male rats sounds sick

my male rat started squeaking and snezzing alot yesterday ive had him for 3 months and ive heard him snezz b4 but not the squeaking. could somthing be wrong with him?

I would smack him out and get a new one. Chances are that it is some sort of respiratory condition.

What kind of bedding do you have them on? Alot of times it will be a RI due to the bedding if it is real dusty. I use Aspen bedding for my rats and mice and I rarely have a problem. Any time mine start that I use Tetracycline for birds. Its a powder you put in the water for a few days and it clears it right up. I also use it anytime I get a new one. It has always worked for me. Hope this helps.

The rats i got from a breeder that uses pine bedding sneeze alot. They all act healthy besides that though. I switched them all to Aspen, it hasnt got rid of the sneezing in the adults i got but the babies that were born on aspen do no sneezing. Now i do use Pine with my soft fur rats and it hasnt had any effects on them that i can see. My aunt has been breeding rats and mice for 16 years and what she told me is a rats respiratory system is weaker than a mouse's respiratory system. Spite the name soft fur rat, they are actually mice.

If you want to try making the buck better, you can buy ratty medications here for that.

If you can check your local Tractor Supply or farm co-op and ask if they have Tylan or Tylosin. I finially found some info and for about every 8oz of water you add 6 drops and change every 3 days. If you're not squeamish you can do a small injection I probably did less than 0.03mL right above the shoulders. Did this for a friend of ours who had a rat with an RI next day was completely clear of any sniffles.

All the info I got was off of this site: http://ratguide.com/meds/antimicrobi...ts/tylosin.php

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Originally Posted by tomfromtheshade

I would smack him out and get a new one. Chances are that it is some sort of respiratory condition.

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X2
Rats sneeze because something is making them sneeze no different than a human sneezing.
It progresses from there to URI and then spreads to all your other rats.

When I've gotten sneezers I watched for red noses and if they sneeze and have a red nose they are fed immediately or put down if nobody will eat it.

My aunt told me that the smell from Pine causes there lungs to fill up with fluid creating the sneezing and eventually weezing. Eventually choking to death. I believe this is true because back when i had my hamster, i used paper bedding for months with it. It was dusty but never created a problem with her. But then i ran out of the paper bedding and had pine bedding which i used for the soft fur rats, within 3 days with the pine bedding i found her laying in her cage weezing like hell to the point she could barely move. 6-12 hours later she died. A rats respiratory system isnt quite this delicate, but you can get the idea of what will happen over a lengthy period of time. The pine has to be an allergen to there respiratory system. Aspen bedding doesnt have this problem.