Twitching/ uncontrolled back legs, but only sometimes?

Question
Hi,
I came in yesterday to find one of my rats dragging herself around on her front legs, so I lifted her into the bath to work out what was going on. It then became clear that she hadn't completely lost the use of her back legs, but their movements seemed out of her control, they kept twitching and it looked like she was straining her muscles; her lower back kept going very thin when she tried to move, sorry for the bad description, I don't know how to better explain it. We rushed her to the vets, and I noticed she'd started lying on her back which I'd never seen her do before and kept cleaning her legs and genitals. When we got into the vets and placed her on the table however, she started running around as if nothing was wrong, so we ended up taking her home again. I've been watching her over the last 24-hours and she seems to be able to walk normally for a while, and then she loses control of her back legs again. I'm more than happy to take her back to the vets, but with the symptoms coming and going and with no idea what's wrong with her, it may just be another wasted trip. I wondered if you had any ideas what could be causing this?

On a complete side note, I'm assuming the fact that the other rat in the cage is being a little less active than usual and not squeaking at her unwell sister as much as usual is just a reaction to the illness, and nothing I should be worried about, they're both eating fine.

Thanks for any help,
Abi

Answer
Hi Abi

How old is the little rat your talking about?  

Did the vet do a really thorough exam or did he not bother since she was acting OK once you got there?

Sometimes I tell clients to either take photos or video record what it is they are doing at the time, esp if the seem to stop doing it and start again off and on.

It sounds almost as if she is in pain....is she lifting her back end up in the air?

Explain what you mean that her back kept going very thin the best you can....

Is your vet exotic certified or just a general vet that sees exotics?