Funny behavior

Question
I bought a hairless rat a week ago. I noticed that she swayed her head from side to side but was told this is normal because she is albino and is just sniffing. She would normally come out of her cage and play on the couch but the past couple of days she has not. All she does is lay in her swing and will barley come out. I pick her up and she just stands there like she's paralyzed and sways her but back and forth. Occasionally while swaying she will start to lean to one side. I don't think she is sick as she does not have any of the symptoms I've read about on other web pages. She is eating, drinking water and still cleans herself. So far I have not found anything describing these issue's.Could she be having a bad couple days and I'm being paranoid or should I take her to the vet.

Answer
Your rat is swaying her head for other reasons that have nothing to do with sniffing.  Please read my webpage about this type of behavior that is common in many rats but is still an unusual site to see. Some vets that are not up to par on rat care may not even be aware of this type of behaivor and may even assume the rat is sick with possile neurological problems (true story, one vet even told some lady her rat had a brain tumor and was going to die and this was the reason for her head swaying. Sounds to me she is fine, just shy and needs some extra attention to come out of her shell. You can use my site also to learn how to trust train shy rats.  Please let me know how it goes or if you have more questions feel free to ask.

http://www.freewebs.com/crittercity/myratswaysherhead.htm