New rat adventure

[hollywilly]

So I went to the vet today to drop off Scampers for his neuter and apparently some jerk had abandoned two girl rats there a week ago. My vet asked me if I knew anyone who would want them and of course I rushed home to see if my husband was okay with it. We've never had more than two rats at a time. So he said YES, and in one week we can pick them up.

Now since both of my boy rats are neutered it will be okay for the boys and girls to live together, right? I know that this is a really stupid question, but I just want to make sure. Has anybody else out there ever housed boys and girls together? Do they get along well? I'm really excited about extending my family. We've never had this many before so it will be quite an adventure. Any advice that I should have before I begin would be great.

I love ratties!!!!

[Babyblue]

I'm so glad you were there to take those girls in :) I can't imagine people just abandoning their pets like that.

As for the neutered boys, I've personally never had them (I'm planning on neutering one of my rescues soon) but I believe you need to wait a few weeks (3 weeks I think?) before putting the neutered males with the females because they can still get them pregnant. I know different vets recommend different length of time, but I think 3 weeks if the general consensus.

Good luck with the new ones! As long as you go thru the proper intro you would with same sex, it should be fine and they should be able to live happily together. Now you'll get to enjoy the active, mischievous, and trouble making nature of girls! :)

[hollywilly]

Babyblue,

Thanks for the info. I didn't realize that there was a waiting period after the neuter. Thank goodness you told me. I am picking Scamper up tomorrow from the vet and will discuss it with him as well. Last thing I would want is to bring more pets into this world when there are already so many unwanted ones. I can't wait to bring home the girls. They will add the extra spice and liveliness that my oldest Joey wants and needs.

[Ruthie]

I take it you also now about quarantine correct?
Since you need to wait 3 weeks anyway because of your boy's recent neuter, you can use that time period for quarantine to make sure your new girls aren't sick.

[hollywilly]

Okay I have to admit that I am a little confused about the quarantine procedure. I was debating on whether or not to get Scamper in the first place since Joey has had chronic respiratory issues most of his life. I contacted Debbie Ducommun about getting Joey a rat buddy and she said that since all rats have mycoplasmosis that I shouldn't make this an issue. So here is my question: If all rats carry this, and my rat has been on antibiotics for a good part of his life, what does a quarantine period do for me? If these girls do have respiratory issues, will it affect my other two rats who are both on baytril anyway. I guess I figured that all four of my rats would be in need of antibiotics whenever symptoms flared up. Maybe I could use a little bit of info into this topic. I would appreciate any information that you all may have on this subject. I feel like there is no end to the learning curve when you have pet rats, but I really want to be a responsible and good rat mommy.

[Ruthie]

Well, lets say at the moment with your current rats there is no flare up.
You get two new rats and they end up being sick.
If you didn't quarantine then all your rats would be sick and the ones who are prone to flare ups will probably have the worst of it.

There is also always the possibility that the new rats will have SDA or Sendai. Not likely, but it is possible and if they did, then the rats prone to flare ups will most likely die since they're so sensitive to that sort of thing.

Does that make sense or did I just confuse you more?

[Babyblue]

Basically, quarantine isn't to prevent the spread of myco, since all rats carry it anyways. It's more for more serious secondary infections, such as viral infections like Sendai and SDA, which can be deadly. From what you've said I would think that if your current rats are already having flare ups it would probably mean they're more sensitive to those problems, and IF your new rats brought in Sendai or SDA it'll affect them more strongly.

Wether they're on Batril or not won't make a difference IMO, when it comes to Sendai or SDA, because in order to TRY to save them you'll need a lot stronger meds than just Batril anyways. Even then, as in any viral infections there is really no treatment for it and you're basically hoping for the best.

I don't mean to scare you, but quarantine is a serious issue IMO, and not enough people realize this. I've had a close call once, and since then won't take my chances.

[hollywilly]

Okay, now I'm beginning to understand more. I honestly thought that the quarantine had to do with myco. These two viruses are something that I'm just beginning to understand, but I will definitely do a quarantine period. I didn't do this with the rat I brought home from the SPCA and am feeling pretty guilty about it. Thanks for giving me a scare, it sounds like I have some more leaning to do.

[Ruthie]

Don't feel too guilty.
I didn't quarantine when I first started getting into rats either. I just thought that only the paranoid did. How little I knew.....


Here are a few good articles to read on the subject.
In case if it's not clear to you, it wasn't for me, the difference between SDA and Sendai is that SDA is species specific for rats only, and Sendai is not. Most small animals can get Sendai.
http://www.rodentfancy.com/rmfe/virus.shtml
http://www.rmca.org/Articles/sda.htm
http://books.nap.edu/books/0309042836/html/50.html#pagetop
http://www.criver.com/techdocs/techbull10_83/

[Babyblue]

I must admit I'm still trying to understand the difference between Sendai and SDA. I thought I finally got it then it got all mixed up again :P

I know it sounds totally paranoid, and I hate to scare people with worst case scenerio, but since there is no cure for viral infections and the only thing you can do is to prevent it by doing quarantine, it really is something that needs to be taken more serious by many rat owners. It only takes that one time, and I personally didn't see the importance of it myself until I had a false alarm which scared the hell out of me :P

So don't feel guilty. We've all done enough bad things without knowing, it's important that we're leaning and not making the same mistakes again :)