sick/dying rats

Question
Hello.  I am so frustrated.  We purchased a wonderful little rat for my children.  My daughter was playing with her in her room and the rat went under the bed.  We found her two days later and put her back in her cage.  She died within a couple of days.  Then we got another rat who escaped and would go outside every day and come in at night for a month.  We finally caught her, (she was not very nice) and put her back in her cage.  She died within a couple of days.  Then we got an absolutely adorable, sweet friendly rat and he died.  My daughter was sad and I told my friend I wanted to get her another white rat.  She said she had one who was about three years old.  Very sweet and was looking for a home. We adopted her wonderful friendly rat last Wednesday.  She has been fine for a week and I just looked in on her and she is dead.  Am I doing something wrong?  Do you think there is something wrong with my house?  I am so sad and frustrated.  I have had animals all my life and have never experienced this.  Please help!!!

Answer
Hello ALix

Wow, what a streak of bad luck your having. Lets start from the rat that just died. 3 years old is OLD for a rat. SUPER OLD! She could have had any number of things wrong with her so that isn't surprising she died. She was old. Rats life span is right around 2 and a half to three years old and if your lucky, a bit older. Anyone that tries to tell you they had the same rat for 5 or 6 years is lying and thats the truth!

Next, we need to look at the reasons why the rats are escaping. When they do escape, you have no idea what they are eating. If they gnaw at the plaster on the walls it could make them sick, etc...and when you get them back, they may already have something going on inside them that causes them to die.

What kind of diet are you feeding them? What about the litter/bedding?
No other bedding should ever be used except aspen, carefresh or yesterdays news and a few others, but never pine, cedar, corn cob or any saw dust etc...this will cause serious illness and death. Sometimes they don't die right off but they end up with liver damage from the pine and cedar in their elderly years.

What about the cage? Are the bars spaced too far apart that the little rats can get through? Often, the larger cages are not meant=0

Also, rats need to be kept in pairs. Its not really double the trouble as some think. Actually it makes the rat much happier and healthier because a stressed rat is far from happy. Rats are social animals also and in order to thrive properly, they should always be kept in pairs.

So the check list of course is litter, diet low in protein and fats, and the obvious, such as constant access to fresh water in bottle, roomy cage away from drafts and direct sunlight and temps between 66 degrees and 82 degrees Fahrenheit.

Also, when do the little darling demons get away? Do they break out of the cage or so they slip out of your hands and take off?

Anyhow, please let me know the answers to the things I asked above so I can get a better perspective as to what is happening around your house.

Are these rats from pet stores (or did I ask that already) because thats yet another thing I need to consider too.

Hang in there, we will figure this out so you can finally own a pair of nice sweet loving rats.  


REVISED:

(Not sure where this entire sentence went but I felt I should finish it since it looked kind of stupid dropping off like that! LOL

What about the cage? Are the bars spaced too far apart that the little rats can get through? Often, the larger cages are not meant for young pups since they can get through the bars.  You dont have to replace the cage though. THey sell something called HARDWARE CLOTH that you can put over the cage bars, kind of like a screen they cant chew through, and in fact once they are older you can keep it on.

Sorry this sentence was botched in the original post. Not sure what occured!