Provide fresh water (bowls and/or bottles), change this daily. Ensure good quality food is available and that there’s enough for everyone to avoid competition. Don’t smoke (or allow others to!) around your pets. Check your bedding material avoid scented or dusty materials. Provide enrichment (toys/climbing) to help reduce stress. 
Ensure your rat’s housing is appropriately sized (for the number in there!). If your rat is not well then you must take him or her to a vet for a health check as soon as there are any signs of illness – I cannot stress this enough.Īt a health check your vet will check the front teeth, listen to the heart, lungs and examine for any other issues of course, this depends on how wriggly your rat is for the examination! Whether or not there are concerns raised at the health-check you need to review your management at home: Poor nutrition = lack of access to good food or poor appetiteĪn increase or sudden production of red tears is a symptom of an underlying issue – this is important. Eye issues = infection, trauma to the eye, blocked tear ducts. Respiratory disease = bacterial or viral infections. Irritants = bedding materials, scented air-fresheners/candles in the home, strong cage disinfectants, smoking. Environmental stressors = arguments between cage-mates, overcrowding, competition for food, household noise. Reasons for an increase in production include: Remember that there are some situations where your rat may actually be sneezing blood or may have injured themselves, and if you are concerned you must speak to or visit your vet for a health check. However, an increase can indicate an underlying health issue. It will fluoresce (glow!) under UV light and your vet can use this fact to differentiate between blood or porphyrin secretions.Ī very small amount of porphyrin staining a round the eyes and nostrils can be normal your rat should clean this by themselves during normal grooming. Production increases as a rat ages (until around 2 years of age), then decreases again after that age. 
It is produced and stored within the gland itself.
As the colour can vary in intensity, it can look severe and be quite concerning.
This can give the appearance they have been sneezing or crying blood-tinged fluid. You may see an increase of a pink, red or orange liquid around the eyes or nose of your rat. The fancy name for this condition is actually ‘chromodacryorrhea’ or ‘red tears’ and is caused by a pigment in the normal tears of a rat. This can give the appearance that they have been crying or sneezing blood – perhaps they are the scary little creatures we see in Halloween films? Or maybe there’s something else behind it… Those of you that have owned rats may have noticed that they can occasionally get red or orange staining or crusting around their eyes and nose. They do have one unusual trait that can be a little more ‘trick’ than ‘treat’, however! You may notice that rats get a really rough deal they’re often portrayed as the bad-guys in films and decorations.
#RATS EATING EYEBALLS FULL#
As Halloween approaches get ready for the witches, broomsticks, black cats and rats to be out and about in the full force of fancy dress.
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