Reptile & Amphibian Forums

One of my females keeps acting strange.She runs up onto the shelf and hides in the corner and her face start twitching.Her eyes do this bugging in and out and her jaw quivers.I cant really discribe it right but its pretty unnerving to watch.Afterward she acts like she wants to go to sleep but is uncomfortable and shifts around...I would feed her off but she has a one week old litter and I really would like her to finish raising this litter up first....Could it be a vitamin deficiency or just some wierd glitch?
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I assume it's a rat. What she is doing sounds like bruxing and it's caused by either stress or contentment. In this case it sounds like stress. What is going on when she runs and does this? Is another rat bothering her, or is it when you are trying to grab her or something? Does she have sufficient food and water?

I dont think its contentment,she has always acted stressed and nervous since I got her.I dont see anything going on,
but it could be the "Alpha"(dont know if rats have this)female is taking all the babies including hers.I already took the male out so its just the three females and a three litters of babies.One litter is being pulled out this week as they will be over 3 weeks old.
It shouldnt be food or water I have two dishes of each in the cage so there is always plenty.I'll keep an eye out for fighting but Ive not seen or heard anything.

Either way I think I'll feed her off when the litter is raised, she is chewing up everything in the cage as well..
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Well you could try separating her with a litter, or like you said feed her off. They should all really have a water bottle rather than a dish, however. Dishes get contaminated quickly and knocked over, bedding dumped in, peed in, etc. No matter how often you change it they will still end up without clean water for a period of time.

I have one water bottle and one crock up on a shelf that stays pretty clean,they use it quite often, I change it daily anyways..
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They also sometimes wiggle their ears and bug out their eyes when in heat.

If she is docile enough, you might pick her up and check her teeth and jaw. Sometimes teeth are mis-aligned, orverly long, the jaw may be broken or the jaw socket flawed.
DeMak