Bruxing

For those of you who don't know what bruxing is, or why it happens.

2.1 Why do my rat's eyes bulge in and out? (from RatBehavior.Org)

Sometimes, a rat's eyes may vibrate rapidly in and out of the eye socket, a phenomenon called eye boggling. This odd eyeball movement often occurs at the same time as bruxing, or tooth grinding. The reason bruxing and eye boggling occur together is anatomical: a part of the muscle that pulls up the rat's lower jaw passes through the eye socket, behind the eyeball. When a rat grinds its teeth, it moves its lower jaw rapidly up and down, and the contractions of the jaw muscle vibrate the eyeball in and out of the socket in time with the jaw.

Eye boggling is associated with intense bruxing. Anecdotally, eye boggling occurs at times of great contentment and relaxation. The eyeball vibrates rapidly in and out of the socket. Occurs during high-intensity bruxing (soft, repetitive grinding of the incisors). The rat's masseter muscle, which passes through the eye socket behind the eyeball, moves the jaw rapidly up and down during bruxing. When bruxing is intense, the contractions of the masseter vibrate the eye in and out of the socket in time with the incisor grinding. Usually considered to indicate pleasure and contentment.

And finally, the point of all this, a cute VIDEO we found of Whiskey and Womble on YouTube!