Sudden death in pet rat

Question
Hi Sandra,

My female pet rat who is only 7 months old died this morning.  She was healthy, has no evidence of any illness, was eating and playing and appeared completely healthy.  This morning, I found her on her belly in the center of the cage dead.
I was reading an answer that you gave to another person concerning his pet rats dying and you mentioned spiders.  Frequently, I find small spiders in the corner of my pet rat's room, and I vacuum them away.  
ARe spiders unusually toxic to rats?  DO you think this is why my pet died?
Thank you for your time.

Answer
A spider bite would be the last thing to consider to be honest, but it is not something to rule out either.  Often a rat that dies suddenly like this usually has some underlying problem such as heart problems or possibly an aneurysm or something that can cause immediate death.

You can inspect your rats body, looking for any evidence of a spider bite. It would have to be a pretty toxic spider such as a black widow spider to cause death in your rat.  

The best way to find out what caused your rats death is to have a necropsy done.

I am so sorry you found your baby that way.  Its always so hard to lose them but to be honest, when they die suddenly its almost better this way rather than to watch them fall ill and suffer, sometimes for days and even weeks, before finally passing or needing to be put down.