Very Very Sick Hairless Rat

Question
She is approximately 3 months old. She looks slightly smaller than her sisters whom we saw in the pet store the other day.
She has been a very active, energetic rat, and ate her food earlier today.
Around 5pm today though, we saw her laying on her back on the floor of her home. We thought she was a goner. We have tried keeping her warm with soft toilet paper and clothing articles. She currently has a heating pad under the cage under the area where she is sleeping. She seemed totally fine previous to this. She is still breathing though, but not moving. On occasion, she will leep forward while she's laying down. Sometimes she will open her eyes or close them. We have been giving her a solution to keep her hydrated.
We cannot take her to the vet, atleast not anytime soon. She has not sneezed or seemed to have any problems previous to this. She feels very cold to the touch.
Since we got her, she's had a very mild brownish discharge from her left eye. The vet told my husband with another rat a couple yrs back that was normal and it was their tears and sleep. Both her eyes as of today have a very mild brownish discharge, she's been just laying there and not grooming herself though.
Any ideas what this could be? I know theyre prone to resp. problems, but she didnt have any symptoms prior to this. And now she is on death's edge.

Answer
I'm sorry to hear your rat is so sick!

Unfortunately without getting her to the vet, I seriously doubt you're going to be able to do anything for her. It could be a number of things, ranging from failure to thrive (you mentioned she was smaller than her siblings), a severe mycoplasmosis flare, pnuemonia (usually based on myco), congestive heart failure (which normally hits rats MUCH older), or a variety of other things. Any of these things can and will come on with no prior warning. Keep her warm, although try not to cook her -- if she isn't moving, she can overheat very quickly, so be sure to layer her against that heating pad so she won't burn. The discharge from her eye is called porphin, its red rattie tears, and although it is normal for some rats, for others it's a big sign of illness.

I know you said you couldn't, however a vet is really the best option here -- internet diagnosis won't do much other than give you a laundry list of ideas on what it 'might' be.