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!