Sick Rats

[greghall]

I would cull them off & start a new colony after everything is cleaned & disinfected,I know you are attached to him but thats not fair to the animal,any signs of sickness in my colony they get fed off as soon as I see it. I had my first mouse colony die off for a month & gave up then I changed suppliers & got some healthy mice. some places sell sick feeders that will infect your colony be careful.

[Jay_Bunny]

"Culling" him is not an option right now. He is more than a breeder for our colony. He is a family pet. We raised him from the time he was 3 weeks old. If the vet feels (and if we feel) that putting him to sleep is the better option, then we will do it, but we want to give him a chance at life.

We got another 1.5ml of "gravy" into him. He really really likes it. And we got him to eat some lab block "sludge" off my finger, along with another piece of cat food.

[Jay_Bunny]

Update:

Monk did not make it through the night.

[kc261]

So sorry to hear Monk did not make it.

I'm sure it is not what you want to hear right now, but I do feel I should add my voice to those that are saying that SOMETHING is going on with your rats. It sounds like maybe you lost Monk due to poor quarantine procedures, but from what I recall of some of the other problems you've had, they didn't all seem related to something new you brought in. You need to look closely at everything you are doing with them. Everything that goes on in your house near them. If you can't find the problem, maybe it is the rats themselves. I know you are not thrilled with the pet store you got at least some of them from, so it is very possible they were just bad stock to start out with. Maybe you need to eliminate all of them, sterilize everything, and start over. If you take this route, I'd recommend being very selective about where you get the beginnings of your new colony. In your shoes, I'd be willing to drive an hour or more each way to get some good stock.

[Beardedragon]

Update:

Monk did not make it through the night.

Im do sorry jay!

I do not know what I would do if this happened to one of my special females ive been raiseing since she was a pink.Im really sorry

[Jay_Bunny]

We are going to bury him in the backyard.

Thankyou everyone that posted here with advice, suggestions, or just comments.

[frankykeno]

Jay I'm sorry you lost Monk and I'm sorry if you are feeling my comments might have been a bit harsh. I'm not trying to be harsh with you just to slap at you. I am trying to be honest and yes a bit blunt. I'm striving as have Connie and Becky and others to try and get you to see where your problems might be so that you can avoid having to go through this again and again and the rats can avoid dieing needlessly.

Again I am very sorry Monk passed but at least now he's not in pain and distress any longer.

[SatanicIntention]

Jay, usually the incubation period for viruses and bacteria is about 5-7 days in a rat. If you went to a pet store or anything and handled their rats or even went near their small pets, it's important to know.

Even if you step in squirrel crap outside, they carry SDA virus, which can kill your rats if the secondary infection doesn't kill them first.

It's very, VERY important NOT to go into any pet stores without disinfecting/changing clothes when you get home. You cannot handle rats at a pet store and then go home and handle your own, this is breaking quarantine.

Your rat breeding ventures have not gone well, likely because of poor quality and unhealthy animals and from poor quarantine methods.

Oh and if you're going to be keeping rats as pets, you need to have subQ fluids, a nebulizer, hospital cage/tank(5-10 gallon preferably or a no-level flat bottom cage), antibiotics such as Baytril, Doxycycline, Amoxicillin, as well as some steroids(injectable and inhalable). Pet rats are not cheap to keep.. I have 32 of them..

[marmie]

I'm sorry to hear that Monk didn't make it.