Health of my Rat

Question
Hi! I bought my son a Dumbo rat 11days ago and I have been noticing him sneezing alot the last few days.. and today I picked him up and his little nose was bleeding. This is our first rat. can you help? Thank You, Mary

Answer
Hi

Can you do me a favor and check out my website?  Here is the URL to the page that says "Help, my rats nose is bleeding" and let me know if your sons rats nasal discharge compares to what you see the rats on the  page have.  I am pretty sure what you saw was not blood, since its not really typical that a rats nose will bleed.  Instead, it is called porphyrin, which is produced by a gland behind the rats eyes. This discharge mimics blood and can scare any new rat owner into thinking it is blood.  Instead, it is normal discharge if it is in small amounts, but if its thick, and also coming out around the eyes, it can mean the rat is stressed due to illness.

Here is the URL:

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


New rats do sneeze sometimes while they are getting used to new smells etc...and if they were kept on bad litter such as pine, cedar, cat litter or corn cob bedding, this will also make them sneeze too.

What litter do you use?