Quote Originally Posted by ch312 View Post
i have a homemade cage in our bedroom for our 2 pet rats. they have been sneezing for over a month now but it seems to have slowed down since i started using aspen instead of the horse bedding pellets.

behind the cage, the wall has a bunch of red spots which looks like blood on the wall but im assuming its not blood? the female has red crusty stuff around her nose.

the male tried to breed her a week ago and was trying to breed her again last night so im guessing she didnt get pregnant the first time or could he just be frisky? im guessing her illness may be preventing her from conceiving?
The red stains on the wall are poryphrin from sneezing, along with some urine. (Just keep that in mind ) The stain around the nose is an indicator or stress, or illness, allergies. Most of my rats do not have the staining around their noses or eyes very often.

If your trying to breed, the male will breed her when she is in heat. They will go at quite often when she is in heat. I don't actually know if illness stops them from getting pregnant, but I don't think it would factor in that much.

Some rats just dont deal well with myco, and will never shake the initial symptoms without antibiotic treatment. Always best to choose animals that show little to no sneezing, or staining. Some rats are more resilient to the effects of myco, so practicing selectivity with hold backs is another ingredient to a successful colony.

I can name 4 rats that don't deal well with myco in my colony, two that get very sick from it and are never bred, and 2 get the sniffles often enough for me to be concerned to not hold back from them.