my 2 young female rats

Question
Hi I just got 4 young female rats from Petco about a month ago and 3 of them were pretty shy and kinda nippy but the 4th one was so lovable and friendly cause the lady at the store use to play with her all the time. I noticed 2 of them were sneezing a lot and I looked it up and it said it could be stress from moving to a new home or excitement or allergies to the bedding. But they're still sneezing and it seems to get worse. They also make this funny nose that makes them sound I guess you could say like a guinea pig and they look so unhappy when they make this noise. I also noticed the other day the little wooden hut they sleep in has little what looks like brownish reddish splatters around the inside. I read your article before about how salt licks are bad for them so I just recently took it out of there cage. I give them Kaytee forti diet pro health and fresh water and clean the cage often. I use carefresh bedding. They have a huge ferret wire cage with multi levels and seem to be very happy. The other rats have even become more friendly. I don't know what to do I'm very worries, I don't want anything to happen to them especially the one that was friendly from the beginning I've become very attached to her. I wanted to get 2 more playmates for them so I went to Petco yesterday and got 2 more baby females and they all get along very well already.They seem to be happy not sick,they love to play and come out of there cage onto the bed, and they drink alot and have a good appiteite.What is normal amount they should be sleeping each day? they're still young probably like 4-5 months maybe. What should I do?

Answer

Hi Lisa!

For starters, you should not have put the new rats with the other rats.
Whenever you bring any new rats into the house they should be put in quarantine for 3 weeks.  If your rats are sick, the new rats will surely catch it too.   Please read about quarantine here:

Its too late now so dont take the new rats out of the cage but just for the future, be sure to quarantine.  Pet store rats are known to carry a deadly virus called SDA and the rats can look perfectly healthy and in a few weeks, they could be sicker than you could ever imagine.

Also, please check my site about diet.  Kaytee foods are terrible for rats and super high in protein.

Also, the spatters of brownish red discharge is called porphyrin and it often scares new rat owners into thinking it is blood.  Here is info about it here:

If your rats are making a funny guinea pig sound, chances are they are congested and have mycoplasmosis. This means they need a vet and should be treated for 30 days using baytril and doxycycline.

The vet should be an exotic vet, or one that has a strong interest in exotics and has gone to workshops and extra classes to learn about small mammal medicine.  Dog and cat vets can cause more problems for them by not treating them properly so its not worth going to the wrong vet.  Also, you have 5 females now.  Keep in mind that female rats should be spayed around 2 to 4 months of age, but for sure by the time they are 6 months old in order to avoid the growth of mammary tumors.  When rats hit menopause age, around 14 months and older, with the most common age being 18 months, estrogen levels sky rocket and cause the development of mammary tumors.  They are usually benign, but they still should be removed or they eventually cause serious problems for the rat.  Having five girls could mean big vet bills.  I would also consider spaying them once they are  feeling better.  If you do not have a vet, please let me know and I will give you some names, no obligation of course.

Here are the URLS to my site:


Mammary tumor info:

http://www.freewebs.com/crittercity/allabouttumors.htm



Proper diet

http://www.freewebs.com/crittercity/ratsandahealthydiet.htm


Mycoplasmosis

http://www.freewebs.com/crittercity/mycoplasmosispage.htm


Quarantine

http://www.freewebs.com/crittercity/thequarantinepage.htm


porphyrin/ red discharge from nose and eyes

http://www.freewebs.com/crittercity/bloodynoseandeyes.htm