red discharge

Question
Hi there, I have a pet rat that I adopted after my boyfriend's Ball Python had no interest in eating him. He is a young rat (under 1 year of age) and being a Feeder rat he was quite nervous when I first took him home. It has been 2-3 weeks now and we are making some progress in socializing him.

The past couple days I have noticed some red discharge from his nose. I researched it and everything keeps saying that it's porphyrin. I understand it can happen when the rat is stressed or fighting an illness. I will take him to the vet in a heart beat if you think there might be an underlying issue. But if it's due to stress, I don't want to cause more if not necessary!

I would love your input!! Thank you so much for your time.

All the best,

Kristy

Answer
It is probably due to stress. I dont take much stock in porphyrin right away esp if they are acting ok.  I had a rat that had it every time he woke up. He had it for the entire four years and three weeks he was alive.

Please go over my website, sandyscrittercity.com and refer to the pages on trust training and also about porphyrin. I have the page on porphyrin simply titled "Bloody eyes and nose" because many rat owners do not know what the reddish brown discharge is and assume it is blood. They google this and it leads them to my site, or usually it does, that is.

Let me know what you think of the way I suggest trust training. It really works like a charm. Also, to provide a special place for your rat to play is a good way to take stress away too. They need to feel secure and safe and need their own rat safe play area.