Reptile & Amphibian Forums

alive? I have been trying to breed rats for about 3 months now but they keep dying off one by one. They seem great, then one day I will notice them start to get really sluggish and skinny. I don't get it, I've tried a few different things like food, substrate, treats, etc. At first I had about 14 rats when they started dying, then I thought "ok, might be a disease or something" so I killed off the rest of what I had, froze them, scrubbed the cages, and started over with just a male and female. Now, my male has the same symptoms. Funny thing is, I have a pet rat that's not a breeder, under the same conditions, and her cage is on top of the breeders cage, she's 2 1/2 years old and doing great. I don't get it.

Maybe overcrowded competeing for food? Do they sneeze or have any other symptoms? Poison? What kind of watering system do you have for them and did you change it after you killed off the sick ones?

I haven't heard any wheezing or sneezing or anything like that, I don't know how poison would fit in anywhere. Each cage had three food bowls in it that I kept topped off and let them free feed. But you did get me thinking, and no....no I didn't change their water bottles after I got the new ones, didn't even think about it to tell you the truth. Thanks for bringing that to my attention.

How big are the cages and how many rats do you keep in each cage? How many males and females do you keep in each cage?

Shot

Right now I just have one male and one female in seperate cages, they are cages I picked up from petco, 2 story with a wheel. Other than that I don't know how to explain it. I have had up to 10 rats in that one cage and they all seemed to have enough room.

stock you are buying? maybe they are selling you old retired breeders. also i would switch suppliers, get young healthy looking rats (look for nice thick plump tails) you can tell alot about a rats health by looking at their tails. hope this helps, john yocum