Expected blind rat

Question
QUESTION: Hello,
I am writing to you in hope that you can give me a hint, i do not see the point in going to the vet because the rat i am on about seems quite happy and content.

My dad was out walking the dog and came across a box of rats (pet rats/hooded rats) on the side of the road and brought them home. There are 28 in total and we have arrangements sorted out to give away some of them. (Good job i have owned rats before haha).

Anyway, after separating the male and female rats i came across one that i think is blind.
It seems to use it's whiskers an awful lot, it hasn't got a head tilt but can't keep it's head still. It's head is always moving around unless it's eating or sleeping. It's always out first to get food etc so I'm guessing it's used to using it's sense of smell very well. I was just wondering if you have ever come across this before were a rat has been blind and been acting in this way. It really does move it's head a lot. Round in circles, up down left right.

We are obviously going to keep this one because people seem to just want perfectly normal animals these days so i was just asking to see if you recognized this as a result of rats being blind. I also saw someones rat doing the same on youtube and the person said that their rat was blind in the Info board.

Sorry to babble on, i doubt I've explained myself clear either, if you don't understand my way of explaining just say and I'll be happy to try and rewrite this clearer, Thanks for your help.

Nikii x

ANSWER: Its possible that it is blind, but its not a crisis if it is.  Someone just wrote to me today about a rat that was born without eyes. She was a bit worried about how the rat would fare, and I assured her that the rat would do just fine.  They do not rely on their vision to navigate anyhow, so it is no real loss when they lose their vision. Rats have terrible eyesight as it is.

However, what I do think your rat is doing is head swaying.  Please take a look at my website, sandyscrittercity.com and refer to the page titled: My rat sways her head.  Please also see the u-tube video of rats swaying their head and let me know if your boy does the same thing as the boy in the video is doing.

here is the direct link:

http://www.sandyscrittercity.com/myratswaysherhead.htm

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: It isn't normal head swaying behavior, I know what you mean by it might be that because my albino rat used to do that.
Include head swaying and times it by 10 - that is my male rat haha.

This is the video I find out youtube that looks like what my rat does.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xN9XqLJPozQ

Hope this helps a bit  

Answer
I see what you mean.  I should have known what you meant. Its almost a palsy type movement. My own rat had it after having a near fatal case of meningitis. When he recovered, he was blind in both eyes.  His head seemed as if it had no support, no muscle strength. He also walked in circles, spinning his body around if he was placed in a foreign area. In his own cage though he walked straight since he knew where he was etc...  I have also seen other rats that were blind, although not all of them had this type of palsy like movement to their head.

What you do to test for vision is NOT to try to touch their eye and see if they blink because their whiskers will pick up on that and it  will possible be a false negative test, but instead, a simple test using a flashlight is all  you need.  Shine the light in the rats eyes, look for pupil reaction. If you get none, your rat is blind. If you detect any dilation of the pupil, your rat can see, although to what degree, its not possible to know.