Accidental Pets

[Bogertophis]

I was only saying him and her to kind of differ between them, I have no idea what their sexes were. The reptile store they originated from (terrible practices) have been known to refuse to sex rats due to the fear that someone will try to breed them when they want to be the only rat producers in the city. So I have a hunch that they sold all of the same sex (from what I could tell) but I'm not entirely sure.

That being said, we unfortunately discovered that the remaining rat was infested with rat lice and covered in eggs. On top of that within the past day her respiratory infection I suspected got worse. She had blood around her nose and could only take heavy breaths through her mouth, rendering her unable to eat or drink properly. So we made the difficult decision to euthanize her. I'm genuinely sad as we grew attached and she had such a sweet temperament. Her quality of life was terrible though and I don't imagine she would've lasted that much longer, especially not long enough for treatment. I feel bad but I know it was the best decision. Thank you for your help everyone.

Rats can become sick from so many things (including what humans spread), that it's best to never buy a rat intended as a pet or a breeder from any questionable sources. So sorry this didn't work out better- but now you know that's not a good place to get a "keeper" rat. From what you've said, these were not quite ready to be weaned anyway, & that made them a much bigger risk (of not surviving).

Sexing rats is pretty easy & there are youtube videos around to show you how, if you ever want to know. Most properly-bred* domestic rats make very good pets- *but those sources breeding only "feeders" are often inbreeding them way too much, & temperaments are usually ignored.