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Quarantine
Strict quarantine is a must if you intend to bring home any rats from different sources. See the disease articles at
Just the Rats Ma'am to learn more about the deadly problems that can happen with seemingly healthy rats.While some rats seem to be perfectly healthy they can be silent carriers of disease that they are immune to, but new rats from another source may have never been exposed to these diseases and can fall ill very quickly.
Two months is the ideal period of time for quarantine because some diseases take that long to run their course, while others are always present no matter what. Ideal quarantine also means keeping them in separate buildings with separate ventilation systems. The reason for that is some diseases, mostly the viruses are airborne. Most people don’t have the facilities for this but at least make the effort to get as close to ideal as possible.
Most people can’t seem to stand waiting for two months but it is best to do that. An absolute minimum should be four weeks, but some people prefer only two weeks. The less time you quarantine, the more chances you are taking. It’s up to each rat owner to determine when to stop the quarantine but it’s better to be safe than sorry. The longer you keep them quarantined, the better.
While rats are in quarantine you must not go from room to room without washing your hands and if you have handled any of the rats you should also change your clothes. There are some diseases that can live outside the rats on surfaces for short periods of time.
Mycoplasma pulmonis, the most common of all the rat diseases in my opinion is not a reason to quarantine. If you’ve been near those that are infected then you are carrying the disease in your mucous membranes so you will pass it to another rat. It really doesn’t matter though because basically all rats are carrying this disease anyway. Those that show symptoms are those with weaker immune systems. If one rat in your colony becomes ill with pneumonia caused by
Myco and has been living with the group at the time he became ill, the others already have it. Those with the stronger immune systems are already carrying the disease they aren’t necessarily going to become ill just because one is. If you quarantine that sick rat who was with the group when he got sick all you do is stress out that sick one which an delay his recovery.If any of your rats become infected with
Sendai or SDA virus, there is no point in quarantining those rats from each other either. They all have it already; those are both highly contagious diseases. The best thing to do is be as careful as possible when bringing home new rats from any source, pick the healthiest looking rats and hope for the best.
Jan McArthur, R.V.T.