Is she sick?

Question
Hi
I was wondering if you could tell me what is going on with my rat we picked her up yesterday for my sons 5th birthday and today when we woke up we noticed she has a lot of discharge from her nose its a light greenish color it was so much that i got a dropper and sucked some out so she could breath better she is eating and drinking but she seems to sound raspy when she breathes. Well thank you for your time
Libby

Answer
Hi Libby

The little girl sounds like she has a respiratory infection and she will need to see a vet that is well versed in rat care. If you return her, the pet store may agree to treat her, but sometimes the offer a new rat instead and usually toss these rats into the feeder bin to be sold as snake food. They can deny this all they want, unfortunately it is true in many cases.
SHe should not sound raspy or have any discharge from her nose at all. If it were red like blood it would probably be porphyrin which indicates the rat is very stressed from illness or possibly the change in her life that just took place, but having green discharge means infection and the raspy breathing means she is congested.

Hopefully it works out and you take her to the vet, and if that is the case, hand the petstore the bill, they should pay it for selling a sick rat to you for your sons birthday gift.  Rats are such sweet pets. I am sure she will make him very happy once she gets all better!

Good luck!

Sandra