Open mouth breathing

Hi, today I noticed one of my rats breathing through their mouth while resting. When I picked him up, I believe there is a little red stuff on his nose, but not much. His eyes and ears are clear and when I checked his breathing, it was clear. Also, when I was checking him, he was no longer breathing through his mouth. Should I be worried about a respiratory issue? He is 2 months old.
EDIT: I just checked on him again and he still has his mouth open when he’s resting. I put some carrots in the cage and he did grab one and he’s currently eating it, so he does have an appetite.

Valerie said:

Hi, today I noticed one of my rats breathing through their mouth while resting. When I picked him up, I believe there is a little red stuff on his nose, but not much. His eyes and ears are clear and when I checked his breathing, it was clear. Also, when I was checking him, he was no longer breathing through his mouth. Should I be worried about a respiratory issue? He is 2 months old.
EDIT: I just checked on him again and he still has his mouth open when he’s resting. I put some carrots in the cage and he did grab one and he’s currently eating it, so he does have an appetite.

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Rats often sleep with their mouths open, much like some humans. Are you sure that he was mouth breathing or just relaxed? Do you have a photo/video?

As oasisandbambi said, a photo or video would really help. Open mouthed breathing, especially when seen more than just one time, should be treated as an emergency. I would take your rat to the vet or start them on antibiotics such as Baytril and doxycycline if you have them on hand because it’s possible that he has pneumonia. I have had a similar experience with a rat who did end up having pneumonia, and treatment is easier before it becomes too difficult for them to breathe to take oral antibiotics. Eating is a great sign though, it means that you will likely have a better outcome if you start antibiotics now if he’s still feeling well enough to eat.

I have two rats, Sherlock and Watson. This post was made about Sherlock, but I cannot tell if Watson also has red stuff around his nose. Below is a picture of Watson.

Here is another picture of Watson.

Below is a picture of Sherlock, who was resting with his mouth open.

The red stuff you’re seeing on his nose is porphyrin, which is normal for rats to have on their nose and around their eyes, but there’s more of it when they’re sick. That being said, you may not see it at all when they’re sick or healthy because they’re so good at cleaning it, so porphyrin alone won’t tell you whether or not they’re sick unfortunately. Also, they won’t necessarily get sick at the same time and don’t usually need to be separated while sick and it will cause more stress than good.
Do Sherlock’s sides move in and out when he’s breathing with an open mouth, and can you hear a clicking type of sound when he does it?

His breathing seems normal, he's up and playing right now. I was hearing sounds from him earlier, but I'm not sure if they were clicking sounds or bruxing sounds. I have only had Sherlock and Watson for two weeks now and I have never heard sounds from them before, so I am unsure of what each sound means.

Alright, so keep an eye on it and take him to the vet ASAP if you notice it happening again multiple times or regularly. You also could have been seeing choking or a response from being startled. If it doesn’t seem to be happening again, then it was probably just a minor thing that resolved itself.

Since you’ve only had him a couple weeks it really wouldn’t hurt to take him to the vet to have him checked out for peace of mind. Plus it gives you an idea of how your vet responds to rats. I went through something similar with my two boys when I first got them a couple months ago...and recently when one got bit by the other while roughhousing and developed a small abscess ... I took them back even though by the time the appointment came around the abscess was mostly healed — I wanted to have their respiratory issues re-evaluated. (One of mine DID have an infection). It gave me peace of mind and my vet was nice enough not to charge me for the follow up.