Quarantine Questions

hprats · Jul 25, 2011

I am going to be spending a few days at some family's house in London (Ontario, I'm in Toronto).
I am going to be bringing one of my rats, and I just found out they actually have one rat, supposedly the 8 year old boy's pet, though I am sure my aunt and uncle are responsible for him, though I'm not sure how much time they put into researching it (I mean, they do have him alone right now).

I will definitely be able to keep them in separate air spaces, but if I know my rat is healthy, and if they have a male who hasn't shown signs of illness for 2-3 weeks, would it be safe to demonstrate the first stages of intros to them, so that maybe they can get their boy a friend?

Does just knowing that they have been observed and not come into contact with new rats for at least 2 weeks count as quarantine?

Dazzle87 · Jul 25, 2011

The one rat you are bringing, does it have cagemates or is it a lone rat?

By seperate air spaces, do you mean in the same house, because that doesn't count as seperate there is still air flow?

My concern is that most rat owners, especially ones that didn't even know to have a friend, are bad at recognizing signs of illness. They also quite possibly go to the pet store and not wait three hours to come home.

Also, qt would be three weeks not two

hprats · Jul 25, 2011

He does have cage mates, and it would be in the same house, but one would be in the basement and the other the top (second) floor. It's a very big house, and they'd be on opposite ends.

But I will ask about the pet store thing. I actually don't know how long they've had the rat for, I haven't spoken to them myself. I'll see if I can call tomorrow.

SQ · Jul 25, 2011

Not a real quarantine as same house = same air space.
Plus with a quarantine you clean out your nose, shower, change clothes, and wait a couple of hours between visiting one and the other. It is a lot of work .... and quarantines are a min of 4 weeks.

Being seperated from cage mates would be stressful for your rattie.

hprats · Jul 25, 2011

Yeah, I guess I should probably leave him with the others.

Peter and he haven't had a fight since I posted that other one. I think it's because I've stopped letting them out together, because that's when Peter gets the most territorial and tries to pick fights/attack and chase the others (I saw him do it with Neville too, out of the cage). Fred always runs from Peter to me and eventually I put them back in the cage (they're never puffy when I put them back in the cage though), which is where the only bloody fights have happened.

What seems to work though, is letting Peter out, alone, twice a day for at least 30 minutes each time. I was thinking like with dogs, haha, he just needs to run off some energy. And mark a nice big territory.

But yeah, my boyfriend has also assured me that he can, in fact, manage taking care of all four of them, even if they need separate out times. I kind of didn't want him to let them out much at all...which is crazy, but I'm paranoid about them being out without my supervision. But one at a time should be fine.

I definitely don't want to risk any transfer of bugs. Just, the one time he jumped out of the cage on to my chest, from over a foot away (he never jumps distances like that!), he just looked so terrified. I just feel guilty about leaving him. (But it's for three days and will be the first time I've seen my mother in a year, so I can't just not go).

jorats · Jul 25, 2011

I know what you mean about leaving someone else in charge of your pets. It feels like nobody can do as good a job as you.
But in this case, I think it's best. I wouldn't expose my rats to another rat.