Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Anyone who's been in Southern California the last couple weeks knows how wretchedly hot it's been. At my house it's been 80 or so degrees at NIGHT all week (I work outside at a kennel, and all last week it was over 110 EVERY DAY). Well, yesterday the heat finally broke, and last night my room dropped to 73 degrees (yes I have a thermometer in my room, lol).

The problem isn't the snakes, who I've been heating at night anyway since 80 is cool for them.

It's my rats. I've been breeding fancy rats and using the money from their sale to purchase feeders, since I just like the fancies better anyway. And they're pretty.
But the sudden drop gave a bunch of them URIs, and this morning they were all sneezing and wheezing.

My dilemma is: I know what's wrong with them. I know what antibiotic I need, the concentration of it, how often to use it and how much to give, because when I worked at the petstore the rats regularly came down with URI and the vet we used always prescribed the exact same thing...and it worked! But...A vet visit is at least 50 bucks just because rats are "exotic". The vet is going to tell me "Your rats have an Upper Respiratory Infection", and then charge me for the diagnosis. And then I have to purchase the antibiotic on top of that.
Is there any way for me to bypass the vet and just get the antibiotics I need? If I have to, I'll go to the vet and suck it up, but being a college student I'd like to save the money if I can.

Any help, any suggestions are welcome. If I can't get the antibiotic in a day or two, I'm going to suck it up and go to the vet, but like I said...if I don't have to toss that money at them, I'd much prefer it.

Thanks!

~jenny
-----
"Polysyllabism in no way insures that what you're saying is actually worth being heard." - Blake (an e-friend of mine)

"I have never made but one prayer to god, a very short one: "O lord, make my enemies ridiculous." And he granted it." - Voltaire

I don't know about getting antibiotics w/out a vet but, if you still have contact info for the vet you knew at the pet store, s/he may be willing to dispense some to you without a visit since s/he knows your background and that you have administered the meds before. I have had vets do that for me once I had an established relationship and they were comfortable with my ability to diagnose and treat basic illness. I don't know if it will work but probably worth a try.

Rob

I actually didn't get to interact with the vet when I worked at the store. I believe what happened was a vet tech would run basic tests and if the results fit into certain parameters, that would be the diagnosis, and the same medicine would be prescribed. It worked for the rodents but we lost a lot of reptiles to that vet.

~jenny
-----
"Polysyllabism in no way insures that what you're saying is actually worth being heard." - Blake (an e-friend of mine)

"I have never made but one prayer to god, a very short one: "O lord, make my enemies ridiculous." And he granted it." - Voltaire

I find it hard to believe, that a drop to 73 degrees is gonna cause rats to get URI! Rats are pretty friggin' resilient! Don't talk URI to a wild sewer rat!!!!!

It's not a sewer rat, it's an american blue rex dumbo carrier rat.

Something similar happened to my bunny a couple years back. Rodents don't like extremely abrupt changes in temperature. They can take cold no sweat, but a 10 degree drop in average temperature in just one day is enough give me a head cold, too.

~jenny
-----
"Polysyllabism in no way insures that what you're saying is actually worth being heard." - Blake (an e-friend of mine)

"I have never made but one prayer to god, a very short one: "O lord, make my enemies ridiculous." And he granted it." - Voltaire

respiratory infections are either viral or bacterial, and I don't think a one night temperature drop causes that because it is temperature related and not disease related. If you have added any new animals lately, I would look at that source of infection and not temperature drop.

I have had this happen with my rabbit in the past. The virus/bacteria is kind of always present; the temperature drop stresses the animal and they get sick. The common cold is floating around everywhere, but we don't get sick most of the time because our immune systems are at 100% because we're not stressed. Something stresses you out, though, or someone comes by with a new strain, and BAM you get sick. Same kind of thing.

The rat breeder as well as the vet I have spoken to about it both agree with me as to the cause. A week of excessively high temperatures and then a significant drop can (and has) caused the animals to stress and get sick.

It happens.

~jenny
-----
"Polysyllabism in no way insures that what you're saying is actually worth being heard." - Blake (an e-friend of mine)

"I have never made but one prayer to god, a very short one: "O lord, make my enemies ridiculous." And he granted it." - Voltaire

I've used Jedds pigeon and Bird Supply

http://www.jedds.com/SubCategory.asp?MainCategoryID=33

Good Luck!
Ken
-----
0.1 100% Het Albino Ball Python (Hazina Adamma)
1.0 Albino Ball Python (Apu)
0.5 Normal Ball Pythons (Norma, Nova, Nala, Nimeesha, Nyoka)

1.0 Desert Tortoise (Tubbs) from Tortoise Rescue
1.0 Boxer (Shadow)


www.ocballs.net
kvandoren@ocballs.net

Thanks!!

~jenny
-----
"Polysyllabism in no way insures that what you're saying is actually worth being heard." - Blake (an e-friend of mine)

"I have never made but one prayer to god, a very short one: "O lord, make my enemies ridiculous." And he granted it." - Voltaire

I have treated rats with uri's with tetracycline and I got it at the aquarium store. ratguide.com and rmca.org both have helpful info on dosing etc.

Jenny - depending on what you are used to using a lot of stuff like tetracycline, penicillin, terramycin, batril, etc. can be bought either at a pet store (fish section) or you can find a lot of it online - you can probably pick up some batril in the KS classifieds - it's always good to keep a little on hand.
-----
Tosha
JET Pythons

Insert Silly Quote Here

If you're a college student and want to save money, I'd throw in some orange wedges and be done with it! I'm sure they'll be fine!

Nah, they're getting worse. I worked out a deal with my vet that I'd bring in one to show what the symptoms were, and they'd prescribe me enough antibiotic for the whole colony.

They don't like oranges, anyway.

~jenny
-----
"Polysyllabism in no way insures that what you're saying is actually worth being heard." - Blake (an e-friend of mine)

"I have never made but one prayer to god, a very short one: "O lord, make my enemies ridiculous." And he granted it." - Voltaire

You do realize that oranges and orange juice will cause kidney failure in rats, right? So unless you want to kill them slowly, SURE, give 'em oranges and other citrus. They aren't guinea pigs, they can manufacture their own Vit. C.

American blue rats, from excessive inbreeding and regardless of lineage, are always going to be predisposed to having poor immune systems. They don't handle infections and other illnesses like other rats do. I personally wouldn't breed them, unless they were Russian Blue. Your snakes don't care what color those rodents are. Am. Blues and their dilutes(sky blue, powder blue, platinum) tend to be poor producers and can sometimes be neurotic/OCD. They are just not a good quality line to be breeding, unless the rats are from a very strict breeder who has pedigrees 6-8 generations long(no health problems within, either).

If the rat has an upper respiratory infection, a combination of Baytril and Doxycycline will kick it out quickly. This needs to be prescribed by the veterinarian as they are both prescription drugs. These need to be given for 14 days, twice a day.

What ALL rats carry(unless they were born via CSection in a lab and kept away from all other rodents) is called Mycoplasmosis. The myco bacteria, when the rat is stressed, flares up and depresses the immune system, so that secondary infections can take hold. What you're seeing is not the myco itself but the secondary infection associated with the myco.

Is the rat sneezing, have porphyrin on its nose and is eating/acting fine? Or is the rat sitting in a corner, hunched and poofed up, using it's abdominal muscles to breathe? Is he/she gasping at all?

Sticking the rat in the bathroom with the shower running on the hottest setting will help. The steam will open them up. A little CHILDREN'S Benadryl or Triaminic Orange(chlorpheniramine HCl) will help too. Small pieces of dark chocolate can open their airways for a short time and will help calm them down.
-----
-Becky Brown, RVT-
1.0 Lemon Pastel Classic Jungle(NERD)
2.13 Normals
1.1 Spiders(BHB)
1.1 Yellowbellies(BHB)
1.0 100% Het Pied Classic Jungle(Don Kaye)
0.1 50% Poss. Het Pied(Gary Kettring)
0.1 Classic Jungle
1.0 66% Poss Het Ax Genetic Granite(VPI)
18 07 Hatchlings

She's not feeding the "Blues" off, she's selling them to make money to buy feeders!

I've never really encountered a rodent (true rodent, not guinea pig) that actually liked citrus.

My "fancies" are not for feeding; I sell the offspring and use the money to buy feeders. I just enjoy raising pet quality animals more. I truly love the color and am working with another rattery in the area to make more - I've only got 1 right now. Her symptoms are just sneezing, with a very small amount of discharge. One of my nursing mothers has a pretty bad wheeze, but she isn't to the point of huddling in a corner, gasping. I know the early symptoms and keep a close eye on my critters, and got one into the vet before it was too bad.
My vet prescribed me enough baytril to treat this outbreak, and still have some on hand later on down the road should I have another problem.

Thank you for the most knowledgable answer. I appreciate it greatly.

~jenny
-----
"Polysyllabism in no way insures that what you're saying is actually worth being heard." - Blake (an e-friend of mine)

"I have never made but one prayer to god, a very short one: "O lord, make my enemies ridiculous." And he granted it." - Voltaire