Got my rats!!

Ok, I just brought them home from the shelter today. They are adjusting well, and my cats don't seem to mind them. However, one of them has some hair loss on his back, and is sneezing every now and then. Do they need to be taken to a vet? Also, they are 1 and a half years old. Is this really old in rat years?

Most pet rats don't make it past 2, 3 is often miraculous. Sounds like you should have done some more reading before obtaining them. And if one of them is sickly, I would definitely take it in.

Oh and pictures are mandatory, I love ratties!

Jenn has had rats most of her young life, and the longest lived we have had was about 2.5 years. The first few were pet store rats then we realized that the shelters often have rats in need and we have rescued our share. We have one girl right now who was an adult when we picked her up from the shelter, we think she is about a year old, she is a DOLL and I really like rats. They are smart, cute and many of ours have come when called!! I have only taken one to the vet early on as they have been pretty healthy except the one gal, early on, who was having respiratory troubles due to the cedar/pine mix she came with. We no longer use it but use a bedding made from recycled paper (Can't remember the name, too lazy to look!)

Here is a picture of one of my all time favorites, she loved coming outside and would actually run back and forth to us and you could almost see how much she loved being out in the grass on her little face!!!

Cuuute!!! More!

I will have to get some new ones, sadly many of my pictures did not survive a bad PC crash a couple of years back and I, stupidly, did not have them backed up! I had many pics of the dogs uploaded to photobucket etc.. so saved some of them but I lost many pictures that I had never uploaded (ALL of my Christmas/birthday family pics from a full two years!!) Want me to go through my older printed pics? I know I have some somewhere...

Bald patches could (And usually do, especially with rescue rats) mean Mites. If you have revolution on hand (A TINY drop of it) works for rats. It can also mean power grooming from the other rat. (Barbering). If you notice her scratching a lot, and if its inflamed and red, and scabby its for sure mites.

As for the sneezing..it could be due to stress from the new home. If it doesn't go away in a couple days, and if they have porphoryn (Red stuff around the nose and eyes) then its most likely a URI.

Good Luck! And ConRAts! Yes, 1 1/2 is middle aged in rat years. I have had rats live to be 4, but only a couple who were very well bred. Most of my rats have lived to be 2-2 1/2.

(if you want to see rat pics, Ive got literally thousands)

well bred ratties can see 4-5 yrs, but 2-2 1/2 is old for most ratties.
BUT, these 2 should give you plenty of time and fun to get your thouroughly addicted

with the hairloss id say a quick trip to the vets, its very likley mites and a dose of ivermectin should clear it up (give their cage a good bleach and wash too!)

sneezing for the first 48 hours i wouldnt worry about, ratties tend to stress sneeze, but if theres any discharge id have it checked.
personally id take them to the vets ANYWAY, find a good small animal/exotics vet because many vets havent a clue when it comes to ratties, have them give a good look over just to be on the safe side to set your mind at ease.
generally beyond respitory and mites they tend to be healthy animals, watch for tumors with old age, there especially common in petshop ratties and albinos are especially prone to cancer.

get them on a paper based bedding, pine and cedar are BAD for ratties. and no wire floors (cover shelves with lino tiles) otherwise, enjoy! ratties are awesome! and addictive!

Ok, we've got an appointment set up with the vet. There is no discharge, just sneezing every now and then. They are on Carefresh bedding, is that ok?

carefresh is great, my preference for smalls!

walmart has been carrying a paper bedding that is carefresh but about 1/2 the price

All the books I read before I got my first rat said that rats should live to age 5.... I've only had pet store rats, so it's interesting to me that even well bred rats only live to about 4. I have one now, though, who's going to be 3 in a couple of months, and she's still going strong! My others usually slow down a bit the last six months or so, but this one hasn't slowed down since she was a baby! After 2 years, I figure the rest is just icing.

My ratty boy who died last month. Lived to a ripe age of 4 years and 7 months so they can live for a while ...

ive had 5 yr olds, heck ive had 5 yr old petshop ratties, and now as knowledge of how they need to be cared for (no cedar/pine, more fresh foods ect) and better breeding becomming more acessable to the general pet buying public, i belive lifespans should start to increase...

but while theres still places mass producing ratties for petshops the average life span drops incredibly.

with well bred ratties ive found they dont realy slow down much...
i had an almost 5 yr old female that was still running round like a baby untill about 5 hours before she passed away in her sleep.

Holy moly, that's amazing! definitely not the norm, though. But amazing nonetheless!