I had three male rats, all about 1.5 years old. They recently had lice that I treated with a dawn bath, diatomaceous earth, and a lice comb. They seemed to be doing fine and werenât itchy. The two that died had lost a bit of weight which I thought was from the lice. So a couple weeks pass and my albino starts escaping the cage just so he can fall asleep randomly in the middle of the floor. He also started sleeping more deeply and it would be hard to wake him up, but he was still active and eating. I put the boys in my bathroom last night for playtime and when I went to go put them back up, my albino Squeak was stiff on the floor.
Today the grey one, Atlas, came to the cage door and seemed excited to come out. I pet him for a while and then he started breathing heavily and kind of jerky. He didnât want to be held anymore so I set him on the floor and he wasnât able to walk, but had to hop instead, and started falling over onto his right side. He was very twitchy, like full body spasms and didnât want to be touched. He eventually laid down and died. This happened over the span of about ten minutes. I have checked the bathroom for anything they could have touched, but itâs the same as always. I recently cleaned the cage, but I did that the same as always. I put a dog toy, a brick, and a one of those luau necklaces in there hanging from the ceiling in case they might want to shred it up but I donât think they touched it. Pest control sprayed about a week ago but I have a sign asking them to not spray in the laundry room where the rats are kept and I never let the rats out on the floor within a 24 period of that just in case. The only new food Iâve tried recently was roasted unsalted edamame. My other rat Pip is super fat and seems 100% fine. No breathing issues, very active.
Any ideas?
Today the grey one, Atlas, came to the cage door and seemed excited to come out. I pet him for a while and then he started breathing heavily and kind of jerky. He didnât want to be held anymore so I set him on the floor and he wasnât able to walk, but had to hop instead, and started falling over onto his right side. He was very twitchy, like full body spasms and didnât want to be touched. He eventually laid down and died. This happened over the span of about ten minutes. I have checked the bathroom for anything they could have touched, but itâs the same as always. I recently cleaned the cage, but I did that the same as always. I put a dog toy, a brick, and a one of those luau necklaces in there hanging from the ceiling in case they might want to shred it up but I donât think they touched it. Pest control sprayed about a week ago but I have a sign asking them to not spray in the laundry room where the rats are kept and I never let the rats out on the floor within a 24 period of that just in case. The only new food Iâve tried recently was roasted unsalted edamame. My other rat Pip is super fat and seems 100% fine. No breathing issues, very active.
Any ideas?