Good news and bad. (Gruesome pics at the end)

[pythontricker]

Ok I got a female rat trio. They are sooooo cut. except one died today . I am pretty sad but it has been only like a week and I haven't even named them. Here are some pics of them on the day I got them. the blond looking one died today. She was also the sweetest of them all. Always smelling around wasn't ever startled by me opening the cage and she licked me a lot.
http://i246.photobucket.com/albums/g...r/DSC01963.jpg
http://i246.photobucket.com/albums/g...r/DSC01980.jpg
http://i246.photobucket.com/albums/g...r/DSC01977.jpg
http://i246.photobucket.com/albums/g...r/DSC01976.jpg
http://i246.photobucket.com/albums/g...r/DSC01975.jpg
http://i246.photobucket.com/albums/g...r/DSC01967.jpg
So those were the rats when healthy. The other two hoodeds are fine one is questionable but only time can tell.
Sorry if I sound incredibly mean but I am not about to spend hundreds of dollars on a 5 dollar pet. Sorry.
So here are some gruesome pics view discretion is advised.

[pythontricker]

bloody nose?
http://i246.photobucket.com/albums/g...r/DSC02032.jpg
http://i246.photobucket.com/albums/g...r/DSC02031.jpg
Urine on butt?
http://i246.photobucket.com/albums/g...r/DSC02030.jpg
http://i246.photobucket.com/albums/g...r/DSC02028.jpg

she was fine last night. But this afternoon I checked and she was breathing really fast, gasping for air with her mouth open. And she wasn't in her normal hide spot like usual. Just laying in a corner her side panting . And I tried to get her to walk but she just took a few steps and just toppled over. She died in my hands like 5 mins later. Poor thing. I think I know the reason, but I want to hear from you guys first.
PS. they are from petco.

[pythontricker]

I have already buried her in the back. We had a little ceremony

[pythontricker]

***bump***

[sjsexotics]

I would say a RI and the urination sometimes happens as they die. if you just got them from petco take them back and get a refund pet co gets there rats for feeders and they are not well breed and always get sick. before you get attached and want to make good breeders out of them take those back and buy from another store...
I had same issue but no deaths
I bought 4 females and two males to be pet/breeders two have developed ri issuse and mites to boot mites are super cheep and easy to treat so they are being treeted for that and I found a rescur to sell me antibiotics but it is a totall pain in the a** to deal with I would just feed them off but non of my snakes like XXlg rats and they are either preg already and showing or nursing a litter so meds and treatment here I come YA

[littleindiangirl]

They could be infected with any number of terrible viruses and illness, rats can carry, spread and die from many things. That's why we so strongly advocate quarantine for a minimum of 3 months in a closed separate location and perform things like fecals and treat for fleas/mites/lice/chiggers. There are very serious diseases out there that can wipe out colonies in a short time.

Sorry for your loss, but keep a close eye on the others. If you did get them from petsmart/petco, take them back before you get attached if you see signs of death coming, or have them humanly put down with gas.

[Jojos]

Hey Cutie! LOL!

Sorry for your loss, I would definitely bring it back to Petco for a refund, I'm sure they will give you another one. Check it well before taking it. Also, it may have gotten into a fight or something. I'm no expert. My rats are my favorites. But mine do fight sometimes. But I haven't lost one yet (crossing my fingers).

Also, just on a short note, if you take the direct link in photobucket, the pics will come on instantly . Nice snake food...

Have a great weekend!

[littleindiangirl]

Hey Cutie! LOL!

Sorry for your loss, I would definitely bring it back to Petco for a refund, I'm sure they will give you another one. Check it well before taking it. Also, it may have gotten into a fight or something. I'm no expert. My rats are my favorites. But mine do fight sometimes. But I haven't lost one yet (crossing my fingers).

Also, just on a short note, if you take the direct link in photobucket, the pics will come on instantly . Nice snake food...

Have a great weekend!

If your rats are seriously fighting to where you expect to have one die, you need to separate them.


Rats have skirmmishes, and a lot of it is them working out the pecking order within their colony. It's usually rats being dominant, or being dominated. Could be playing, but generally its them putting the lower rats back in line.

Sometimes its loud and can sound like someone is dying, but there is no actual real wounds or fighting occuring.

If your rats were seriously fighting to kill, there would be a lot of blood, gaping wounds and dead rats.

This was not from a fight. This is a sick rat that probably had pnuemonia, URI and a whole mess of other things.

I would NOT suggest getting any more rats from that store. They will all be infected, whether or not they show outward signs of it that you can detect.

[marmie]

Sorry to hear you lost a rat. How long did you have them before the one died?

I have 6 in QT right now and I'm just watching for any sign of illness. One of the 6 is from my established colony and was put in with a new male just to keep him company and I figured I let her have a little or 2 to feed off. I plan on keeping them all in QT for about 60 days.

Funny thing is during my observation the female from my established colony seems to be sneezing a lot but she doesn't have a runny nose nor labored breathing.

[pythontricker]

That would make sense. one of them has a lot of snot in its nose and blood. and the other is completely fine. I will qt. I think I am going to just get some asf's. and give the sick one back the other is ok. can an asf breed to a normal rat? and where can I get asf's for cheap in the san diego area. no petstores sell male rats either. And can rats live alone for long periods of time. I don't wasn't to stress them out.