Rat acting oddly

Question
QUESTION: Hi Sandra, we have had rats off and on for the last 10 years, but never a rat acting like one of our current rats.  I've recently moved her to a clean new cage - she has always wanted to be the dominant rat, is the biggest eater, and I thought was fighting with one of our 3 other rats, as she is missing hair along her spine and has cuts and scabs (as does one of the other ratties, but to a much lesser degree.)  However, all the squealing that I thought was 2 rats wrestling, I think has been from just this one dominant one.  I think she is losing her mind.  Her eyes are clear and bright and she seems normal in many ways, albeit a little fat and of course missing her hair. However she is acting really strange.  Squealing, chasing in circles, chasing up and down in her cage, wrestling herself in her hammock and in her box.  Things will quite down for a short while and then start up again in full force.  She is close to 2 years old, and seems alert and curious enough, but like there is some hidden force that is taking hold of her sporadically.  I've never seen anything like this in all our years of having rats as pets.  Would not enough darkness cause something like this?  I'm at a loss.  Thanks for your time :)

ANSWER:
To me she simply sounds feisty and playful, but of course I am trained to listen to the rat owner first, refer to textbook second. If you say she was not like this before, I believe you.

It sounds like something is bothering her. Does she seem to scratch alot?

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

QUESTION: NO, no she doesn't seem to be scratching at all.  But it doesn't seem like playfulness either.  It seems like something she can't control.  I've thrown a towel over her cage and she seems to have quieted down a bit, and her "episodes" are much more infrequent.  Not sure what is bugging her, but she seems slightly happier.

Answer
When she sees you, does she want out of her cage and want you? Does she seem like she is looking for something yet she isnt sure what it is?


Do you think putting the cover over her cage helps because she is not stimulated by her surroundings and this makes her less agitated? Does acting agitated seem to be fitting for her behavior or part of it?