Quote Originally Posted by Jay_Bunny View Post
The rat has a vet appointment at 11 and my fiance is leaving now to take her. Her breathing is not as labored as it was last night but she's still struggling. She has been kept in a seperate room from the colony. The colony is only 8 individuals not including the babies. On the subject of babies, another pup died this morning.

How should I go about quarantining the whole colony? They share a room with my sugar gliders and snakes.
I'm not all up on rat diseases, but your worried about this spreading to the sugar gliders correct? I would just move them out of the room for now, unless it's easier to move the rats.

As to quarantining the rats, any new ones recently? I'd hate to say it, but treating 8 rats with anti-biotics, especially aggressive ones suggested by Becky will not be easy on your pocket book unless you have an extra nice vet.

I would remove the sick ones, and the ones that have been the closest to them into a separate room far away from the others. Most rat diseases are very contagious like Becky said. It'd almost be pointless, but no harm done in doing it anyways. Just practice very strict procedures when dealing inbetween them. (change of clothes and shoes, washing up strict)

I can't see very many people treating all of their rats for most illnesses (I get laughed at for it I'm sure), but hopefully you can figure out what the problem is and decide on a course of action from there.

If it is something very debilitating to your rats, you may have to start over from scratch. (knock on wood) Hopefully it's something easy to deal with.