First of all, can mice catch diseases from rats? I bought a pair of sneezing rats that went on to infect another pair of rats. 3 have since died and now I only have one left and it appears to be on its last legs. Both pairs were kept in separate tubs but in the same rack and sharing the same water supply (automated system).
The problem is that I also have mice in the same rack. They have all appeared healthy throughout this whole ordeal (which lasted about 3 weeks). In separate tubs I have a 1.1 pair and a 1.2 trio of mice. These mice are about three months old and all went on to produce their first clutches. The 1.1 pair produced 11 babies on their first clutch, and the 1.2 produced nineteen babies between the two mothers.
I was shocked when I was going to grab some fuzzies to feed my rosy boas, to see the majority of babies dead in the 1.1 tub, and all of the babies dead in the 1.2 tub (along with a mother mouse that was eaten by the other two). The questions now are: did the mother mouse and all babies from the 1.2 tub die from infections from the rats? Or is it due to inexperienced pairs of mice? My remaining mouse pairs appear very healthy (all very fat from eating their young and sibling). Could it have been aggression or something missing in their diet that has caused all of this death? I feed a rat/mouse mixture bought at a petstore which I have been very successful with (multiple large clutches from other pairs not kept in this rack system).
Any opinions/help would be greatly appreciated.
