funfun!
 
rhapsody said:
Well, I've got a 2.5 year old gal, and she still throws herself off the play table. She used to leap quite the distance, but these days she just ends up going straight down. Out-time is spent either chasing her away from the table edge, or diving to catch her as she leaps/falls. Funfun!
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Imma go cry in the nearest possible corner now.
 
Hahaha they learn a little bit of restraint, but not a lot. The energy levels will stay close to the same for months, but they will learn not to throw themselves off of things...babies don't know they are not invincible yet :D

And as for popcorning, all depends on the rat, I still have some oolld rats who popcorn. Keiran had no back end at all, and he would just bounce his front end up and down and shake his head... LOLOL
 
lilspaz68 said:
Hahaha they learn a little bit of restraint, but not a lot. The energy levels will stay close to the same for months, but they will learn not to throw themselves off of things...babies don't know they are not invincible yet :D

And as for popcorning, all depends on the rat, I still have some oolld rats who popcorn. Keiran had no back end at all, and he would just bounce his front end up and down and shake his head... LOLOL
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Well! I'm okay with popcorning by itself, as my two older rats do it. But I've always heard the 'LOL I can fly, peeps!' stage is called the popcorn stage. I woke up in the middle of the night last night to a baby SHRIEKING because I'm guessing she had gone to throw herself off the shelf and instead got stuck in a hammock and had no clue on how to get down. :emb:
 
:laugh4:

I actually DO NOT have this problem ever, though I came close to it before :cheeky: my girls would try to climb up the cage so they can dive bomb on my boys right? Well Alpha male Gizmo, was not having it. He'd spoil the girls fun by basically climbing up after them, grab them by the scruff of their neck, and pull them down, them squeaking all the way in protest :laugh4: at first I thought he was really hurting them and being a big bully. But no, those girls never had a mark on them from good'ol Gizmo, he was just drawing a line for these naughty girls and keeping them out of trouble.

Since then the girls are a bit more cautious of their size and height, even during play time :giggle:
 
EDK said:
:laugh4:

I actually DO NOT have this problem ever, though I came close to it before :cheeky: my girls would try to climb up the cage so they can dive bomb on my boys right? Well Alpha male Gizmo, was not having it. He'd spoil the girls fun by basically climbing up after them, grab them by the scruff of their neck, and pull them down, them squeaking all the way in protest :laugh4: at first I thought he was really hurting them and being a big bully. But no, those girls never had a mark on them from good'ol Gizmo, he was just drawing a line for these naughty girls and keeping them out of trouble.

Since then the girls are a bit more cautious of their size and height, even during play time :giggle:
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LOL! I can't wait for my boys to meet their new friends/sons. We're gonna wait till they're 8 weeks old to start intros but I'm so excited. Maybe the boys will tone down after?? I can only hope. :thud:
 
I think it depends on the rat. Gumdrop is over a year old and still can't understand why she can't throw herself off the table or the couch. She jumped off of my friend's shoulder once and gave us all a heart attack.
 
OK. SO! It had a moment of complete HORROR.

Cupid, one of the babies, climbed to the top of the rope we had in the cage. Everything was fine... UNTIL she tumbled off.

She hit her head, her stomach folded over her, and she bounced. and then went still. I quickly opened the door and scooped her up. I didn't know how to check for a pulse so I just did what we use to do to kittens and started to vigorously rub her with a soft cloth. Her front feet began twitching, so I stopped and held her up to my ear to listen to breathing.

I suppose she was fine after that, though, because she startled and bit down onto my ear. Her head was a bit wobbly when I set her down, but after a few moments of balance regain, she went bouncing off into the cage again. I've been checking on her, and she's doing fine. I lowered the rope toy for now, though. I have never seen a pet knock itself out before, and I never want to see it again. My fingers went numb and it felt like my heart stopped and I got needles up my back. NOT a pleasant experience at all.

She's eating, drinking, playing and bouncing with the other babies. I did the cheerio test to make sure she didn't lose any of her balancing skills, and she took it with ease and began eating it with both paws. I saw her balance herself on the edge of the bowl about 30 minutes ago, so I think we're in the clear. But this is the first time I've ever added a vet to speed dial. Rats are going to be the death of me.
 
Oh wow, and I thought my new boys were wild! GMC one of our older ones still thinks he can fly..... Hope they tone it down for your sake - perhaps you can put them in a padded room.... :laugh4:
 
I have had fearless active rats but I never had babies past the age of 4-5 weeks that I worried about falling off shelves. They all seemed to climb and get around their cage very well,
Maybe you should make their cage more baby proof....more shelves and hammocks to cusion and unexpected tumbles....Like a hole in the middle of a hammock and hand the rope through it...so if a baby slips they will just fall into the hammock....
 
I think I'm going to. I was so tired last night all I could do was lower the rope then I went to crash. I think today I'm lowering the shelf to about 5 inches off the tray and making the rope go straight across. Padded room sounds nice though! XD
 

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