RI in rats

[Jay_Bunny]

My sister and I both are having issues with our rats sneezing...a lot. Yoshi is the one in my group that is sneezing. I was wondering what I could give her to help her get over what ever illness she has. A man at a pet store recommended putting a fish antibacterial stuff in their water but that doesn't seem like it will help. Yoshi is 10 weeks old and I got her from the same pet store that my sister got hers (the two rats we believe are sisters)

None of my other rats are sneezing though they are all in the same room.

[Freakie_frog]

Dark Chocolate it sounds weird I know but it helps..also get some of those rodent vitamins from Petsmarts that goes in their water. Maker sure their getting fresh air and their bedding stays dry. If it doe's clear up some meds may be needed..

[kc261]

Why wouldn't it help? Tetracycline is frequently sold as a fish antibiotic, and is also effective against myco. This might have been one of the rare occasions where the pet store advice was good.

Another possibility is to give them echinacea.

Something to consider is if it is worth treating your rats or not. You want healthy genes to make up your feeder colonies. While treating them may get them past this myco flare-up, it won't eliminate weak genes.

Here are some links from threads I posted way back when I was getting my mouse colony started and having all sorts of health issues with them.

This one is about the myco flare-up my first mice had when I first got them. I treated it with echinacea:
http://www.ball-pythons.net/forums/s...ight=echinacea

This one is about when I had some mice prolapsing, and eventually came to the conclusion it was a bacterial infection causing it. I treated them with tetracycline:
http://www.ball-pythons.net/forums/s...t=tetracycline

[RichsBallPythons]

Stress and bedding is usually the main sign of flare ups in Mycro.

I have used Tylosin in their water by adding vanilla extract to encourage drinking more of it. After a few weeks the sneezing went away and hes been fine since.

They will sneeze normally like every mammal does, just keep a eye on the the bedding. Try switching to something else and see if it stops.

[Jay_Bunny]

I have a 100% cocoa bar. Would that work or does it need to be a normal dark chocolate bar?

[nbelval]

I've seen others mention the vanilla in the water. How much do you add to an 8oz water bottle and do you do it with all the rats or only those with symptoms?

Thanks!

[RichsBallPythons]

I've seen others mention the vanilla in the water. How much do you add to an 8oz water bottle and do you do it with all the rats or only those with symptoms?

Thanks!

You can do it with ALL of them. It encourages them to drink more water thus helps cut down on the ammonia smell in their pee.

I make it by the gallon when using it. I dont measure it i just dump but around 2 table spoons per gallon. The sweetness helps them drink more and helps cover up the medication taste too

[kc261]

The vanilla makes a big difference in the odors of my mouse colony. I use the artificial vanilla. Like Rich, I mix it up in a bigger container, but I'm pretty sure I use less than him. I add just enough to make noticeable color in the water, maybe roughly 1 teaspoon per gallon?

I'm not sure if it works by making them drink more, or if something is going on that changes how much ammonia is in their urine, or if enough vanilla passes through unprocessed that it just masks the odors, but whatever is happening, it definitely works!

Using it to cover up the taste of any medication in their water is also a good idea. For it to work best, they probably need to be used to the vanilla in the water in the first place, because any change in taste could make them drink less at first while they get used to it.

In the past, I have read about how some people who show horses will start adding gatorade or any number of similar things to their horses water a week or so before leaving for a show. I think at first it was added thinking the electrolytes in the gatorade might help the horse's performance, but people realized it was useful just so that the water at the showgrounds didn't taste so strange and cause the horse to not drink enough. The same theory should work for getting mice or rats to drink medicated water.

[ed4281]

Please don't give your rat chocolate, especially dark chocolate. The caffine will kill the rat. In humans caffine will help to open the airways but don't give it to any of your animals. If you dont believe me you can look it up in any veterinary websites such as VIN etc. If your rat is having upper respitory symptoms it needs oral antibiotics such as Trimethiprin Sulfa, Baytril, Amoxicillian etc. These can only be obtained thru a vet if you don't have the money and they are just for breeding stock feed them off and start over .

[ed4281]

Just to clarify incase anyone gets offended by my advise in re: to chocolate.
Theobromine is the chemical in chocolate that dogs and cats have problems with, there isn't much research with it in rats however there have been cases of death related to this. The amount of caffine in dark chocolate is much greater than that in say, milk chocolate and the caffine is what will really hurt the rat.