I have a grow-out tub, all of the soft furs I moved into it were definitely weaned (it's been months since I moved them over anyways), there were about 17 of them to begin with, later a couple ended up getting ate and I realized the water bottle I had had a ball that was too heavy for them to drink out of (I think), after that little incident they've slowly been dropping off until the other day I had eight, the next day there was one dead and one laying around dying, today there were my two pregnant females that were about to pop dead. I have four left. And none of these dead have any chew marks on them, they aren't half eaten or anything, so it doesn't look like they were fighting and killed one another or needed food or water and I missed it...they're just dead. I picked up the male that's left alive and he has little scabs in several places on his body, they almost look like he's been itching or something but I haven't caught anyone sitting around and itching as if they had mites or fleas. All of the soft furs in my other tub are fine, I've got two big litters going on there and haven't had any deaths. I can't find any websites about diseases soft furs carry which is quite frustrating. Both soft fur colonies were being kept in the same way shavings, food, bedding...I would just really love some information about diseases soft furs can get and what to do about them. The male I have has thinning fur but he's young, my mom has a small soft fur colony and when hers got thinning fur she mixed diatomaceous earth in their bedding and their fur slowly grew back after that...but why would this one be getting thin fur and these others be dying? Is it related? None of the dead has thin fur.
Reply With Quote