New rat, I think shes sick...

Question
I purchases a rat from a pet store about 5 days ago, and I was told she is about 6 weeks old. At first everything was fine, she tamed down quite quickly, even falling asleep on me. Today I got home from work and I noticed she was sneezing a bit in her cage. I lifted her up and she didn't really do much, she kept sneezing a bit and rubbing at her nose. She crawled up to my neck and fell asleep, waking up to sneeze. She also twitches a bit when she sleeps, sometimes so much she wakes herself up or scares me. Is it normal for a rat to tame so easily? I know she was handled since she was born, so could  that be why? I'm planning on getting echinacea tomorrow because I've read online it helps them a bit. She has no other symptoms but sneezing. I'll also change her bedding ( its pine shavings ) Do you know what could be wrong? Did I catch it in time?

Answer
Honestly I never consider having to "tame" a rat unless it was COMPLETELY and entirely unhandled - because rats are very happy, friendly, curious critters. I've never had a problem with a rat being too spastic if it was handled as a youngster.

Also, yes, sneezing is a good indicator she's sick -- pine bedding was probably the cause. Get her on Aspen or Carefresh immediately and begin supplementing her with vitamin c. Some people like to use droplets in the water, which is fine, but keep in mind you'll need to give her clean fresh water every 4 hours as the droplets mold in the water. Other people like to use slices of citrus. This too is fine, although the fear is that the rind/peel will cause kidney problems -- it does in MALE rats however I haven't heard of any evidence to make me leary of using it with females. I also get the all natural vitamin C chewables from GNC (or equivilant health supplement outlet) and let my ratties chew on one as they'd like.

If she hasn't quit sneezing and picked up a bit of energy within a few days, I recommend a vet visit. Good luck. :)