my baby rats are ill and dying

Question
QUESTION: for the past week or so my baby rats that are roughly 3-4 weeks old or getting ill and dying within afew hours. there was 13 and now there are 2. the symptoms are from what i've seen zoning in and out randomly, weakness and becoming unable to walk and then they just lay there on their side's and wont move and keep opening and closing their mouth's and then thy die. i have no idea whats wrong and every site i have looked on has no answers.

ANSWER: It sounds like the babies have picked up the Sendai virus which is a brutal dangerous virus that can wipe out a colony of baby rats in a short time.    Tell me about the mother rat. How long have you had her and where did you get her from? Do you have other rats?? Any new rats?

There is no cure for it since it is viral. It is a respiratory virus that depletes the immune system and causes a secondary infection that leads to deadly pneumonia. Sick rats can be put on aggressive antibiotics for secondary infection but at their age mortality rate is high. Usually these rats are protected by natural immunity from mother but right around this age they start to lose that protection and can become ill.

The remaining rats all need to be put in the hospital on oxygen and aggressive antibiotic treatment in order to save their lives. you will need a vet that knows what he or she is doing or they will be totally clueless as to what may be wrong.
You can also bring in the remains of one of the rats if it was put in the refrigerator (never freezer) and a necropsy can be done along with tests to determine the exact cause of death. From the way it sounds though it seems that it is indeed the sendai  virus.

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QUESTION: We have had the mother rat for about 4 months and the father for about 3.5.The mom got really skinny recently no matter how much we feed her.
We have taken the last remaining baby rat out of the cage and have been feeding it by hand.
From the looks of it.the death only happens to one baby rat at a time,The baby seems perfectly fine,and then it kinda of stops,and its like it falls asleep,except its eyes are open,Then suddenly it might jump a little  and then go back to whatever its doing,perfectly fine. This sort of thing happened every couple minutes until all they do it move slow, then eventually they are too weak to stand up. and they're mouths move open almost like a cough,without sound every few minutes.
The father rat has gotten kinda of vicious,he has never been known to attack or bite ever,
but ever since we removed him from the mother and the babies and put him in his own cage right beside it he has been biting.

Answer
DO not use these two to breed again, obviously, mainly because if they indeed have sendai virus, this will be in your house for up to a year, since it is airborne. It is non pathogenic to humans so no worries there.

You  should take the rats in to the vet right away to get them checked so you can at least save the remaining rats.