i'm adopting a rat that has been kept in an aquarium for almost one year. i know for a fact the aquarium had substantial amounts of ammonia, i could smell it as soon as i came in the room.

i already have a cage for her, she'll be kept on a different floor in the house then the other rats i have.

but i was wondering are there are illness she could pass on from the ammonia build she she's been exposed to? i'll be treated for mites, as well as looking for any UR diseases but is there anything else she could be sick with from her living conditions?

Umm...the ammonia will only affect her health, her lungs. When you QT you should be watching for URI's to flare up, Sendai, SDA, etc...those last 2 are deadly and highly contagious so I hope you have a proper QT set up for her (different air space altogether). Poor girl, I've taken in a few of those neglected rats myself. :(

so she's extremely skittish. she won't even take food from my hand or come out of her igloo if i'm in the room. should i work on trust training or after quarentine should i introduce the rats first? i read both sides of answers to my question and both have theirs pros and cons. like if i introduce the rats first she'll see that they trust me and catch on. but then i read that if i introduce first and she doesn't trust me she'll feel extremely threatened. she is over a year old while ronny and dre aren't even 4 months old yet.

My baby girl was pretty scared of me, like yours. I tried and tried to work on trust with her BEFORE I put her with my adult girl. NOTHING would work. Then, I decided to put her in with my big girl and she became like a different rat. She came out of the house ALL the time, took food from me, completely different because Giz trusted me. Don't know if it'll be the same for you, but that's what worked for me.

Thank you. I hope so.