Absence seizures in hybrid dwarf?

[Brood_Daddy]

Twice I've seen my Pablo (who is probably a girl but we all got used to calling him a 'he'...) seems to have absence seizures. They all follow a similar pattern.

He'll stop what he's doing and freeze. He can be walking around his cage or, like last night, mid-climb.

He'll stay there, totally blank and not moving, for a long time. No sniffing, no looking around, and sounds won't change his state. Even offering his favorite treat doesn't rouse him.

Usually he's quite cage-territorial and only allows me to put my hand in by the door - anywhere else and I get a nip. But when he's in this state he will let me reach in and stroke him and pick him up with no resistance at all.

In my hands he'll be floppy. He'll fall off balance and lay still with his eyes open.

When he comes round, he's super confused. He dashes around his cage exploring every inch of it, or if I'm holding him he'll start to run between my hands.

Finally he settles down and has a nap, then usually returns to his normal self.

Anyone else seen this? Is it dangerous? Anything I need to do to help him?

[CMB]

The freezing in position can be when they have been startled or scared. One of my hamsters used to do this a lot at first.

[cypher]

It can seem a bit strange & even scary when you first see it but this is totally natural behaviour, in the wild they do this to make themselves less visible to predators.
It's usually a fear or startle response, could be anything, a sound, even a sound beyond human hearing, a smell, the presence of another animal, a movement of something, almost anything really! Nothing to worry about anyway but if it does happen frequently you might be able to tell what's triggering it.

[Brood_Daddy]

Ahh okay! So it's like playing possum? I was scared he was in trouble. Thanks for your help!

I wonder if he can smell his siblings. We have to keep them in the same room (original intention was to keep them together in a huge cage, but they all had to go their own ways eventually). If he gets a whiff of a sibling he's forgotten, would that maybe send him into this state?

[CMB]

It could make him wary. Especially it it was a more dominant sibling.

[cypher]

It's possible it could be that.