Breeding Rats

[Just_Joshin]

Yeh was getting them off a timber supplier

That's your problem. Even i wheeze just being around that stuff....it's 50% DUST.

Buy Proper Wood Shavings from produce store. This will eliminate your problem.

EDIT: i saw your pic in Opening post and you can see the dust!!

 

[junglejudd]

thanks josh as said before i have started using shredded paper, bit more work but thats cool

 

[chickensnake]

i had the same prob with my rats wen i first go them try.. taking the male out for a few weeks then putting him back in, that is what i did and it worked for me

 

[Shauno]

Try seperating for a few days, Loose the hides "Wranga" for a week. I use wood shavings and have only had resp probs with rats that have been brought in from other breeders to mix up my blood lines.

 

[solar 17]

Shauno...are you sure the rats you got in haven't got a condition called "mycoplasma" its a condition in rats thats highly contageous, when they have it they sound like they "rattle" when they breathe, there is a lot more of it around than a lot of people are aware of, rats with it don't put on a lot of condition and often drop right away in condition after a prolonged period with it.......mycoplasma is highly contageous.....cheers solar 17 [Baden].............ps wood shavings are often mistakenly blamed for this sickness.....

 

[wokka]

My understanding is that mycoplasma is almost inevidable in Aussie rats but that it only causes problems with stress and that that stress is often old age. My experience is that it is particularly common in older rats , say 18 month plus. Ours get euthanased at about 15-16 months old, but I have seen it often in old pet rats.

 

[solar 17]

Mycoplasma

My experience is that this condition is in a lot of rodent set-ups but more often than not it goes undiagnosed l have a reasonable sized setup but often have to buy rats in as l only ever use fresh killed and in the Brisbane area at least a lot of rodent breeders have it and l have seen it numerous times in rats down as young as weaners, with "the croak" and most of the time the breeders claim its a dry throat through wood shavings etc......every rat l buy in is kept isolated and fed an over the top diet which vastly improves the condition but doesn't erradicate it....cheers solar 17 [Baden]

 

[mysnakesau]

I use wood shavings - the bales bought from the produce store. I think you can probably tell the difference between sneezing from the dust and that disease. Mycoplasma shows mucus discharge from the eyes and nose - often can look like blood and many ppl think their rats have been fighting.

 

[Chrisreptile]

Commercially available wood shavings are usually kiln dried and the dust is extracted.

 

[liberty]

mate lose all the fitness crap in there do u want them at the gym or at the brothel?

have one hid u u really want it , clean food and water and a cool temp and ur laughing

saw mill stuff is fine im pumpingout around 400 a month
u dont need to make it all fancy they are rats for food make it purpose full

 

[solar 17]

Sniffles

Its my experience that in the latter stages you will get a mucus discharges and some blood discharge.....l only bought [20] hoppers yesterday and l notice 3-4 have mild mycoplasmic "rattles" but no mucus or blood discharge what l do notice is that given a chance rats with mycoplasma tend to drink a bit more [from waterbowls].....but like someone on this thread has already said that commercially available wood shavings are dust extracted......so thats out.........cheers solar 17 [Baden]

 

[Shauno]

Sounds more like it Solar17 as I don't beleive that they were affected by the wood shavings. I kept the purchased rats seperate from the rest of my colony and eventually culled them as no matter what I tried to do to help them they continued to loose condition and their rattle got worse. I must have been lucky with "mycoplasma being very contageous" as the rest of my colony seems fine. Mycoplasma must be very common as 2 out of the 3 breeders that I deal with seem to have it along with dreaded mites.