mamma rat has respiratory infection

Snakefood · 01-05-12, 02:39 PM

Usually I treat these myself with oral antibiotics. Thing is I have never in my years of breeding rats had one come up in a nursing mamma!

So my question to you all is, will the antibiotics hurt the babies in any way??

And will the antibiotics hurt the snake the babies are destined to be fed to? I need to cull at least 4 in 9-11 days, the rest to be grown to weanling (3 more weeks) then culled.

mykee · 01-05-12, 02:59 PM

Respiratory infections are caused by a bacteria (mycoplasmosis). It is mostly unaffected by common antiobitics and will quickly transfer to the rest of your collection. First sign you see of myco and the culling should begin, mamma AND babies.
Cull them all and hope to hell it hasn't spread.

Sidenote; a compromised immune system is what makes this nasty bacteria symptomatic (all rodents carry it asymptomatically). I would be more concerned as to the stress factors that brought this on and why your rodents have a compromised immmune system; overcrowding, dirty conditions, poor ventilation and improper bedding are common reasons.

I would also do some reading up on the Sendai Virus (or SDA Virus). This virus manifests itself very similarly to Myco.

mykee · 01-05-12, 03:16 PM

Forgot:

Quote:

"And will the antibiotics hurt the snake the babies are destined to be fed to?"

Yes.

ZARADOZIA · 01-06-12, 05:59 AM

If the RI is bacterial, antibiotics are used.
If the RI is viral, nothing can be used.

RI's are generally treated as bacterial, sometimes it helps, sometimes not. Yes, the antibiotics will be transferred to the babies and could cause problems, but it is also possible that the antibiotics garnered from nursing could prevent the babies from getting the RI. If enough time laps between the babies becoming feeders, the snakes won’t be affected. 2 weeks should pass from the last time antibiotics was administered so the antibiotics can pass the system of the mother and the nursing babies before they become feeders.

In nursing humans, it is said to stop nursing the babies because dosing of antibiotics when not sick can build up and immunity to the antibiotics which renders them useless when the child does need them. It also causes new strainds of bacteria and viruses to form which are immune to antibiotics.

Snakefood · 01-06-12, 12:29 PM

Thanks Mykee and Zara, I have combined your advice, I culled all the babies, and have started oral antibiotic TX on the mamma after removing her completely from my rat room. So she is in isolation, getting treatment, I gave her the first dose last night, and this morning, when I went to give her todays first dose, she had stopped pacing and had layed down to rest, she was not making the "noises" until I picked her up, so we'll see how it goes for her, but that's already progress as yesterday she was pacing and you could hear rattling and clicking and it NEVER stopped, all day.

I can't find an incubation period on this. When is the rest of my colony "in the clear" so to say??

ZARADOZIA · 01-06-12, 02:16 PM

Antibiotics for 10 days then keep away from everyone for 3 more weeks and watch for reappearance of symptoms. Incubation period varies by strains and without testing there isn't any way to find out which strain you have it is best to go with the wost case scenario, which is 6 weeks total time.

**Just a side note for reference: Antibiotics do not kill the bacterial infection; it inhibits its ability to procreate/multiply and over time it dies off.

Rhinoviruses and group A streptococci may incubate for 1-5 days, influenza and parainfluenza may incubate for 1-4 days, and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) may incubate for a week. Pertussis typically incubates for 7-10 days or even as long as 21 days before causing symptoms. Diphtheria incubates for 1-10 days. The incubation period of Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) is 4-6 weeks.

Snakefood · 01-06-12, 02:29 PM

so if no symptoms pop up in my colony within say 3-4 weeks, then it won't??

So long as I keep her in isolation for about 6 weeks.

ZARADOZIA · 01-06-12, 04:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Snakefood

so if no symptoms pop up in my colony within say 3-4 weeks, then it won't??

So long as I keep her in isolation for about 6 weeks.

No guarantee, but the odds are in your favor.

Snakefood · 01-06-12, 05:05 PM

well lets hope they are, because I don't want to have to start over again!! I wanted to start a second colony, not lose m first one!!

mykee · 01-06-12, 05:21 PM

If that's your first colony, I suggest you cull it all and start over.

exwizard · 01-06-12, 05:34 PM

Starting over may not be necessary. We had a recent pneumonia bug recently that wiped out a lot of our breeders but I think we're turning the corner since we haven't seen any sick rats for a while. In the meantime, we did buy out another colony and set it up at Laura's mother's house. With this being the off season, no more dead rats and us having the second colony, we have a chance to rebuild. These 2 colonies will NOT mix. Chalk that up to lesson learned but after the off season is over, we will have 2 full thriving colonies and that works great for me.

Snakefood · 01-16-12, 02:10 PM

So mamma rat has finished her 10 day course of anti-biotics and the gurgling and clicking sounds are completely gone. She is still in quarantine away from the rest of the colony, of which NO-ONE else has shown any sign or symptom of having caught this RI.

Thank goodness!

**millertime89** · 01-17-12, 11:29 PM

great news!