Even the vet doesnt know

Question
Patsy is a neutered male, almost 3 months old, living in a large cage with a variety of bedding made for rats (recycled paper, hay, cotton). She lost her cage mate about a month ago. She has been on two rounds of antibiotics.  The vet said she was wheezing, though we did not realize it.  We took him in because he was sneezing, and the rat that died had been sneezing also.  We described another behavior to the vet that she said she had never heard of.  Sometimes Patsy's rib cage starts jumping.  It appears that she has the hiccups. She stays alone in her cage, because the three new babies that we got are not big enough for the cage yet.  She eats well (Kaytee rat food, fresh fruits and veggies and occasional treats), drinks well and is not losing weight.  When we pull her out of the cage to spend time with her or to play with the babies, she seems reluctant to come out and that is when she starts to do this jumpy behavior.  However, when she comes out.  She seems very eager to play and plays actively with the babies for up to 45 minutes.  We give her to play periods per day plus take her out and hold her a lot.  She seemed to be depressed after Drusilla died.

Answer
That is exactly what Patsy is  doing.....he has the hiccups.  Just like you or I, when we get excited, we swallow air, thus can result in hiccups.
Rats hiccup all the time.  It is like a spasm type motion where they may sit still and make this motion like they are having spasms in their chest area which last sometimes a full minute. Its spasmotic in a way...but it is absolutely totally 100 percent hiccups.  Your vet cant really answer this because either (A) He has never seen it happen so he cant say for sure and if he doesnt own rats and never has had the chance ot witness this, he wont know either. or (b)He isnt a specialist and doesnt realize rats hiccup!

Anyhow, rest easy. Patsy has the hiccups!  :0)