female rats yesterday and one of them has started sneezin, she doesnt do it when she's asleep and doesnt do it all the time. Cud it be cos Ive changed their bedding and she's just gettin used to it. Or do I need to change wat I'm puttin in their cage.

It could be a stress related reaction to being moved, she may have a respiratory infection or it could be a reaction to the bedding, do you use air fresheners? What bedding are you using.

__________________


gsds (Henrick and Bella), the cats (Syd, Lilly, Elvis and Dizzy), the gerbils (Honey, Lisa, crusty, Millhouse, Flanders, Bart and Homer), the rats (Valentine, Flower, Petal, Blossom, Koda, Cava, George), the mice (Minnie, Pop, Seudag, Caraid, Silver, Trouble, Athena, Pandora, Aphrodite, Meep, and Springtime)

dont use any kind of air freshners, at the moment they've got wood chippings and that recycled paper you get from p@h, which they love. The other one dont do it, its just my one.

And she only started doin it when I got them home about 3 hours later. She didnt do it in the shop where I brought them from I was in there for about 30 minutes choosin them and they use the same beddin apart from the paper.

The wood chippings are most likely pine, which is not a suitable bedding for rats no matter what P@H say. Pine (and other soft woods) release phenols which are naturally occuring chemicals that give pine that 'woody' smell. These phenols irritate the respiratory tract, making the rat more susceptible to infections. You should take them off of this bedding ASAP and use newspaper untill you can find a suitable bedding. Shredded card is often used for rats as it poses no risk to the health of the rat. Brands are Finacard and Ecobed.

New rats often get 'new home' sneezes. This is due to them being stressed over moving into a new enviroment. If they'd been kept on a rat safe bedding I'd say give her a week or so to settle into her new home, but as they've been on poor bedding then I would treat for a respiratory infection. As they're babies they can't have baytril (I can't remember what they can have though) and they should be on antibiotics for at least 2 weeks.

For future referance, pet shops aren't a great place to buy any animal from. Pet shops get their animals from rodent farms. The animals aren't handled so are often very skittish, and they're not bred with good health in mind so they're often sickly.

__________________
Cara,
Owned by Fern, Heidi, Asteroid, Bubbles & Fizz
Missing Snippet, Frost, Willow & Nix


Opinions are like armpits. Everyone has them, and some stink.

ok thank you will change their bedding tonight and get some carefresh bedding. I hope she hasnt got a respitory infection. I will keep an eye on her.

I know that when she does sneeze she rubs her nose afterwards.