Question
Sandy
Hello, I have a rat named Sandy(one of three I bought from Petsmart, one of the others was her sister, she died a few weeks ago though), and I'm positive she's blind, she does not have red eyes, but her sister did, and she was just fine. Sandy does the headswaying, is more afraid than my other remaining rat Lola, who is very friendly. My question is, is there any way to get Sandy to completely trust me? I've had her almost a year now, yet she stil won't willingly let me grab her, no matter how gentle and slow I am. When I come home from school shes always at the front of the cage like she wants attention, but then won't come out. When I am holding her, she never stops moving, she tries to burrow into my clothes and hide like she is afraid, and then when I pick her up to put her back in the cage or just to move her somewhere more often than not she squeals like I've scared her! I've tried treats and everything, I've especially been spending a lot more time with her since her sister passed away from a respiratory infection. She doesn't bite and is generally very sweet but I feel that her blindness makes her more afraid and feel less safe. Is there any way to solve this?
Thank you
AnswerHi
For starters, head swaying does not indicate blindness at all. Many rat care sites that are written by a layperson will say this, but it is not accurate information at all.
Why a rat sways his head can be found on my website, sandyscrittercity.com. Refer to the page "my rat sways her head" or something like that. LOL Its my site yet I forget what I called each page. LOL! Good job Sandra! :)
Also, rats eyesight? well if they were human lets just say they would not have a license to drive a car and would be considered legally blind, with the red and pink eyed rats having vision no greater than 20/700 and the dark eyed rat around 20/500. Read on my site also under the general health care page and note the article about rats vision and what they see and cant see. Its no crisis if they are blind because they dont rely on their vision to navigate anyhow. Rats in the wild tunnel around in pitch black. They leave urine trails so they can follow their urnie scent back to thier nest since they cant see. They use their whiskers to determine the width of the tunnel so they dont get stuck in something they cant fit through.They will sway their head from side to side in order to judge the depth of an object before jumping. You cannot tell if the rat is blind trying to touch his eye and if he blinks etc..this is only because his whiskers pick up movement/motion. You need to flash a flash light into his eyes and look for pupil dilation.
As for his shyness, you need to allow her to come out on her own, no more you chasing her. Trust me, my method works. Read on my site the page called GETTING STARTED and follow the directions on setting up a place for her to play, but so she has access to her cage as well.Let her come out on her own without you taking her out. See how that works.
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