I am freaked out right now :C (slight graphic)

[Misfit]

Ok... so I had an entire tub of momma rat and (I believe) four week old litter die. For presumably no reason.

Here's what I found when I went to check their water this morning:



Here's another, I only have my cellphone right now, terrible image quality..



Here's the situation:

I have smaller nursing tubs for nursing mommas and large breeding tubs where there is either 1.1 or 1.2 rats at all times. I have two breeding tubs and 5~ nursing tubs, as well as a grow-out/larger cage for mommas with large litters.

They are all in my large downstairs room, which is cross ventilated by my basement (when that door is open) and windows/slider to the outdoors. these are only open when it is warm, which it has been, but last night we had a sudden and unexpected cold snap which dropped that room to 55-60~ degrees because a window was accidentally left open. (it's warmer now, I have a heater running the second I woke up and realized how chilly it was)

I feed Mazuri breeder 6F food and give them all tap water, which is changed daily for mommas and every 2-3 days for the breeder tubs. I give them food every day to make sure they always have some and treats at least every two (granola, yogurt covered raisins, yogurt treats). They're bedding is a mix of pine pellets (equine pine, I believe. It's kiln-dried pine (which kills the oils) used commonly for horse bedding) and carefresh. The tub that passed was entirely on carefresh.

ALL of my rats get the same treatment. Same food, same everything.

This tub was underneath another tub (I stack momma tubs in 2's) and the tub above was perfectly fine. They seemed a little freaked, but were totally okay. It got cold, but everyone felt as if they were still warm enough to be alright.

The ONLY thing different that happened to the tub that passed was yesterday morning I found out that a handful of the babies had chewed out of their zips and escaped. My first chew-out and escape. The room they are in is mostly empty, and they is NO poisons or anything they could have gotten into. I scoured the room for any sign on ANYTHING and I couldn't find a thing..

I do not believe it was rat poison, because it makes rats so thirsty they essentially die from over-drinking... but their water bottle was fully functioning and 2/3 full. Only half of the babies had gotten out, and were all accounted for and put back in, so if say only half had died it might have made sense, but ALL of them were dead.

They look like just fell asleep and didn't wake up... :C

All my other rats are okay, so I don't think it was airborne (pleasepleasepleaseno) and I have NO IDEA what it was! I am freaked out and scared for my other ratties, and so upset because the momma that passed was one of my best moms and the sweetest girl..

Could it have been the cold? The escape?? I have no idea..

[RichsBallPythons]

Well if the ones that escaped and you put them back in that tub, its goes to say they brought something back and shared to to the rest.

If no other tubs were affected but just the one, theres your answer.

One reason why when anything escapes from my racks and makes it to the floor/carpet they get gased and tossed out.

[Misfit]

But what could they have gotten into that spread that immediately and totally to all of them? :/

[RichsBallPythons]

What ever they found on the floor that they ate and brought back.

[2kdime]

Yeah if they had escaped....they should have been written off as a loss.

Lesson learned

[Juliemay13]

I'm very sorry you lost them

[Misfit]

Ok.. I understand that it must have been the escape, but what I don't understand is what they might have brought back?

The room they are in is unused and empty. There are a couple of things down there and nothing was chewed or anything, and the room was completely cleaned and emptied.

I'm trying to figure it out more than just 'they escaped, they died' because I can't imagine something that could be brought back to kill all of them in less than 24 hours. If it was food, what could it have been? What could kill all of those rats?

I've been running through lists of possibilities, and I've dealt with various animal deaths of every variety.. this one caught me off guard. :/ lesson learned, but the lesson still hasn't explained the 'why'

Options are:

food
poison
chemical
picked up disease?
feces (I had a cat down there, which is the reason why everything was so hardcore cleaned once the cat left)
so, maybe litter?

[Michelle.C]

To be quite honest, it looks like they were making a pile because they were cold. How cold did it get? If they were the bottom tub touching say, concrete, they could have frozen to death.

I don't see it being poison. The ones that are the poison would have died, there is no evidence that the others consumed the sick ones (which would be the only cause of it killing the entire tub). And unless starving, they wouldn't have eaten the feces of the poisoned rats.

Chemical? Maybe. What sort of chemicals do you use in the room? Again, since they were the bottom tub, the chemicals could kill them and not the top tub.

Cat litter/feces MIGHT have killed the ones that escaped, but would not hurt the others. I've also never had a problem with rats consuming cat litter. We have a male that free ranges sometimes and the most he does is use the cat litter to defecate in.

What kind of bedding are you using for the rats? It looks liked carefresh which I don't like using carefresh. It's bad for their respiratory (especially babies) and holds bacteria. It wouldn't have killed them all like that though.

They appear to be a little thin, which could be from dehydration. Are you positive the water bottle was working for them? Just because you can get water out of it, doesn't mean they can.

IMO, going off of the way the entire tub was found dead and the way they are laying, I'm calling dehydration or temperature related death. The only one that makes me think it might be a chemical is the baby at the front reaching for the mesh.

I will say that I don't think it's a disease. I would sterilize your room entire room and all enclosures, but I don't think it's a disease. I also wouldn't use that tub for a while, sterilized or not.

I'm so sorry for your loss though. I hate to see things like this. Such a complete waste.

[roo]

The rats had plenty of water. It had been was filled twelve hours prior. They were on carpet and the temps might have dipped down into the mid-to-high fifties.

[snakesRkewl]

When I kept rats outside I had a heater malfunction and had rats live through a 35 degree night with zero loss, I doubt cold could have been the culprit.

It sounds like a poisoning, the ones that got out got into something, got caught and put back in the tubs and then puked up the poison that was then eaten by the rest, all dead.(hypothesis)