sneezing 3 month old ratty

Question
Hi Sandra,  I recently purchased pure bred pedigree fancy rats from an accredited breeder, they are 3 month old males. My brown burmese has a constant little sneeze regularly, and has had it since I adopted him.  He shows no signs of nasal discharge,no lack of appetite, and is not lethargic. It doesnt seem to bother him, but now I noticed his brother, a dilute siamese has also started a bit of a sneeze, not nearly as often as the other.  Its hard to say how often the brown one sneezes, but its usually often enough when in his presence to notice it.  My rats are housed in a 5 foot roomy cage that is protected from drafts and the room they are in is nicely regulated tempurature wise.  The two boys dont seem to be bothered by the sneezing, and the breeder didnt seem to think it was anything to be alarmed about since they are not displaying illness.  Have you ever heard of a sneezy ratty?  I think is quite cute, but I want to make sure its not from an underlying problem maybe I don't know about.  P.s. the floor of the cage is lined with newspaper and "carefresh" pet bedding, natural color, biodegradable. thanks in advance for your response!

Answer
Hi Holly

I get these letters all the time about sneezes and rats. Some people will say that any sneeze in a rat means illness, but from my experience its not really true, esp if these rats are new to your home.
Also  sometimes rats are sensitive to carefresh. I dont use it, as I am happy with aspen or hemp, but I have had alot of people that write in to me complain about how dusty they find carefresh to be.

Also, from my experience over the years with rats, it seems that new rats in a new home with a new cage and new people to get to know will also tend to be nervous.  

They tend to have elevated histamine levels that is associated with sneezing. Sometimes the sneezing happens more when the rats are excited. This elevates the histamine  levels and causes sneezing but when the stimuli that is causing excitement in the rat is removed, the sneezing eases up again.

Have you noticed that they sneeze more when you handle them etc?