Reptile & Amphibian Forums

so i went and bought several rats. a couple from different stores. It never dawned on me to quarantine them. The only one that came from a diff store was the albino female from petco. She sneezed a few times off and on from day one but I just thought she was a sneezy rat. well now a week later she has red stuff by ner nose- upper resp. all the pet store will do is return her, not pay for a vet bill.

I have a hooded moma with 15 newborns, 1 almost fully grown male, 4 pups, along with this albino female. 3 total- the male, 1 pup and of course the albino female who started it all are showing signs of being sick, the female is the sickest, red around the nose and sneezing. The others are sneezing.

Im worried the moma and newborns are going to come down with it and the other pups.

anyway.. does anyone know a good over the counter upper resp med for rats? If not, I will take her in to the vet tomorrow if they can fit me in and tell them i need enough meds for all of them to be on the safe side but ugh all these extra costs are well...costing me LOL

any advice will be appreciated!

Change out your bedding to a low dust pellet like rabbit food or Cellsorb plus....just until the URI is under control. It is as much a stress issue as a sickness issue. Lower all stresses, first and foremost- bedding and airflow.
There is nothing over the counter that will help significantly and if this is going beyond sneezing it will likely compromise the usefulness of the rats as breeders anyway.
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Sonya

I'm not mean. You're just a sissy.
Happy Bunny

well they are on aspin, i thought that was one of the best beddings for them.

as much as its good to know about being able to feed off the sick, i still am trying to get ahold of the last vet in my area to see if they can take me in. Only one so far today willing to take me was an emergency visit for 49 bux. i would like to treat the rats as my fiance and cousin want one as a pet, Im sure i'd keep one myself. so as i might feed off the more sicker of the few, I still am planning on treating them. my snakes have to eat but i dont like looking at a sick animal. besides, 22 adults/pups is alot for 3 snakes lol

thanks for your reply!

why you are raising rats, most likely to save money on feeders for your real pets!

Refer to the "Rules".....

Don't produce - fed off
Kill babies - fed off
Sick - fed off
Jumpy - fed off
Bite me - whacked on cement then fed off

Looks kind of like rule # 3 to me, sick.

IMO taking a feeder breeder rat to the vet is financially irresponsible. Would you spend $100,000 to fix up your broken down older car (not a classic, just average family car). I think not, why will you spend probably a hundred bucks between visit and meds for a $5 rat? I understand taking care of your pets and that vet bills can exceed the original cost, but IMO, not for an animal who's purpose is to make feeder animals for something else.

Go ahead and make the changes Sonya suggested and if it doesn't clear up, buy some new breeders, quarantine them and feed off all your sick rats!
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Thanks,

Dave Colling

www.rainbows-r-us-reptiles.com

0.1 Wife (WC and still very fiesty)
0.2 kids (CBB, a big part of our selective breeding program)

LOL, to many snakes to list, last count:
19.29 BRB
13.18 BCI
And those are only the breeders

lots.lots.lots feeder mice and rats

thanks for your reply. i wasnt aware you could feed off the sick. good to know

lol @ rule 6

oops i mean LOL @ rule 5 (there is no 6 lol)

LOL, when you said rule 6 I knew which one you meant, not until your repost with correction to rule 5 did I even think of how many rules there are.

Bottom line, (for me) they are rats, not pets but feeders for my snakes. I raise them because it's cheaper and I know my feeders are well fed and healthy. I know that contraqdicts the feed off the sick ones but overall, my colony is very healthy. Partially due to feeding off any sick animals.
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Thanks,

Dave Colling

www.rainbows-r-us-reptiles.com

0.1 Wife (WC and still very fiesty)
0.2 kids (CBB, a big part of our selective breeding program)

LOL, to many snakes to list, last count:
19.29 BRB
13.18 BCI
And those are only the breeders

lots.lots.lots feeder mice and rats

another question for you.. do you de-worm your feeders? is that something i should look into?

Never done that...dunno if a good idea or not!
-----
Thanks,

Dave Colling

www.rainbows-r-us-reptiles.com

0.1 Wife (WC and still very fiesty)
0.2 kids (CBB, a big part of our selective breeding program)

LOL, to many snakes to list, last count:
19.29 BRB
13.18 BCI
And those are only the breeders

lots.lots.lots feeder mice and rats