Dylan is my shy, 10-month old black berk. Early on in his life with me, I was sitting with him on my shoulder petting him, when he suddenly FREAKED OUT. He leaped off my shoulder, ran round and round on the floor, and finally darted under the sofa and had to be dragged out.

I started intros last week with four hyper little adolescent ratties. I thought things were going well--the usual scuffling but nothing too bad. Twice, he has FREAKED OUT again, most dramatically tonight. I had the cages closed so there would be no finger nipping. He ran round and round and round in circles, climbed half way up the cage and hurled himself off, and finally ended up winding down like a wind-up toy, his hind legs still paddling furiously but unable to propel his body. I opened the cage and he slowly dragged himself up the ramps before parking himself, still panting, and not moving for the next hour.

I wonder if anyone knows--what gives? It doesn't seem like something neurological, because he was able to run and leap (faster than I've ever seen a rat run!) Is it simply a panic attack?

I have two questions.

 Number 1: You mentioned "...still panting," do you mean like a gasping type of thing?  

If so, he may be panicking because he's unable to breathe, in which case he should be on some type of bronchiodilator.  It could be VERY serious.


Number 2: After freaking out, did he freeze up and stare off, unresponsive or at least almost unresponsive?

 I have a boy who had severe panic attacks and would become frozen.  He'd literally be too scared to move and sometimes it was like it came out of nowhere.  I still have no idea what caused them.  With holding and comforting him during these, I was able to bring him out of them.  He doesn't have them to that extreme anymore, but he still has them occasionally.  It's not unheard of, it could be a panic attack and you'll just need to figure out what kinds of things might soothe him.

Thanks so much for your comments. This morning he was back to his normal, healthy self--no signs of ill health, alert, no porphyrin, and ready for his morning oatmeal, so I'm going to guess it's just panic.

The last time he did that, I let him right back into his cage, and he calmed down much faster. I have been keeping the cage doors closed while everyone is out, but it sounds like I should let him retreat and then come out again when and if he's comfortable.

The first couple of days of intros, he wouldn't come out. Now he's fine with coming out but seems to be hitting his limit after interacting with the youngsters for a period of time. I will definitely continue to take it slowly.