Death in young rats.

Question
My two young male rats, Diesel and Tusk, recently died and I am really wanting to find a possible reason for their death. This is not the first time it has happened as well. Before I had the 2 boys, I had 2 girl rats who also died, they were much older though so I thought it might have been an age death. They were almost 2 years old when they died. But my recent boy rats were only about 8-10 weeks old. I'm wondering if the girl rats had something that passed on. I had them in the same cage, but the cage had been cleaned and soaked before I got the boys. Although all other things such as food bowls and water bottle were brand new.
The boys had been perfectly healthy for the whole of the time I had them. The only signs were the day before they died, they appeared to be less active than usual but were still taking food and eating fine. The next day Diesel was dead. He was on his side with his mouth open which I thought strange and there was a little blood on the fur on his side but he wasn't wounded or anything. Tusk was still alive at the time was looking very tired and unwell, he still tried to eat but gave up as he appeared to be very weak and was also cold. I moved him to a warm room in a different cage for the night, but he was dead by morning, curled up looking peaceful, there was no blood on him.

Answer
Lisa

I am really sorry for your loss. It is just so hard to say what went wrong without a necropsy. I can only guess at this point.

If they were brothers, they both could have had something congenital. Often sudden death can be related to heart or failure of other organs. It could have been strep pneumonia.  This often doesnt show any real signs of illness other than severe lethargy. After that, they may gasp and breathe heavily and if they are not put on oxygen and given very aggressive antibiotic therapy they could die in 12 to 24 hours once infection sets in. The fact he was cold to the touch was one of the signs of impending death.

Also, did the girls have any outward signs of illness? When you brought the boys home, the girls had already passed away right? Also, how long had it been from the time of the girls passing till you brought the boys home?

Sorry to ask so much but I would like to help as much as I can, although details are sketchy.