One Eye Is Smaller Than The Other In My Pet Rat

Question
QUESTION: Ok well this is my first pet rat i have a white one with red eyes i guess hes a standard rat. Well i just got him two days ago and hes been sneezing a lot and one eye is smaller than the other. Is this normal due to the move or should i be conserned.He doesn't have any of the discharge i have read about and is not wheezing. Also i will be moving in to a new house in about a week how can i rat proof or help him adjust to the new house. Thanks so much for your help i really appreciate it.

ANSWER: Hi

I think that since he is new, he needs to adjust, but what type of litter/bedding do you use?

Also, please see my website, Sandyscrittercity.com and refer to the page GETTING STARTED.
This will tell you how to build a nice safe play area for your rats to play in safely and securely.  If your rat is shy, check out the page on how to trust train a shy or biting rat.

Let me know also your location so I can give you names of vets that treat rats just in case things doing improve in a few days.

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Ok well I read your web page and it helped very much i live in San Antonio TX. I'm just using the bedding he came with it looks like wood shaving of some sort. I want to use care fresh because i saw it at the pet store. What should he be eating because I'm not sure how old he is.  

Answer
He may very well be on pine if its from the pet store.  Most pet stores are clueless to the dangers of pine and cedar and sell it to anyone buying small mammals.  The best stuff to use is yesterdays news. Carefresh is just...pretty and clean looking but does nothing to absorb urine. You can even buy yesterdays news at grocery   stores in the cat litter section. It is much cheaper there and it is the absolute same stuff sold at pet stores. As long as it says YESTERDAYS NEWS its fine to use.  You can also start to litter box train him too. Its very easy to do. Just remove ALL BEDDING from the floor and put it only in the litter box. You can fasten the litter box to the side of the cage so it doesn't tip over.  Cover the cage bars with thick layers of newspaper first and on top of that, cover it with plastic needle point canvas found right at Walmart in the craft section. It comes in a pack of 6 sheets. The holes will allow urine to drain into the newspaper and this will keep the wetness off of your rat and help absorb odor, too. Put the rats poops in the litter pan each time he goes outside the box. He will eventually get the idea on what to do. rats are very clean and like to be clean and wont want to poop all over so he will catch on eventually. Dont give up.
He should be eating a low protein diet. The seed mixes are terrible for rats and one reason our rats get fat and die early on. Rats should live to be well over 2 years old.
Please refer to my website and the page on proper diet to learn about what they should be eating.