Ohhhhhh Rats!

[M.bredl.mad]

lol hmmm i only keep 4 females

 

[Raptor_Reptiles]

rats

currenlty suppling some large collections and shops and even go to trouble of washing all breeders weekly in summer as i have the system right. wash all the large feeders prior to gassing off ,water and feed change every day tubs cleaned and bleached every 7 days cages twice weekly.

 

[M.bredl.mad]

What state are you in? Do you supply live breeders?

 

[Raptor_Reptiles]

rats

ill try to let you know by pm i can supply you some

 

[M.bredl.mad]

pm sent

 

[gozz]

use straw , wood shavings made mine sneese

 

[staffsrule]

I use shredded paper for mine. Works a treat. Easy to come by and easy to clean.

 

[Niomi]

I used to kep mice and rats as pets and i used that recycled kitty litter. Its like cardboard ripped up into little pieces and i never had problems. You may find having them all in that environment and with them all eating and going to the toilet in the same place they will get sick. You should separate them so there isnt that many in each tub and make sure they have alot of air to keep the tub dry

 

[junglemad]

feed off the sneezers and replace them

 

[Mystery]

My rats had it - it is called Murine Mycoplasmosis. Highly contagious to all rodents, even if you do fix the prob with Baytril it does come back if they are stressed etc. The vet told me they are fine to use as feeders. I kept my pet rat - he was on a high dose of Baytril - he got over it, but has never been the same. You could pm Odessastud, she knows heaps about it, she will send you some info on it.

 

[rodentrancher]

Yeah, we've started using shredded paper for our breeding rats. A friend of mine gets it in garbags from her office for nix. Right price eh? Cheers Cheryl

 

[M.bredl.mad]

One of the female rats that was in with the sick male didnt seem to have the sickness though her feeding had reduced. It confuses me with which i have to cull and which not to as they all generally sneeze (i believe from the woodshavings) though none have got the symptoms such as the father.

 

[Mystery]

You have to be very careful with it as you can have carriers that show no symptoms at all (thats how mine got it).

 

[Kimbully]

Listen for rattling raspy breathing and regularly check for weightloss. If they are just sneezing with no other symptoms, I wouldn't worry yet, just closely monitor.
As long as the rats are eating/drinking and have good body condition, and no symptoms (raspy or difficulty breathing/weightloss) they should be fine to continue to breed for food.
If you culled the sick male, you can alternate the other male between boxes, just make sure the females have no pups when you put him in(which should work if your using pups as food).