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Anonymous
I came home after a less than 24 hour leave of absence... and found my rat dead. She is survived by her only cagemate, who has no symptoms of any sort. She had a brief spaz attack after I came home, but is now resting in the hammock they shared.

I know rats grieve; but for how long? How quickly should I get another? I don't want her to be alone.

In the mean time, /r/ing pics of brown rats with white paws and tipped tails. I don't have any pictures of my baby. :(
>> Anonymous
I'm not so sure myself.
My rat's sister died a few months ago and she's rejected all of my other rats and hardly wants to come out.
>> Bitter Anon !!WJLRQ1cwCyZ
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Sorry to hear about your rat. How old was your rat?

As for mourning.. I've had several bonded pairs separate due to death. Generally, it seems like the one left behind follows soon after, especially if there are no other companions. I would suggest that in the future, you get three rats rather than two to prevent this. In groups of three or more, they are less likely to form pairbonds and I've seen rats recover after a few days of sluggish behavior. If I were you, I would prepare myself for the other to pass on as well, and perhaps store the deceased rat in an airtight container in your freezer, so that they may be buried together.

I've had two agouti irish boys, and this was my first: Chiumbo. That is his littermate, Barang in the back. Chiumbo died of megacolon when he was three months old.
>> Anonymous
>>205541
What do you mean by reject? Does she beat them up or just turn away?
>> Bitter Anon !!WJLRQ1cwCyZ
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And my second agouti irish boy, Nima. He and his brother, Kenichi, are both still here, and no, they do not regularly get chocolate chip cookies or live in a terrible cage.

I don't have many pictures of Nima/Kenny, but I have some more of Chiumbo if you'd like.
>> Anonymous
>>205542
Addy was approximately five months old. The survivor, Lily is about three months. She seems okay, is accepting treats, snuggling, climbing, and just peed all over me.

I'm unsure as to why Addy died. A couple of weeks ago I woke up during the middle of the night, her breathing was that labored. She made a recovery, but I heard her sneeze and honk a bit yesterday morning.
>> Bitter Anon !!WJLRQ1cwCyZ
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>>205548
Rats are incredibly good at hiding illnesses until they are past the stage of treatment. (un)Fortunately, it sounds like your rats most likely have/had mycoplasma.

Do your rats rub their noses frequently or sniffle? Lift your rat to your ear and listen to her breathing. It should be nice and clear with no rattling or clicking. Even a generally healthy looking rat could have myco. MANY rats get it, in fact most pet store rats do, but most suffer from almost no symptoms. Some rats though, require antibiotics and rarely euthanasia (I had one rat that was incredibly sickly due to myco, and every few months she would need a week of medication and hourly hand feeding). It might be that Addy just could not fight off the infection and Lily has a better immune system. Of course, its possible that your rat died of some other cause, such as a tumour (girl rats are very very prone to them) or another big killer of young rats, megacolon (if she was petite and thin, this is likely).

There is a very nice article on myco here http://www.rmca.org/Articles/myco.htm
http://ratguide.com also could help you figure out what is going on, and has good advice in general.
>> Anonymous
>>205544
Paid no attention to them at all. If they tried to sit by her or sleep with her, she'd just move away. Been like this for a while now and just refuses to interact.
>> Anonymous
>>205552

I'm starting to think it was myco. I check them for tumors and lumps every day, and nothing unusal was found on Addy the day before she died or afterwards. How much does myco treatment cost? The whole shebang: exam, tests, treatment, etc. Honestly, I'm not sure if its worth it, the vets in our area don't know jack. I've seen antibiotics for sale online, and I must say, it is tempting me now.
>> Bitter Anon !!WJLRQ1cwCyZ
>>205558
Were the other rats housed with her before the death of her sister? I have never heard of a rat pining for months over the death of a cagemate. Is she losing weight or acting oddly in any other way?

>>205560
Its great that you check them for tumours, most people don't bother to regularly give them full body checks despite knowing how prone to cancer most rats are.

As for cost, honestly I can't advise you on that. It can range from extremely cheap to incredibly expensive(ex. a vet down the road from me would charge about 150usd for an exam and 2 weeks of baytril. It costs me about 45 bucks, because I go through a rescue org.)Some vets wont even treat rats, some will only neuter, euthanize, and remove tumours. The best thing to do would be to call local vets and ask. Just tell them you have a rat that you suspect died of myco, and would like to have your other rat checked out. Ask how much an exam visit and medication might be. They SHOULD give you an estimate, if they refuse.. call someone else. If you cant find a vet that you can afford or is not willing to work with you on payment, contact a local university or animal shelter/rescue. Often vet schools will treat animals for cheap, and rescues can put you in touch with someone who can help you. You might want to also see about getting her spayed, as that should reduce her risk of cancer significantly.

Make sure she's good and healthy before you get anymore rats. When you do go for more (a solitary rat is a sad rat), get a sibling pair from a good breeder if you can.
>> Anonymous
>>205564
Thank you so much, you've really helped me out. I hope I'll be able to find a place that will work on payment. Money is an issue; my job is a joke.
>> Anonymous
Get two baby rats. Younger rats are more easily accepted by older rats because they don't threaten the older rat's dominance. They'll also have each other when the older rat doesn't have the energy to play, and won't be hit quite as hard when the older rat passes away.
>> Anonymous
i had one of mine pass away recently and didn't notice any change in the other but that might just be because i was grieving myself ...and now i'm crying again, thanks anon
>> Anonymous
Sorry to hear about your ratty anon.