[ChririGrimm]

Hello all; I've been a rat owner for about four years now, and just bought a new pair of rats from Petco this past week. (it's the only place that sells them here) They're medium sized girls, Merry and Pippin;; both are frisky, happy, and eat and drink plenty. They wrestle together, and climb the walls of their cage.

Just today, however, Pippin has been sneezing up a storm! At first I simply thought she had a tickle in her nose or something, but the sneezing has continued steadily all day. What's more is she lets out these strange 'chortle' noises once and awhile; she has had a small amount of porphyrin come out of her nose, but not an excessive amount.

They're housed in a large, two story wire cage so I know it's not overcrowding, and have carefresh ultra bedding. Any ideas on what's making poor little Pippin sneezy? She seems fine otherwise but my last rat Latte had respitory problems and after being checked out it turned out she had internal tumours that contributed to a collapsed lung, so I'm more than a little paranoid about Pip.

I joined this forum just to get your advice on this, so some help for Pippin would be highly appreciated <3 thanks to all

-cait

 

[Forensic]

It could be new home sneezes, perhaps. Otherwise, it could be myco...

If she seems healthy, active, eating/drinking, etc, just keep an eye on her.

 

[ChririGrimm]

thank you <3

myco is what I'm afraid of...

I wouldn't even make a thread about it, but those noises are just so loud.
it's scary.

I'll make sure to keep an eye on her. two, when i can spare them.

 

[ChririGrimm]

how long do new home sneezes usually persist?

Pip is still sneezing quite frequently and loudly.
Merry's sneezing now too, but she isn't making those weird noises like pip is.


could diet have anything to do with it?
i just switched them over from Fiesta (I wasn't aware of how bad it was for them, I feel like such a bad owner) to the homemade grain mix, and I just ordered some lab blocks.

 

[lilspaz68]

Usually less than a week.

But if the other rat is starting up, it sounds like you have a URI on your hands and probably need antibiotics (vet visit).

 

[ChririGrimm]

aww, okay.

that's what I was guessing x_x;

I'll schedule a vet visit first thing tomorrow.

thanks for the advice.