Four days ago my boyfriend and I bought two three month old males to be companions for our lone male rescue rat, Jack. The babies, Bo and Gordon, are living in quarantine with my brother a floor above where Jack lives with me. We noticed on the first day that Bo and Gordon had diarrhea, but we decided it was probably from the stress of being re-homed because we hadn't seen any loose poops in their bin at the store (they lived together, no other rats with them in that bin).
On the second day, we noticed that they were sneezing an awful lot. We read that this could be a common thing for newly re-homed rats as well because they could be exciting themselves trying to take in too many new smells. We also changed out their bedding (had diarrhea in it) and replaced it with the same kind of bedding (Carefresh Natural) that they had had in the pet store.
Now, on day four, it seems like Gordon is still sneezing enough to make me nervous and Bo has a few here and there. The poops are better than before, though still aren't the solid raisins I'm used to seeing and are smellier than Jack's (our healthy rat). Both babies are alert, active, friendly, and are eating and drinking just fine... in fact, they're eating and drinking more than Jack did when we first brought him home.
Advice and opinions would be greatly appreciated! Our vet isn't open until tomorrow, and even then I'm not sure if the one we have in town caters to rats, so I'll have to call around if this seems like it could be a respiratory issue? We obviously need to make sure that the babies are healthy before we try introductions with Jack, and I'd like to get them out of our travel cage as soon as possible, but I won't jeopardize Jack's health for their comfort. What do you think?
On the second day, we noticed that they were sneezing an awful lot. We read that this could be a common thing for newly re-homed rats as well because they could be exciting themselves trying to take in too many new smells. We also changed out their bedding (had diarrhea in it) and replaced it with the same kind of bedding (Carefresh Natural) that they had had in the pet store.
Now, on day four, it seems like Gordon is still sneezing enough to make me nervous and Bo has a few here and there. The poops are better than before, though still aren't the solid raisins I'm used to seeing and are smellier than Jack's (our healthy rat). Both babies are alert, active, friendly, and are eating and drinking just fine... in fact, they're eating and drinking more than Jack did when we first brought him home.
Advice and opinions would be greatly appreciated! Our vet isn't open until tomorrow, and even then I'm not sure if the one we have in town caters to rats, so I'll have to call around if this seems like it could be a respiratory issue? We obviously need to make sure that the babies are healthy before we try introductions with Jack, and I'd like to get them out of our travel cage as soon as possible, but I won't jeopardize Jack's health for their comfort. What do you think?
