Hi! I just got two baby guy rats, Petyr and Varys, about 10 days ago. They are 9 weeks old now, were healthy when I took them home, and seemed to adjust to their cage very well. I was using carefresh to start with, but after reading about it, decided to go with towels/fleece for their cage. I'm feeding them rice krispies, lab blocks, and fruit every day, and the occasional yogie.
I had them at home for a week, and then took them on vacation with me to visit family, on a 12 hour drive. They handled the drive like champs, got treats and water breaks along the way, and seemed fine the first night. Yesterday and last night they both started sneezing, and today Varys has been sneezing and facewashing like crazy.
They are both very comfortable with me handling them, climbing on my shoulder (underneath a sweater for now, until they're big enough to hold on) and so on, so they don't act stressed. There is a cat in this house, and dust, and its drier than where I'm from.
Varys has sneezing attacks about every 30-45 minutes, and I noticed a little porphyrin starting tonight. I used a small piece of tissue and he sprayed two miniscule drops onto it, smaller than the dot a pencil would make. He makes a little sneeze squeak or 3, and then its followed by a couple "pfsh pfsh" mini-sneezes.
Petyr sneezes occasionally, 2-3 times a day. I now have a cool humidifier in the room they're staying in, gave them a clean shoebox and tshirt to nest in, and took Varys into the bathroom, steamy from the shower being run. It seems to have helped for the last 40 minutes, but I wanted to see if there's anything I should be watching for or concerned about.
I've played rat phone with both for about 60 seconds, no sound other than the heartbeats. They both are eating normally, have fresh water and are drinking regularly.
This is an awesome forum - what I've read so far is encouraging, and I have a hunch its probably the dust, so the humidifier and fresh bedding should do the trick. I just want to make sure I start a vet run when necessary.
A quick update: He's started to develop more around his left eye, but he's active and using the wheel, and seems to be eating like normal.