Question about sneezing rats

[Lana's_mom]

I picked up 2 rats yesterday to feed to 2 of my pythons. It turns out my biggest python is in shed and won't eat, so I was saving these rats for later. Both rats are sneezing up a storm, and I am quite urked with the store I got them from since they chaged me over twice what they are worth. It looks like one of the rats has the crimped looking hair and I was thinking of putting into my breeding colony. Does anyone know of a way to treat for a possible RI at home? I have these rats in a separate room across the house from my colonies.

[punyhuman07]

I picked up 2 rats yesterday to feed to 2 of my pythons. It turns out my biggest python is in shed and won't eat, so I was saving these rats for later. Both rats are sneezing up a storm, and I am quite urked with the store I got them from since they chaged me over twice what they are worth. It looks like one of the rats has the crimped looking hair and I was thinking of putting into my breeding colony. Does anyone know of a way to treat for a possible RI at home? I have these rats in a separate room across the house from my colonies.

Sneezing is one of the initial symptoms of upper respiratory disease in rats. It is also a very normal reaction to air-borne irritants, dust, the wrong type of bedding (cedar or pine). I have noticed that many new rats go through a sneezy stage when they first arrive at a new home. Many people ask the same question that you are when they first get rats. What you need to do is to be aware of other signs of upper respiratory disease. If your rat is sneezing very often, or showing red, porphyrin stains at the eyes and nose, or sounding congested, or losing weight, or having difficulty breathing-- labored breathing-- We just put them down so it doesn't effect our colonies. Now the rat with the crimped hair that guy there is what we call a Rex. Which is pretty cool rat since it can produce hairless rats if it is a true rex rat. The true way to tell if it's a rexy is if the whiskers are curled aswell. good luck...

[snakesRkewl]

Good post punyhuman07

If the coat is truly "crimpled" then it might be a velveteen instead of a rex, pictures would help determine that.
Velveteen acts the same as rex and some even believe velveteens are poor rex's but I'm not so sure after making both coats over and over, they just look too different.

[Lana's_mom]

Thanks for the info. He has been sneezing a lot, and had some discharge from his nose, makes some noises when he breaths, and there is stuff on the side of the small tank I have him in. I was suspecting a upper respitory infection I am growing quite fond of him and would really like to put him in my colonies, but only if I can get him better. I have him across the house from my colonies in the warmest room. He is on Aspen shavings. Here are a couple of pics of him. I think he is a rex, but am not sure.

http://i108.photobucket.com/albums/n...4/IMG_4435.jpg

http://i108.photobucket.com/albums/n...4/IMG_4429.jpg

[Rhasputin]

Making sure he stays warm, and some simple antibiotics will fix him right up.

Here's some info on dosing rats with antibiotics: http://www.rmca.org/Articles/dchart.htm

Good luck!

EDIT: Having a cage mate will help him get better faster as well. They will keep him warm, and help groom him and keep his spirits up.

[jasbus]

freeze em up and forget about it....,

[Cupid]

He's a rex! Sounds like a URI to me. Some baytril should clear him up. Maybe some doxycycline as well if he's really bad.

[Akren_905]

I have the same problem with 3 rats i picked up 1 was for food and 2 were supposed to be for the colony. But my snake went into blue and all 3 rats are sneezing ans wheezing. Can you get these medications at any drug store? or is it threw a vet? and is it still save to feed a sneezing rat to a snake or does it have to be frozen to kill off what ever is making that rat sick?

[Rhasputin]

You can feed a sneezing rat, the snake will not be harmed at all.

The easiest thing is to just put them down, and feed them off. Since they're feeders anyways. You wouldn't want to breed from rats that get sick easily/ever, so it's probably in your best interest to feed the sneezers off Akren_905