Quarantine

Written by Rachelle Bish, Jellybean Rattery

A proper quarantine should be in a completely separate air space to your current rats, without any sort of ventilation system connecting them. Some diseases are airborne and can travel through your ventilation system. Use a completely separate source of food, bedding, and tools, and sanitize and change clothes between interacting with each group. This should last at least 2 weeks, but some diseases can take 3 months to burn out. It is very difficult to provide a proper quarantine. If a separate air space is not possible, keep the new rats as far away from your current rats as possible, preferably on the other side of the house and on another floor. Do not cross anything between cages.