QT Question

[LOTR_Ratties]

Someone on another post said something that worried me, but I didn't want to hijack somebody's post, so I figured I'd start a new one. They said that if the rats are in the same house, that the QT is broken... Is this true? Because I have my two new nekkie babies in our garage room across the house. And whenever I handle them, I change clothes, and whenever I leave and come back into my room, I always clean myself up, wash my hands thoroughly, and change my clothes again. Is this sufficient enough to have a successful QT, or am I just wasting time because they're in the same house? Any info from the experts is very much appreciated. Thanks!

[julztoni97]

I think they were answering my post.  I thought the same as you.  I thought as long as the baby was in the basement and I didn't handle them without cleaning up and changing that it was ok. 

[LOTR_Ratties]

Yep it was in reply to your post.
I'm hoping to get some replies from others to see if that's really true or not.

[scout]

There are several levels of quarantine. The safest is to have the rats in a separate air space. For most of us, this means a separate residence since our homes, apartments, condos, flats and other domiciles usually have some sort of recirculating air from a furnace, air conditioner or simply fans. Airborn germs can travel through our recirculating air. Those same germs can survive inside your own respiratory system as well. Viruses like SDA can survive a few hours without a rat host. A top level quarantine means a person who has visited other rats will wait 3-4 hours before going home, then change clothes and shower before handling their own rats. This sort of quarantine offers the least amount of risk and the most protection.

If you don't have those sorts of options (and many of us don't), the next best thing is to keep the rats in a separate room as far from your resident rats as possible. Wait several hours between rat groups, shower and change clothes. With this option, the risk from SDA goes up rather significantly, but the risk of transferring ectoparasites like mites and lice is still very minimal.

If your only option is separate cages in the same room, the risk for spreading an airborne contagion, like SDA, is the highest. The risk for spreading something that requires physical contact is fairly minimal as long as you wash your hands and change clothes between rats. Because ectoparasites have been known to travel, the risk for sharing mites and lice goes up, but not by a lot.

It all depends on what resources you have available and how much risk you are willing to take (or can afford to take). Those who have been through an outbreak of SDA will tell you it's worth whatever you have to do to achieve the highest level of quarantine.

So to answer your question, I don't think you're wasting your time keeping the babies separate. Your risk level is not at the minimum, but it's still lower than if you had them in the same room. The only thing you could do to lower the risk in your particular situation is to wait a few hours between rats.

[LOTR_Ratties]

Wow, thank you SO much scout, for the very detailed answer!! I appreciate it so much.