Sudden Death... Advice on still-living rats??

[JBabies]

Hello... I've got a 2 year old male rat and (previously 3) 2 6month old baby males... 2 from the same litter, one from another. All the same breeder. One of my "twin" boys, Finn, started to cry occasionally about 2 weeks ago. I could never figure out why, and it would he on/off for a couple hours at a time. Otherwise he was perfectly healthy like all my other boys. However, after an afternoon check on them when I got home, I studied for a few hours and as I went to say goodnight, I didn't see Finn, who was usually one of the first to greet me for a kiss and cuddle. I found him, freshly dead (still warm and soft) under the bedding. The cage will be cleaned and disinfected promptly, and the body will be taken care of (I've had elderly rats die before). The remaining rats are in their temp cage I use for travel overnight.
My question is this: does anyone have any idea what he died of? He didn't have any trauma to his body, no broken bones, no cuts, no nothing. He didn't fall, I was sat next to the cage for hours. Is it bacterial/viral? And if so: What should I do with the live rats to prevent this and treat anything I can't see? They're all even more lively than usual the last few days.
Apologies for the long post! And thank you so much to anyone who can help me here! The breeder is on vacation and not responding to me currently. Thank you all!

 

[lilspaz68]

When you say "cry occasionally" what exactly did it sound like? Was he making sounds while open mouth breathing or popping congested noises from his nose? Rats are prone to respiratory infections and as prey animals often hide how sick they are so as to not attract predators in the wild. You might want to "ratphone" (hold rats sides to your ears so you can listen to their lungs/breathing for any sounds, crackles, roughness etc).

 

[lilspaz68]

Most respiratory infections are not contagious but more about that rats immune system.

 

[JBabies]

When you say "cry occasionally" what exactly did it sound like? Was he making sounds while open mouth breathing or popping congested noises from his nose? Rats are prone to respiratory infections and as prey animals often hide how sick they are so as to not attract predators in the wild. You might want to "ratphone" (hold rats sides to your ears so you can listen to their lungs/breathing for any sounds, crackles, roughness etc).

I "rat phone" with myrats periodically to make sure everyone is okay. He had a mild scratchiness that went away with a drop of honey and some water most times. When he cried it was a pain cry, like when they stub a paw or get their tail caught in something, but was never anything physically wrong I could find. I'd do the whole "squeezey does this hurt" stuff, and nothing ever set him off.

 

[lilspaz68]

It could have just been genetic, a bad heart and he dropped when things went wrong. I'm so very sorry you lost a youngster it's just that much more devastating.

 

[SQ]

I am so very sorry for your loss {{hugs}}

 

[vampeyes13]

So sorry for your loss. xxx