Sleepy rat

[Mandarb]

Hi my younger rat, by three months, seems to sleep a lot.  She has been like this since I got her and is now seven months old.  The other rat is very active and they both seem to get similar amounts of food.  When they are out playing on my desk Jane often goes and sleeps in her box. She shows no sign of illnes.  I was wondering, do any of you have rats that are a lot less active than the other rats.  I have only two rats so my comparison is not go, perhaps the older rat is too active.

[Suebee]

All rats are different, so it is very likely that she is just less active than the other one. She sounds more like a male than a female.  

Most females are more active than males, but not all of them. As long as she isn't showing any signs of illness, I think she's fine. She just likes to take it easy. If you're worried, though, it couldn't hurt to take her to the vet for a checkup.

[Ali]

I had two females - one of them was extremely active and always begging to come out. The second one would come out to play for a while but much preferred staying in her cage and scoffing as much as she could whilst there was no one else around! As she got older I would literally have to drag her out of her cage to get some exercise!

[Jodi]

Remember, too, that rats are technically nocturnal (although mine have always seemed to live more by the "catnaps off and on throughout the day and night" rule). It could be that your baby is a hyper little monkey during the night while you're sleeping!   I currently have 5 boys, 4 of whom are around 2 to 3 months old, and they all demonstrate different levels of activity/sleepiness. A vet check might be a good idea if you're concerned, but it's probably nothing to worry about.

[Mandarb]

Thank you every one.  It is nice to hear that it is just a personality thing.  I have given her a Vet check and all is well, lungs heart sound and all the rest.  I was a little worried about nutritional problems, i.e. dominant rat taking all the good stuff.  It is comforting to know that other rats show so much diversity in activity levels.  They are out at night though, this is late night study time, we are talking 9pm to about 11pm, not the whole night but hopefully fairly representative.  Maybe I should take a leaf from her book and kick back and take it easy.
Thank you all.