Rat breeding etc.

[Moriar]

i have a small rat breeding colony for my 5 ball pythons, it started out consisting of 1 male and 5 females. it got augmented by a friendly small male that was refused as food and was too tame to save for next feed so i decided to keep him (more on this chump later!) and a couple other females due to not feeding/ oops bought too big etc. since i have gotten them i have developed what i believe to be horrible allergies to them. (muscusy coughs, cant breathe/ shortness of breath, also when they scratch me i break out in welts and i keep the cages clean) so here are some of the problems/ concerns i have come across


1.) my original colony starters have died for no reason. they were full grown when i got them and i got all of them from a rat breeder. the only one left is nursing her first litter she is a dumbo rat (anyone know the genetics of dumbo rats. codom or is it recessive? the little ones are too little for me to tell if they are dumbos or what.) the offspring from the deceased mothers and ex father are doing fine and show no signs of illness. the females i didnt see expire but the male i did. he was very feeble i poked him since usually he was very animated when i was giving more food or changing water, and when i gave him a little prod to see what his jerky problem was he fell over. i seperated him from the rest of the colonies "community big ol sterilite tub" into a private nursing one. he was having shortness of breath. he did drink but didnt eat and within the hour expired. anyone know what could be going on?

2.) the black rat that got lucky and was added to the colony as he got bigger has developed a wierd tilt to his head. he has it cocked to one side all the time. and he seems to have horrible balance. when standing on hind legs sometimes spins and falls. he rolls over towards the way his dumb head is turned! should i be concerned? he knows how to lay pipe since he fathered dumbos litter.

3.) gray hooded rats are cute. that is all. prolly going to hold back the 2 i produced along with a creme one. i personally have never seen a gray hooded but meh i dont deal with many rats other than feeders!

[Morphie]

Not sure what happened to your big rats - they only last a couple years though, so maybe it was age?

The head tilt signifies an ear infection. It could be something else but the ear thing is most common. A vet could get it fixed. I don't know any OTC treatments.

The dumbo gene is recessive.

Try to avoid breeding rats that have white wedges in their face patterns, as they tend to have babies that can't survive. For more info, look up "megacolon". Albinos, or PEW (pink eye whites) are not associated with this problem.

If your male was struggling to breathe, remember that these animals have very high metabolisms and are at risk for fatal respiratory inflictions if their air is not well ventilated. What kind of cage do you keep them in? Do you change their litter or bedding often? What are you using for substrate? All of these things can have a major impact on your rats' lifecycle, especially on the older, less robust ones.

Good luck.

[Stewart_Reptiles]

1# If they were full-grown when you got them, they could possibly have died of old age.

Do you know how old they were when you got them, were they former breeders, current breeders, do you know how many litters they had with him?

Usually when I buy future breeders I buy them young (small rat size) and raise them up to proper breeding weight.

Dumbo is recessive

2# It could be an infection and it could also be something neurological, the only way to tell is to take your rat to a vet if you want to find out.

[littleindiangirl]

i have developed what i believe to be horrible allergies to them. (muscusy coughs, cant breathe/ shortness of breath, also when they scratch me i break out in welts and i keep the cages clean) so here are some of the problems/ concerns i have come across

It does sound like you have allergies to them.

1.) my original colony starters have died for no reason. they were full grown when i got them and i got all of them from a rat breeder.

If they were full grown from another rat breeder, they may have died from exhaustion or old age, or infection.

2.) the black rat that got lucky and was added to the colony as he got bigger has developed a wierd tilt to his head. he has it cocked to one side all the time. and he seems to have horrible balance. when standing on hind legs sometimes spins and falls. he rolls over towards the way his dumb head is turned! should i be concerned? he knows how to lay pipe since he fathered dumbos litter.

Sounds like an inner ear infection, he should go to the Vet.

[cody2004]

haha, with the whole head being cocked to the side, guess who came in mind...the red headed guy from CSI Miami, , he kills me every time he does it. Ill buy that rat from you, just for the lol's!

[Moriar]

i use newspaper as substrate and its changed every 2 days or when it becomes excessivly soiled. also the sterilite containers are washed out with Dial in hot water when bedding is changed.

[AdamJB]

haha, with the whole head being cocked to the side, guess who came in mind...the red headed guy from CSI Miami, , he kills me every time he does it. Ill buy that rat from you, just for the lol's!

lol same here!!!

[Debbienflorida]

I also have a reaction from the rat scratches..........sometimes worse than others. I held one at a LPS and when I got out both hands and forearms were covered in red welts and itched about 30 mins. The pair I ended up with only causes a mild itching when I hold them and it diminishes quickly when I wash with warm water and any soap. If I touch my eyes before washing they itch for a short time too. The ones at the LPS are on aspen and my pair are temp in a cage with a raised floor. When I get their tub ready and switch them to Aspen I can see if that makes a difference or if it is the actual rats themselves.

[kc261]

It might also be how clean their cage is kept. Obviously the raised floor keeps them from walking in a lot of dirty bedding. If the pet store cages were less than optimal in the cleanliness department, that could definitely have caused a bigger reaction.

I saw someone, probably on this forum, say that their allergy problem with their rodent colonies became much less of a problem once they realized they WERE going to have an allergic reaction every time they did stuff with the rats, so they took allergy medicine before starting.

[frankykeno]

i use newspaper as substrate and its changed every 2 days or when it becomes excessivly soiled. also the sterilite containers are washed out with Dial in hot water when bedding is changed.

Newspaper doesn't make a good bedding for rats in my opinion. It's not terribly absorbent at all and will cause you to have more smell and wet nasty stuff for the rats to live on. Aspen, low dust pine, etc. are better choices in my opinion.