File :-(, x, )
Anonymous
I just had the scare of my life.

I was watching random videos on Youtube and when I looked over to my rat cage one of the girls was laying on her side. Now usually this wouldn't be a huge problem but I noticed her mom pushing at her belly. I've worked at a petshop and know that rats start to pick at a dead or dying rat. So I rush over and open the cage. She didn't move.

Oh sh*t! So I grab her an she's motionless. My heart is breaking at this point. So I roll her around gently and then she slowly stirs. On the plus side she's not scared to be pet now like normal.

Was she just on in a deep sleep or should I keep her by herself in the tank I have and keep an eye on her? I checked and she didn't have any wounds but.. now I'm scared.
>> Anonymous
Keep am eye on here, but also make sure there is water readily available for her to drink.

I can't much else though...
>> Anonymous
One of my mice did that right after we got her. She buried herself in the bedding and wouldn't move for the longest time after I picked her up.
She was just deeply asleep, though. That could be the case here.
>> Anonymous
Hmm I doubt it would be heat stroke though. They have fresh water in the water bottle every morning and it's still about half way. Also we have the air condition plus fan on. Not directly on the cage of course but it keeps the air moving.

I'm going to hope it was just a very deep sleep. She's doing fine now thankfully.
>> Anonymous
>>140861

If she's acting normally and eating and drinking now it probably wasn't a heat stroke. :)
>> Anonymous
>>140861
If it was the heat, or she was in distress, she probably would have a bit of red fluid dripping from her eyes and nose. It looks a lot like blood and when rats are stressed that usually happens.

Monitor her behavior for a little while. Keep track of her breathing, feel if her heart is going to slow or fast, etc. Just in case. Does she usually sleep a lot or has she been very active lately?
>> Anonymous
>Does she usually sleep a lot or has she been very active lately?

No she's about as active as they rest of her family. They run around for a while then take naps together. They even sleep about the same time as the boys above them.

Thanks everyone for the help.
>> Anonymous
I used to work at a pet store and while the rats usually didn't sleep so deeply, there were a bunch of occasions where I'd pick up a sleeping hamster and roll them around in my hands without them stirring.
>> Morrie
     File :-(, x)
You know they also pick each other just as social act... I suppose it feels nice... the receiving party tends to lie down quite dead looking. I think it's rank issue too... it's always the higher ranking rat who does it to the lower.
Rats dont start picking on the dead immidiately anyway. When I've had rats die in cage with others they usually just push them in the bottom far away from the rest of the group. I've never found anyone who'd be eaten. I think it just happens if the dead is around for hours.Or probably if cage is really small (like you said in petstores. They wouldn't have much room to get away from the dead.)
>> Anonymous
>>140898
>I think it just happens if the dead is around for hours.Or probably if cage is really small (like you said in petstores.

Well usually it did only happen after many hours. As in I fed them at night then come in the morning and finding a detatched tail or large patch of fur.

But I do remember I was cleaning the cages one day and I noticed that the small to medium rats where nudging and picking on this one rat. So I got over shooing them away and sure enough the one I picked up was dead. And he was still limp. Rigi mortis (spelling?) hadn't even set in yet. Granted I'm not quiet sure how long it takes for that but it can't take that long.

Only the plus side we ended up putting the rat on top of my bosses computer mouse and freaked her out.
>> Anonymous
My rat died after something similar.

I was on the laptop and I walked over to get a glass I'd left on a shelf and noticed my rat was on its back.

So I took him out and he wasn't breathing and his heart wasn't beating. After some improvised rat CPR (I even did mouth to mouth!), he started breathing poorly and moving a little. Once my mum got home we took him to the vet right away , and just as we got through the door, he stopped breathing and the rat CPR didn't work.


D:


Anybody know what it was? He had no marks or anything.