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Rats

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hayleyandjohn

Hello,
Does anyone know if wild rats can pass any diseases onto guinea pigs? Just discovered rats have been in the shed and i eant to know if i need to give my guinea pigs just in case?
 
Rats do carry disease, the one that springs immediately to mind is Weils Disease - http://www.iphe.org.uk/health/weils_disease.html
They could inflict a nasty bite wound if they can get to them, tho i would think they'd be more interested in eating their food.

We have a rat problem every year they get into my shed but fortunately cannot get into my hutches.
They've nibbled water bottles and the newspaper i line my hutches with (from outside of hutch) & haven't passed any nasties on to my pigs. :)
 
Yes, there are loads of things rats can pass on, especially wild rats which is sounds like you are describing. Mainly, fleas, ticks, parasites, fungus, etc.. You might want to give them a good look over and keep a close eye.
 
Keep the piggies away from the rat droppings....they carry potential diseases. Also make sure the rats can't get into the piggie cages, as the bites are very nasty.
 
We knew we had rats but they had never bothered us so we was going to leave them. Then We discovered they got into the shed and on top of the hutches where we keep the food so now have to throw away all that food and regretably put rat poison down which i am not happy about but i suppose its them or the pigs!
Thanks for the advice think i will treat them with few drops of dipidex jst in case!
 
Hi, rats can and will kill guineas and rabbits if they can get in. I had a huge loss of life many years ago when I kept my piggies in an open pen within a building. The rats bite the throat to kill. I also had a chinchilla have it's nose bitten off. Now I am VERY careful to stop wild rats getting in.Having said that I keep pet rats which are lovely and docile. Wild rats can pass on wild rabbit fleas to domestic rabbits and the fleas can carry myxamatosis if it's in your area but guineas thankfull y don't get myxi.Rats can pass on various mites. So best to make sure they can't get in.Good luck
 
When my step-daughters rabbit lived in the piggy shed his food would disappear really quickly. We soon realised we were feeding a small family of wild rats (they had taken up residence in OH's garage). They never hurt the rabbit and only chewed my piggies water bottles when they could no longer access the food
 
be very careful and wear gloves as rats urine carries wiles disease which can be fatal if not treated, i had rats in my shed a few weeks ago i cleared all the food out, swept the full shed out and brushed a mixture of bleach, soap and salt all over the floor to kill any bacteria in dried urine that was around, i threw all the food away too. something hads taken up residence in the shed next to mine my mum found a box with loads of bedding and small droppings etc she said they were tiny so possibly a mouse just coming into my shed for the food and back to my mums shed to its house, rats and mice dont mix in the same areas apparently so I'm hoping it was just a mouse. its gone now anyway we put poison down and have made our garden rat proof.
 
i hope you stop this rat problem... i would wash my guineapigs and spray them with mite spray just in case. then i would wash the whole cage out... goodluck :smitten: :smitten: :smitten: :smitten: :smitten: O0 O0 O0 O0
 
Hello, I have put rat poison down but they dont seem to be eating it, as still find droppings! They must be getting into the hutches! This week end i'm going to have to take them out of the shed and give the shed a good clean!
 
Hey there,
Rats are quite hard to get rid off.
Personally I would be weary of using poison in case they take some near the piggies. Also I did hear that some poison stays in their droppings so if they poo in your hutches that might be a problem.

I have used the following and would definitely recommend it:
http://www.martleyelectronics.co.uk/rat_mouse_traps.htm#zapper
I know it's expensive it was totaly worth it for me.

It's also much kinder than poison or standard traps as they die instantly. When I had this out I was catching a mouse every night in it!

Good luck with it!
 
It seems to have worked!? Havent had any evidence of rats in my shed lately.They were also living under the concrete that the shed was on so concreted that over, so either they have moved or away or have died.

Thanks for the advice!
 
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