Something wrong with my new ratties?

1993 Views 7 Replies 6 Participants Last post by sk1tt135, Jul 26, 2007

Brain

Discussion Starter · Jul 21, 2007

I think there may be something wrong with my new ratties.
I bought two females from a petshop I have known for some time and have heard great things from, animal wise, but something seems off about two girls I have gotten.

Well, for one I believe all the girls were from the same litter but they all were in different sizes. One seemed old enough to be maybe half a year, and one that was extremely small, which I adopted. She seemed fine, easy to pick up but VERY energetic, she will be nice and walk back in her cage, wait a second then fly back out to the entrance and she kept doing that like she didn't know what she was doing and have randomly jumped and springs all about her cage. This could be normal but Ive never had such an energetic rat before specially for her size.

The second female I got is bit bigger then the little one, she was a lot calmer when I got her, didn't really want to do anything with me, but she seemed fine when I held her, and she just seems so shy. I have held her a couple times, scratched her ear, gave her a little apple. But suddenly something doesn't seem right with her. She has pushed all the bedding from a corner in her cage and just lays there. She lays on her side, sometime with her but facing up, never seen a rat do that before, but she doesn't look asleep, her eyes are open and her mouth looks like she is eating or chattering but no noise and no food. It just looks to be chattering but no noise at all.

The little one comes to play and clean her but she doesn't react at all. I haven't seen her eat or drink since we got her, which was yesterday. I could be just guessing, she could be still nervous from coming home with me but her sister, if she really is her sister, just bounces everywhere and try's to play with me and her, and I don't know, something seems very weird about these rats.

Oh and when I put my hand in the cage they make this sneeze, squeek bark like noise, but they don't seem to be threatened by me and then out of the cage they make a sneeze squeek noise, and then randomly sneeze? They dont look sick, or the little one who sneezes more is full of energy. Hmm?

Why do my ratties just feel different to me?

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renay

· #2 · Jul 21, 2007

ah the wonderful pet store rat...
Have you ever heard of the saying "you get what you pay for"? Pet stores sell rats very cheap because in essence they are used as feeders for reptiles. Each time a pet store rat is bought as a pet, the owner is gambling, I've learned this the hard way... The reason they're so cheap is because they're poorly bred and poorly cared for (there are plenty of other reasons as well, but i'm generalizing as it is a petstore we're talking about) thus leading to illness, disease, and unsocialized rats... also, im assuming that the sneezes are being caused by mycoplasma pulmonis, an upper respiratory disease causing pathogen. Its pretty much fair to assume that most rats do have it, and it is treatable through medication, some rats respond, and some rats need life long treatments...
Onto the case of your lazy rat, She may be just that, lazy. But she is also showing signs of upper respiratory infections, you should probably have her vet checked... I wouldn't worry about the little ball of energy either, if shes as small as you've stated shes probably still very young. Anyway, I wish you and your new friends the best of luck...

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