rat behaviour

Question
Me and my partner got 2 rats about 3 weeks ago and they are both fairly tame now, we let one run about freely in the room and she comes back to us when we call her. The other one is still very timid and the other day we were vacuuming the room where we keep them and she started having what i can only describe as a fit. She came running out the cage (as we leave the door open) and was running all over the room. We have not vacuumed with them in the room again and calmed her down. She is quite content to sit on our lap but is still quite jumpy, the other one will run up us and is completely fine.

I was just wondering if you could advise us on the "fit", the fact she seems a little twitchy and her general behaviour compared with the outgoing one?

Answer
Thanks for asking and taking time to care for your rats.

It sounds to me like that is just her "personality".All rats are different just as people and some are calm and easy going and some are hyper active or shy. In her case seems she is excited and over whelmed with joy at all her surroundings. I would just be happy that she is happy. Now there are some things you can try to maybe make a setting with her more enjoyable and less active. Trying things like just having her out and let her sit with you as you calmly pet her. There is also food that makes rats more calm:

Carbohydrates are great for calming one down and it works on rats, things like
   * Whole-wheat pasta
   * Oatmeal
   * Popcorn
   * Bagels
   * Tortillas
   * Dry cereal
Then there is "trust" techniques you can try( which co work as a calming method) and here is a good link to learn about that:

http://ratfanclub.org/trust.html

I hope that is gives some insight into your rat. I am glad that you can let them run free mine are a little more active and would be into everything :)