Quarantine - help?

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benzin.fox

Well-Known Member
Joined
May 14, 2008
Messages
211
Location
central coast,NSW,Australia
I apologise if there is already a thread on this but am in a bit of a rush so havent checked properly.

Yesterday I brought home a rescue rat which is currently in quarantine in another room which isnt attached to my house.

She's been at the rescue (which isnt a rat rescue- so on her own) for 2 weeks with no signs of any strange illness/lumps/bumps/itching etc.. other than the old sneeze and wheezing/rattling noises.no discharge.

She came from a pet shop who were giving her away as snake food as she had NEVER been handled and they couldnt sell her. She'd been living on the dreaded pine shavings in a tiny glass cage for her entire life. 6months+
-there is a thread abotu her in rescue section.her name is beckie.

My three girls all have resp. issues and one of them wheezes at any sign of stress.

My question is- What should I be looking out for on this super scared rescue and when would i be able to bring her into my house?

Any tips would be welcomed and please be nice as this is the first time i've had to do this!
 
We really don't have the horrible infectious diseases in Australia like they have in the US and UK etc.

The thing I'd be most worried about is making sure that she's free from any parasites: lice, mites, ringworm etc. If she's already a sneezer and your rats are the same theres probably not a lot she can spread. Though that being said if you feel she's not well I probably wouldn't be putting her with my girls just yet til I've had a chance to suss her out.

I hope thats some help :)
 
Thank you, that was a lot of help:)

I always have to be on the safe side! She's just wheezing and i think it's from stress- cause she's had a fair bit of it in her short life..poor thing:(

Would it be ok to bring her inside the house- but not in the same room as the girls?

I've just been chased out of the outside rat room by a wasp thing so if there is nothing they can catch by being in the same house then i'd rather have her in here.

Let me know..
 
I've brought home some rats from some pretty dubious places over the last 3 years and the worst I've accidentally spread was lice (ew,ew,ew) and the mouse I brought home that had ringworm (though luckily that didn't spread to anyone but my poor hubby :panic: ). If you want to be on the safe side just make sure you wash your hands well after handling her and maybe don't wear the same shirt.

I would think the chances of her having something the girls could catch would be pretty slim as we don't have problems with nasty viruses. Its one of the good points of being an Aussie rat owner. Also as you said she's been living alone for the last 6 months so its not like she's been in contact with loads of skanky rats.

I think she would be fine in the house, probably even in the same room with your girls. I just wouldn't try introducing her close up just yet till you've had a chance to assess how bad her sniffles are.

I'm sorry I'm such a fence-sitter :D
 
I would probably bring her in the house but not in the same room.
The main "danger" is that her strain of myco and your current girls' strain of myco will be too much for the rats to fight.
But... can you get all the girls on meds? That would be the safest way to play it. Since you've mentioned that all of the rats seem to be having respiratory issues already, give them all their meds and then introduce them.
 
You're in Austaralia? You've just rescued a kid who's liable to go loopy on you and your kids.. and you just had to avoid a flying freakout to visit her. I sounds like a Brendan Fraser movie. Australians are used to avoiding dangerous critters just going to the grocery store aren't you?
Gotta admit, I sure have a soft spot for Tasmanian devils, they are so nasty-cute.
But congrats on your new kid #1. Your heart #2. Your bravery #3.

(yeah right, whirlytwirly calls herself a fencesitter after offering advice, some good stuff too I think. If you're a fencesitter kiddo I'm still asleep in the barn :)

Best of luck with your new kid benzin fox!
 
Fidget said:
I sounds like a Brendan Fraser movie. Australians are used to avoiding dangerous critters just going to the grocery store aren't you?
Gotta admit, I sure have a soft spot for Tasmanian devils, they are so nasty-cute.

(yeah right, whirlytwirly calls herself a fencesitter after offering advice, some good stuff too I think. If you're a fencesitter kiddo I'm still asleep in the barn :)

Best of luck with your new kid benzin fox!
Click to expand...

I don't know about dangerous critters on the way to the grocery store... I'm more likely to run into scabby lowlifes :D Theres some pretty poisonous spiders around (nothing a shoe won't fix) and a big Blue Tongue lizard lives under my shed but he doesn't cause any trouble. Tasmanian devils only live in Tassie and I've only ever seen one in a zoo.

I get twitchy giving advice....incase its wrong :panic:
 
I moved Beckie into my house last night but in a different room to my girls. Already she has seemed more alive and confident.She's climbing,come out of hiding and is taking food from my hands! I think lonliness was making her depressed. I'll wait a little while longer and move her into the girls room,next to their cage.

She's still congested-sounding though:(

-and i agree with whirlytwirly we're more likely to encounter bogans- i'm so sick of bogans! -and also wasps lol. It scared me pretty good!
 
I was going to say what Whirlytwirly said. I've never quarentiened my new rats, but just washed my hands. Most likely any sneezing will be due to myco.

ETA: I'd put your girls back on doxy and baytril for a minimum of three weeks. If you don't mind me asking, what doses did you use?
 
benzin.fox said:
-and i agree with whirlytwirly we're more likely to encounter bogans- i'm so sick of bogans!
Click to expand...

Haha, I'm so sick of bogans too. I'm tired of the beer bottles they chuck on the road and their hooning cars. Much prefer wasps.

I've got more dangerous animals where I live. Tai pan and a red belly black snake in the yard last year... shudder!
 
Well- this is how i remember the dosages-

1 match head sized dot of doxy/vibravet twice daily

and 5 little notches on the small syringe of baytril twice daily

usually i only use doxy unless things arent improving then the vet says to combine them.

What dosages would you suggest as theyre not showing signs of sickness right now?
 
I give my rats (who are adults), 0.18 to 0.2 ml of baytril and a splodge of doxy (vibravet paste) about the size of 1.5 - 2 match heads. I give both of these to them twice daily for at least 2 weeks and then continue with the baytril for another week. If they keep on getting sick or were quite bad, I continue the baytril for longer. Some of them need both antibiotics all the time, some need baytril all the time and others just need the 3 weeks (like I described).

It's hard to measure the doxy, but for the baytril I base the dose on their weight. On a 1 ml syringe, 0.18 ml is 18 little notches, and 0.2 ml is 20 little notches.

So if your rats aren't sneezing fairly frequently or coughing or congested, they most likely don't need antibiotics.

How is the new rattie going?
 
Thank you for that,dewi:)

The new rat & the original girls are all wheeze free since last night- so keep the meds away?

New rattie is doing GREAT but me ...not so much. I need some help.

Beckie is confident and not sounding sick anymore. She's climbing all over the cage and eating,drinking etc.
My problem is that when i open the cage and let her take some jam from a spoon she wants to climb out of the cage and up the spoon to bite my fingers. I keep my hand out of her cage for now because i feel that she'd be pretty protective of it. I want to build some trust with her and I'm sure it's already come along way since when i come to the cage,she comes out of hiding - my question is:

Why is she seeming so confident and not scared but still wants to climb up the spoon,open her mouth,bare her teeth and slowly try to take a bite of me?!

Am i missing something? What am i doing wrong? what should i do? let her bite me?
 
Personally if any of my rats were wheezing I'd pop them on antibiotics again. But if your rats currently aren't wheezy, sneezy, congested, making that clicking kind of noise and/or coughing, then I wouldn't put them antibiotics. If these symptoms start up again, then personally I'd start them on the antibiotics (both antibiotics).

I'll go read your other post on your newby biting you.
 
Have started Genevieve Cottage back on the antibiotics as last night she started wheezing pretty badly but has picked up again. I'll keep her on them for the whole course.

Thank you, everyone!
 

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