I am not sure this thread will really help anyone as what happened to me is nearly impossible to "see" ahead of time.

First the background...I have been breeding rats for over 10 years (both as show animals/pets and feeders). I keep not only "lab rats" great breeders and perfect feeders but also all sorts for fancy rats (blues, dumbos, harley, rex, etc.). About 5 years ago I started looking for a better food and hooked up with a feed supplier that custom made the food to what I wanted (similar to Muzuri and Tekland feeds). The benefit was I could but in large amounts at a great price...but still get an excellent high quality feed.

My last order of food was delivered on 12/15...I have about 300+ rats and was nearly out so all of them started the new supply. This is nothing new and like I said I have been using this feed for 5 years. Well the week of Xmas I went outside to clean cages and check on every one noticed 5 of my breeders were dead. They were older so I didn't think too much of it, next day 5 more were dead...ok now this was strange. Checked all the water lines, made sure everyone had food, checked everyone out so signs of infection they just seemed to die of old age. Over the next week half the colony had died...again no signs one day they were fine the next they were dead. Fast forward to today...I have 10 rats left (of 300!!!). After a lot of research and testing it was determined that the soybean meal (from Korea) was tainted with Formaldehyde. I have the food and drug admin involved but will pry never know what happened.

So long story short short is I am starting my colony over...I lost a lot of long time very sweet rats, some one of a kind colors and patterns and pets I have had forever (including my oldest a 4 year old ). Since my food is custom made I cannot blame a manufacturer as tons of soybeans and other grains are imported these days.

Just thought I would pass on this sad note...and to say if you ever have a series of strange deaths to check the food.