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About Janell McMorran
Expertise
I am quite knowledgeable on housing, care, genetics, hereditary defects, color identification, breeding practices, socialization, rat rescue situations, raising orphaned babies, trapping feral rats, and basic illnesses and disorders a pet rat is prone to. I can answer any question related to every day circumstances and even those a bit more unusual.

Experience
I'm a hobby breeder and have bred for the public since early 2005. Prior I worked as a PIJAC certified associate for a major pet store chain for 4 years. I currently work as a pet store consultant as well.

Organizations
RatSeek

Education/Credentials
Pet Industry Joint Advisory Council certification in all areas, AP Husbandry

You are here: Experts > Animals/Pets > Exotic Pets > Pet Rats > Introduced 2 baby girl rats to existing year and half old female

Pet Rats - Introduced 2 baby girl rats to existing year and half old female

Expert: Janell McMorran - 11/4/2009

Question
About a month ago, one of our female rats, Nihm, died aged year and a half. Her sister Charlie was left on her own and was grieving so we played with her loads and when she seemed happier and more comfortable with us, we got 2 new baby females (also sisters). They're just under 2 months. After a few days of having the cages next to each other we introduced them and Charlie took to Georgie and Rafaella straight away and they really love her. They did the usual dominance thing and Charlie obviously is the dominant rat now. They've been together a couple of weeks now and everything was fine but recently Charlie has become very lethargic and doesn't seem interested in us or the babies and just stays in her bed all the time. She still comes out to eat and drink and accepts treats from us and she'll snuggle up with the babies to sleep but she just doesn't want to come out and play. She has always been quite a sneezy rat and gets a small amount of porphyrin around her nose but it doesn't seem to affect her quality of life. Do you think she is just getting tired out from the babies clambering all over her or is she depressed/ill?

Answer
To me, this seems like a sign of something more serious than just a tuckered out rat. I'd see about making an appointment to have a basic wellness check done, and look for any underlying infection (i.e; respiratory, uterine, etc.) that may be causing this sudden behavior change. Without symptoms, I can't even really give you a guess as to what it may be. I do hope she's on the mend soon, though!

Good luck!

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