I have a pet rat who is constantly chewing on her hand. What is she doing, and what does this mean?
My pet rat, Millie (girl), is chewing on her hand. I will look over at her cage and she will bite her hand, and pull up like she is stretching her hand. Her cage consists of bedding at the bottom, and then plastic platforms leading to the top. I change her cage once a week and wipe the urine off her platforms everyday. She has a cage mate (girl), so she isn't lonely. I do not know why she is doing this.
Some rats (like dogs) do develop nervous tics.
To keep the tics under control you should make sure that she is not bored. Does she have toys, enrichment and activities to do in her cage? Is the cage big enough for her and her sister and her to really run about and play (at least two square feet per rat and not overly crowded with things)? Does she get at least one hour out of the cage per day to explore? In the wild rats will roam up to two miles every night so they need a LOT of exercise.
You also need to consider whether the cage is clean enough, because a feeling of claustrophobia can make these tics much worse and having her in an unhygienic cage when her skin is irritated could lead to infection. A once a week cleaning like you describe is ok if the rats are litter trained, but if not then you really need to make sure to clean at least every other day. Rats can not be kept on their own urine or fecal matter. The test to know if the cage is clean enough is smell. With female rats a cage should really NEVER smell.
These are the things I would look at first. Some animals will retain tics even in perfect environments (due to an inherent problem with the animal and usually do to past trauma.)
If her skin becomes broken or badly irritated then you will need to take her to a vet to talk about antibiotics.
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