That is really weird. Seems every rodent owner forum I go on says bathing rats CAN cause enough stress to cause a myco flair. To be honest, I don't know from first hand as I've never had an issue with RIs. I've read several posts on rats acquiring RIs after being bathed and they were kept warm and toasty the entire process.

Not to mention, baths strip skin and fur of the natural oils, which can lead to problems as well. As I said, if you are careful and don't do it often, it doesn't hurt anything. I always tend to lean towards the safer side of husbandry, to me, rats don't really stink anyway.

The "Cinnamon" was acquired from a rodent breeder who had both Burmese and Cinnamon. I've posted on several forums and they all seem to think he isn't a Burmese, just a dark cinnamon. If you have any idea what color he is, that would be awesome, as I've posted on probably ten forums. So, don't know about that one. As for the Russian Blue, he came from registered Russians. I'll see if I can't dig up some pictures where the "Cinnamon" boy isn't wet. When he was a young man, everyone would have sworn he was a Burmese.

The Split Cap male turned three a few months ago. Sadly, Chip passed away a month ago. He was just a little chunk of man rat, I miss the little guy.

Quote Originally Posted by SatanicIntention View Post
Can't say I've ever had a rat stress THAT bad over a bath that it caused a respiratory infection. A miffed rat, yes.

Your cinnamon looks like a burmese and your russian blue looks like an american blue. I had a double blue that was that color(white undercoat). I have a split capped boy who is over 3 years old named Corbin. They look alot alike