pet rats..

well aside from the cleaning, smell, exc things are *easier*..rats arent destroying their toys as fast, actually walking out of the cage to greet us but theres a problem that i cant ignore anymore.. and claritin isnt cutting it.... my allergies have been acting up (since rats moved in really) and last night was cleaning night (Wash everything including the rats, bedding change, exc) and my God i felt like some one ran me over with a mack truck! My eyes were all red, puffy and watering like crazy and i still have the sniffles this morning. its crazy, when im at work im fine.. i go home and get all stuffy, eyes watering, exc its a mess.. and forget it, when i hold them it gets even worse.. in the five years we have had reptiles ive never had an allergy to anything, get rats and its all over. what the heck is up with that?! now mind you... aside from them i have zero allergies to anything! i have had horses, dogs, cats for years..this is the first time we have had rats as pets... we have had no changes since they moved in, we dont use scented anything (no carpet dust, laundry detergent, not even candles anymore exc)

That doesn't sound very good. What bedding are you using for them? Are you allergic to that, or do you believe it is the rats your allergic to?

I would try Benadryl or chlorpheniramine before claritin. Benadryl is just a stronger antihistamine.

It would also help alot to wash your arms with soap after playing with them. Most people that are allergic to them, are allergic to the nail scratches and the urine, so washing might help some :)

becky, im a clean freak.. honestly. i use dawn dish soap to wash up and then i use the antibacterial stuff too, i use that stuff all day long, on me and the kids.. its seriously an addiction.

as for washing after holding them.. i get all flared up just from being in our condo for an hour or two. im sure its partly due to the fact we have a small place and their "scent" or whatever is causing the flare ups is everywhere in the house.. not like being in a 5+ bedroom house where a large rat cage is over looked like a peice of furniture.

i use yesterdays news bedding for them.. we had been using aspen (same as when we had the snakes) but thought the dust was bothering me.. thats when we switched to the yesterdays news.. we have used it in the past for our cats so its not that. :taz: im thinking its more the rats than the scratches and urine... considering it happens even if i dont actually touch the cage or rats.

Well, I say go ahead with Becky's advice, but it does sound like you are allergic to them.v :(

Putting some more fatty acids in their diet will help the excess dander.

Try putting either whole or ground flax seed in their mix(or just put it in baby cereal or something a few times a week), or some flax seed oil(or EVOO) on bread. It will help keep down the amount of danger they produce(especially the nekkids as they always have dry skin).

Other than a daily regimen of benadryl, I really don't know.. Bio-Hazard suit? ;)

:( pooey.. thats what i had thought. ill talk to hubby about adding the extras to their diet and see what happens, i hate having to take meds.. truly! i didnt even take pain killers after my kids were born, the spinal wore off after surgery and that was it.

Maybe look into some sort of air purifier???? I have only looked into them a little, but they are supposed to help remove stuff from the air like pet dander. Someone posted a DIY one here recently, I will have to look for the link. I would just watch the ionizing ones though. Like I said I haven't looked into them that much, but I believe the ionizing ones create ozone, which can be harmful if too much ozone is created, even though most claim that they don't produce a whole lot, but not sure how much would be harmful to your animals. Just thought I would throw out another idea for you.:)

thank you pamela for the suggestion..

im going to talk to my husband tonight about what he thinks we should do. aside from them being our pets, a few raised from babies they arent animals we *need* to feed other animals. they really have become our little pets. I just dont know how worth it, it is to live with them having to do so many things and spend more money to live with an allergy when there are lots of wonderful pets out there that wouldnt require an air purifier, extra supplements, meds, exc. I have been speaking with a friend who has agreed to take the group for awhile and see what happens in terms of allergies lessoning, thats a possibility too.

The ones that work on ionizing the air do create oxone, but it has been thoroughly tested and the amount of ozone is not harmful. The only noticeable thing is you can smell the ozone, and most ionizers have attachments that rid the ozone smell. (They don't create as much ozone as some mongers claim)
I have the Ionic breeze for my room, just to help with Chris's allergies, and it does it's job. If your thinking about getting rid of smells, go for one that has a hepa filter and a carbon filter. The carbon is the only way to absorb the smell. Even if the machine costs 1000$ with top of the line hepa, it won't absorb odor effectively.

If you want extreme air purification, get a hepa filter air purifier. Honeywell is mid range, that's usually a good one to go for. You can try an air-washer, that literally washes the air and acts as a humidifier at the same time. (I used to work at Bed bath and beyond, and they made us take classes to learn the selling points of our items.)