Ever heard of anything like this?

Ok so this started a few weeks ago. It'd wake me up from a dead sleep because it's so loud. At first I thought the rats were rough housing really hard. But then I finally saw it. I have one female who I just don't even know how to describe it. She'll run at all sides of the tub just flipping out. I mean just throw herself against all sides of the tub, really heard and really fast. No rats are bothering her, nothing scaring her. She just appears to have a sanity leave. She'll ping pong ball herself against all sides then stop. She broke one of her nails the other day doing this and was bleeding a little. When the running at the walls thing is done she'll stop in a corner and her tail just twitches. She gets real still after this and just sits there staring off. I've come to the conclusions that I don't have much luck with rats. She's my favorite ratty but I'm scared she's got something wrong with her.

She's either really happy or really scared. Have you tried handling her after/during one of these episodes? Her reaction to you attempting to handle her should show whether she's happy or scared. If she runs from your hand or bites, she's probably scared, if she plays or lets you handle her she's probably just getting over-excited.

If her tail is twitching, mice and rats do this when they are -very- upset. She might be having a problem with another rat in the cage with her, and you just don't see it happening. Or maybe there's a wild rat or mouse in the house, that she sees and you don't. Try separating her and see if the problem subsides. If she has a problem with her cagemates, that hould fix it. If she's just an aggressive rat, then she'll probably stay that way and keep acting out.


I just recently had to put a mouse down, who was doing this same thing. He was virtually unhandleable, and I thought it was because he was alone, and just on guard all the time from being a single mouse in a cage. So I moved him in with my elderly female ASFs and he was fine, until I cleaned the cage. Then he immediately started violently attacking the ASFs. I decided that was the last straw, because nobody is going to want a mouse for breeding, or a pet, that is that mean/scared/defensive. :/

I have no experience with rats but if my dog did that, I would be concerned about neurological damage. If nothing is spooking the other rats, it has to be something very specific to that one rat. If you have the space, I would suggest quarantining that one. Good luck..

I've held her after an "episode" and she just sits there absolutely still. Normally when I have her out she can't sit still. Nothing is bothering the other rats. I did have her by herself for a few days and she still did it. Her and the other female get along really well.

Tarzan- neuro issue is what I was thinking as a first explanation. I just don't know how'd that happen and why all of a sudden. Nothing has changed.

If she's wiped out/still in the aftermath... I'm thinking seizure. There doesn't need to be an external change for that. Could be age, could be brain tumor, but it doesn't sound good.

Is she running in circles? Does she look like her head is tilted?

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Originally Posted by Deborah

Is she running in circles? Does she look like her head is tilted?

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Nope. She otherwise acts normal.

I was also considering a brain tumor. Very odd. I would separate her and see what happens, maybe try to get a really good look at her when she freaks out if it continues.

:( It's getting more frequent. She has two nails ripped off on one of her back paws. Two broken on one front paw and that original one on another from doing the ping pong thing.

Please shoot a video for the super curious and young breeder :)

Any eye bulging? Or runny eyes?

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Originally Posted by CptJack

If she's wiped out/still in the aftermath... I'm thinking seizure. There doesn't need to be an external change for that. Could be age, could be brain tumor, but it doesn't sound good.

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This was my exact thought a seizure. no matter what the cause or the reasoning behind it it's not good. I would feed it off asap.

I'd never be able to get a video in time. It's random with usually five seconds or so of her ping ponging off all walls of the tub then she sits really still in the corner for a few minutes. Now that I've been thinking about it I haven't seen her playing anymore and she has dropped a bit of weight. No bulging eyes.

And yeah I figured I'd have to feed her off. :( I can never have a favorite rat. Something always happens.

Murphys law...

Gosh. I have never seen or heard of such a thing.
If she's not head tilted or going in circles, then that rules out pituitary tumor and inner ear issue.

Could she have fallen and injured herself, which could have lead to this?

Is this the mink from me?

Can I wait it out since it's not a tumor? I really don't want to put her down but I don't want her to keep hurting herself. Allure is about the size for her but I don't want to risk it. I'd have to CO2 her. I really like her, she's very sociable, and gets along with everyone.

I've never dropped her and she's never gotten loose. She's in a 105qt tub with the hardware cloth on the lid of the tub so I don't know how she'd of gotten a head injury. And yep the cute little friendly mink girl. :(

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Originally Posted by Marrissa

Can I wait it out since it's not a tumor? I really don't want to put her down but I don't want her to keep hurting herself. Allure is about the size for her but I don't want to risk it. I'd have to CO2 her. I really like her, she's very sociable, and gets along with everyone.

I've never dropped her and she's never gotten loose. She's in a 105qt tub with the hardware cloth on the lid of the tub so I don't know how she'd of gotten a head injury. And yep the cute little friendly mink girl. :(

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I've never experienced what you're describing.

God. I am so sorry. I feel terrible.
First you get a small litter from my female and next this. :(
Poor girlie.
If you're free next week, I can give you a couple girls.
I promise my rats aren't normally like this.

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No really I just have terrible luck. I don't blame you or your rats at all. And I'd love to buy a couple but I won't take any for free. Not your fault at all. Things happen. I'll PM you now.

It was without a doubt seizures. I came running into my room after hearing her from the other room. I went in there and it was just horrible to see. :( I couldn't wait any longer and have her suffer through that again. She just didn't recover like before and I thought she was gone afterwards. RIP little girl.

That's the weirdest thing I've heard of in awhile. There's no chance they were exposed to any chemicals or ate anything bad that would cause the small litter and the psychotic episodes?

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If she's not hurting herself, or you can get her somewhere where she can't, you can keep her longer, just watch for it to get worse. Just try not to breed her, because who knows if its hereditary.


I'm still not sure if it's a physical problem or not.

Nope. They live in tubs. I feed Mazuri, the same bag I've been feeding. I feed them the occasional fruit/veggie or scrambled eggs that I eat. They get fresh water and kiln dried pin shavings every week. They are in my room and I don't use any cleaning supplies in there besides Clorox wipes. The bags of bedding and food are also in my room.

Rhas- I put her down last night. With the seizure I saw there was no way I was going to wait and have her go through another one. It was really bad.

I'm sorry for the loss Marissa. She was a good girl. :(

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This is one reason I just can't keep rats any more. I have never had a rat die of old age. :/
I'm sorry this happened to you.

I've only known one rat personally, who ever died of old age, and he died at the ripe of age of 5.

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Originally Posted by Rhasputin

She's either really happy or really scared. Have you tried handling her after/during one of these episodes? Her reaction to you attempting to handle her should show whether she's happy or scared. If she runs from your hand or bites, she's probably scared, if she plays or lets you handle her she's probably just getting over-excited.

If her tail is twitching, mice and rats do this when they are -very- upset. She might be having a problem with another rat in the cage with her, and you just don't see it happening. Or maybe there's a wild rat or mouse in the house, that she sees and you don't. Try separating her and see if the problem subsides. If she has a problem with her cagemates, that hould fix it. If she's just an aggressive rat, then she'll probably stay that way and keep acting out.


I just recently had to put a mouse down, who was doing this same thing. He was virtually unhandleable, and I thought it was because he was alone, and just on guard all the time from being a single mouse in a cage . So I moved him in with my elderly female ASFs and he was fine, until I cleaned the cage. Then he immediately started violently attacking the ASFs. I decided that was the last straw, because nobody is going to want a mouse for breeding, or a pet, that is that mean/scared/defensive. :/

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Nope, not the case. I kept mice for years (regular pet store mice that I bred) and male mice are perfectly happy on their own, or with females. It should be noted that if they're kept with other males, they'll attack them. That's just territorial instinct. All my males (the ones I kept as breeders anyway) were very sweet and handleable. I noticed a variety of personality in the babies however, and had several that were being extremely aggressive that ended up being snake food. I handled all my mice frequently as soon as they were old enough. I kept only the ones who had good personalities as future breeders. Within a few generations I had no further problems with super-aggressive mice.