Hello everyone! Today I'll be listing the stress signs in rats! Some of these signs can be hard to see, so you should pay close attention to your pet rats.
1.Blue eyes
Rats are only born with black eyes. (albinos with red) If you see a little blue pop up from the edges of their eyes, it could mean something. It's kinda like a way of crying, or to show anger. It's the most common stress sign. Most of the time they just do it when they want to be played with or arnt getting enough love.
2.Stress pooping (ew :V)
This can happen when a rat is scared or in a place they don't want to be in. If they arnt trained, it's a little hard to see this, but it's easily spotted in trained rats.
3.Scratching or biting
Rats can sometimes scratch you often by accident depending on how long their nails are, but some may do this when they see you as a threat. You can train them not to do this by playing with them more and giving them more treats. This is also the same with biting. There are diffrent types of bitings: Flea biting and actually biting. Flea biting is when rats nibble on your arm trying to clean you. They do this because they like you . If they were to ever try to bite you to hurt you, trust me, it would draw a lot of blood. Their teeth are very dirty, so make sure to wash the cut with soap and water if they ever bite you.
4.Chromodacryorrhoea
This is when rats start "bleeding" around their noses or eyes. This is mainly do to stress or illness, and should be checked with a vet. It could also (not likely) happen when they start getting older. If the rats younger than a year old, its probably stressed or sick.
5.Patching/barbering
This is when a rat chews off areas of their fur off. This usually happens when they are in a small cage, if another rat is bullying them, or other harmful things.
These are the only stress signs I know about. I may add more in the future.