Rats Keep Dying...

[Wretched Deviant]

I keep trying to keep rats as pets, rats as feeders, or breed them. The first time a female I bought as food was pregnant, she seemed healthy, alert, ate well, no sneezing or anything (not tame or anything) but I waited for her to have her babies...she had 13, wow! I woke up the next morning and two were dead, later that night another was dead but I think she dropped her water bottle on it, a day later, another, and another, and another, until only three were left. One more died, I went on vacation and at that time only two were left, my sitter called me and informed me both babies had died, also. Along with my pet rat who was a healthy rat, she said the pet just started racing around her cage suddenly and fell over. After the mother had her babies she started showing signs of being sick, losing fur, losing weight, wheezing, her eyes became crusted shut, and her nose was filled with bubbles and a lot of porphyrin stains. After all her babies died (the last two were weaned) she started recovering, gaining weight, looking healthier.

She was in with a male and became pregnant again, one day I found her dead. But I try buying rats from different sources, Petco, Petsmart, Petland, and the local exotic store. Half the time the rats end up dying before I can feed them to a snake. The antibiotics are expensive, costing three to four times the rat's price when it's only going to be fed. I keep all the rodents on aspen shavings, they have food and water at all points in time (I check the rodents several times a day), the room is 74 degrees, sometimes a little warmer, there's no draft or excessive moisture. So...what can I do? This is getting really irritating, rats don't even survive a day and I don't understand why. None of my snakes will eat prekilled rats so once they're dead the only option is throwing them out or preparing them for the tegu. They aren't mistreated or given horrible conditions I have the thought that every feeder should be treated like a pet up until the time of feeding.

And, no matter what shop I buy them from they either are or become sick quickly, and I haven't seen any breeders locally or I'd try them.

I went through two pet rats that seemed healthy from Petco several months ago, one just started racing around her cage, hanging on the bars, and suddenly fell over and died. The other I spent a month fighting whatever it was buying antibiotics of all sorts from the vet as he recommended and one day I saw her racing around, then she laid down and started gasping for breath...she died on the way to the vet. I tried using several different antibiotics with her and echinacea mixed in with treats.

I got three rats as feeders, none seemed sick, a day later one was dead.

Before that, I bought four young rats and one adult, the only one who showed signs of being sick was the adult, a week later one of the young ones were dead yet the adult survived for over a month (until a snake ate him).

Does anyone else have this many issues with rats?

[singingtothewheat]

This is why I started raising my own. I kept getting mice that looked like they were sick. Flea bitten, underfed. I'm sure if we saw the conditions they come in we'd shiver. As for you rat, try going someplace else. Look at the other environmental stuff. You don't spray a lot of chemicals, or use it in their cages?

I see your from wellington, isn't that by wichita? They should have several sources

[tomfromtheshade]

This sounds to me like an environmental problem.

I would re-examine everything from top to bottom.

1. where are you keeping the rats?
2. is there anything in the room that could be killing them?
3. are you using any chemicals to clean the enclosure?
4. what is the temperature in the room?
5. what are you feeding the rats?
6. could there be anything in their water?

You need to look at everything from start to finish. Rats are notoriously hardy creatures that should not be dying off like flies. Their needs are relatively small and they survive in some very tough conditions.

[suzuki4life]

What is your cage setup and how are you cleaning it?

[Wretched Deviant]

The only way I clean my cages is with hot water and a little Dawn, the rats have a ten gallon aquarium and then a screen cage with a metal bottom (it's mostly open).

As far as the room goes there's nothing I could notice I have thirty some odd mice, twenty something African soft furs, two gerbils, three leopard geckos, and a tarantula and those all act fine.

The temperature in that room isn't as warm as the rest of the house but it's still comfortable to a person so I figured room temperature, maybe a little warmer.

The rats have a rat feed from Wal Mart, can't remember the name but I mix in extra sunflower seeds, corn, and sometimes oats or grain cereal.

The water here at some times of the year smells so strongly of chlorine that you'd think your bath tub had been filled with water from a pool so I always use filtered water for them, it's just a filter that attaches to my faucet.

It is by Wichita, I've used Tails & Scales (the local exotic store), Petco, Petsmart, Gupton's, one I can't remember the name right off the bat. But the problem is that these rats die within twenty four hours of getting them, when I go to the pet stores they all have rats that look sick, some places I can't even tell if they're alive or dead. I can try getting the healthiest I see but those usually end up dying before the sickest ones. And I want to raise my own, but it's a little hard when all the babies die or the mother died before being able to give birth.

I use aspen shavings that say they're kiln dried.

[cinderbird]

The only way I clean my cages is with hot water and a little Dawn, the rats have a ten gallon aquarium and then a screen cage with a metal bottom (it's mostly open).

As far as the room goes there's nothing I could notice I have thirty some odd mice, twenty something African soft furs, two gerbils, three leopard geckos, and a tarantula and those all act fine.

The temperature in that room isn't as warm as the rest of the house but it's still comfortable to a person so I figured room temperature, maybe a little warmer.

The rats have a rat feed from Wal Mart, can't remember the name but I mix in extra sunflower seeds, corn, and sometimes oats or grain cereal.

The water here at some times of the year smells so strongly of chlorine that you'd think your bath tub had been filled with water from a pool so I always use filtered water for them, it's just a filter that attaches to my faucet.

It is by Wichita, I've used Tails & Scales (the local exotic store), Petco, Petsmart, Gupton's, one I can't remember the name right off the bat. But the problem is that these rats die within twenty four hours of getting them, when I go to the pet stores they all have rats that look sick, some places I can't even tell if they're alive or dead. I can try getting the healthiest I see but those usually end up dying before the sickest ones. And I want to raise my own, but it's a little hard when all the babies die or the mother died before being able to give birth.

I use aspen shavings that say they're kiln dried.

this isn't part of the issue i dont think, but those seed mixes are terrible for rats. They are almost all fats and oil. Feed a rodent block diet, low protein dog food diet or a suebees diet (you can find the recipe online). They cover much more of the nutritional requirements that rodents have. That bird seed is best left for birds. Nuts and seeds can be used sparingly for treats. Nuts they have to get into (peanuts are good) can also be used for enrichment.

If they are dieing within 24 hours of coming into your home it is environmental. Rats have extremely sensitive respiratory systems. You could be using a chemical that is harming them (fumes from bleach or another household chemical), nail polish remover or something like that perhaps. Ask your family/room mates/whoever else you live with what chemicals they are using. it could be something in the tank you're keeping them in.

Aquariums are VERY bad for rats. The ammonia in their urine builds up and doesn't have a place to go and they breathe it in which exacerbates any issues they have already. Rats need plenty of ventilation, more so than other rodents.

I hope you figure out what the issue is. :/ it seems terrible.

[suzuki4life]

how many rats per tank?

are they in direct sunlight?

[Nevadamoon]

Moving rats can stress them, and a lot of feeders are mill-bred which will also run you into issues. Petsmart/Petco get their rats from the same distributor, Petland often uses local dealers, and you'd probably have to ask the others who they used to get the rats.

I know Petco/petland do have a 'return policy' if a rat dies within 14 days (or similar, don't know exactly which.). If a place has sick rats, assume they're all sick (or at least, been exposed to the illness.).

I might try finding a local rat breeder off of CL or similar and seeing if you can't get some quality rats from them. It's weird that all have died so quickly. You should wait until the females are at least 4-5 months old before breeding them, breeding them too young can result in difficult labor.

[bokuza]

Definitely environmental.

I'd like to mention that giving a seed mix to a rat who has never had it before easily can make it hack and joke on the splinters resulting in death. Not fun.
Mice can give respiratory infection to rats. ASFs I don't know about. The amoinia from the urine builds up nastily in tanks. When rats come into new environments they already are pretty vulnerable, I suggest doing a quarantine of all new rats and housing them somewhere else for now.

[alohareptiles]

I find some to be great producers and others not...Sometime they do just die...My breeder friend confirms that and depending on your numbers will also determine how much and fast you notice the loss...I've had some feeders pass trying to breed them, but my Dumbo are doing well (except for the Blues, they are WEAK genetic rats and I'm not weaning them out)...Just make sure your husbandry is spot on and keep on going...