Cupcake - Female - 1 week, 6 days old(runt of [Petco's fault!] accidental litter) Died of starvation/dehydration, I think.

Pepsi-Cola - 4 months, 27 days old(Cupcakes sister) Died from lack of vet treatment(paretns fault)due to respiratory infection that caused inner ear infection that caused possible stroke which caused head tilt which caused broken leg.  She was kindly eauthanised by my dear friend Judy Griffith.

and right now I have two females who are super healthy:  Sweetie - 3+ years old, and Candie(mom of accidental litter) - 2+ years old

Rats really range in life span according to how well they were taken care of when sick and healthy, and also based on genetics.  I expect Sweetie and Candie to both live past 4 years in age.

Zippy - F, 31 Months, Pet Store, Mammary Tumor, Died of Old Age
(Zippy is the mother of the following rats. They are all sisters/brothers)

Sprite - M, 25 Months, Accidental Litter/Pet Store, Congestive Heart Failure
Pandora - F, 26 Months, Accidental Litter/Pet Store, Lipoma on neck, Death cause old age? (Lipoma did not affect her and she had no other health problems known)
Speedy - F, 27 Months, Accidental Litter/Pet Store, Cause - old age? No symptoms to indicate otherwise.
Fluffy - F, 28 Months, Accidental Litter/Pet Store, Cause - Old Age, may have had underlying heart condition

Fred- M- Large Dumbo White feeder, not albino, neutered. 3 years and one month. I had him put down due to overwhleming paralysis after a stroke.
Isa- F- Black hooded, not dumbo- 2 years 3 months. Also put down after suffering a stroke. 1 and 1/2 years into her life she had ovarian cancer (was spayed to cure cancer) and lymphatic cysts, the cysts never returned after treatment.
Hattie- F- Peach hooded dumbo- 1 and 1/2 years. Died suddenly (within 10 minutes of showing signs of illness). Suspected poisoning from something in her enviroment. Just three weeks earlier I lost a chinchilla that was only 6months though he was ill for several days prior to death. Most likely from ingesting a chemical our landlord used as pesticide in the apartment without our consent (the once a month application that is sprayed on the baseboards). We moved, needless to say.

I have a really obese (2lbs) Norwegian black rat mix that is 1 and 1/2 and kickin' well. And another that is 2+ that I got from the flea market (because she escaped a big bin of rats  and climbed up my leg as I passed by). She is a beautiful silver fawn. And then there's Lulu, my dwarf who is 1 year and in perfect shape and driving me crazy!

Joshu- 8 months, unoperable mass in chest

vanilla baby(f)-albino with the cutest ears - choked on a piece or cereal(shreded wheat)
3 months

 :'(Ami(F)-brown adn white hooded- repiratory complications-2 years 7 months

Darwin. Approximately 24mos.  Passed at home 5/16/07. I got back from work and found him in his igloo.  He was curled up and looked at peace. Cause probably heart/respiratory failure. He hadn't been well the last 2 weeks. On antibiotics. He also had an eye ucleration which seemed to be doing well. He had a very good life . I was lucky to have him for just over a year. My rats are all rescues. RIP good little friend.

Toby- 3 years cause of death unknown
Jasper- 3 years, tumor

Bonnie, Female, Rescue, Jul '05 - Feb. '06 - approx. 11 mos. - Severe infection from a mouth abscess.  Died in my hands.
Ruki, Male, Breeder, Jan. 26, '05 - July 18, '06 - 18 mos. - Heat Stroke & overweightness.
Milo, Male, Rescue, Oct. '05 - Feb. 14, '07 - approx. 19 mos. - Chronic myco.
Baxil, Male, Breeder, Jan. 24, '05 - June 1, '07 - 28 mos. - Was PTS after severe stroke which took his entire ability to move.
Zumi, Male, Breeder, Jan. 22, '05 - June 27, '07 - 29 mos. - Hind leg degeneration & depression after Baxil passed.

Hm, I haven't submitted any to this.  May as well do it now.

Blaze (black capped female feeder rat) - 17 months (chronic myco)
Luna (beige hooded female pet store rat) - 24 months (tumor)
Chinchilla (agouti hooded female pet store rat) - 40 months ('old age'?)
Malt (siamese male rescue) - 16 months (chronic myco)
ANR Merry (black variegated from breeder) - 22 months (chronic myco)
ANR Pippin (black capped from breeder) - 34 months (huge tumor)
Nim (PEW rescue) - 27 months (chronic myco)
Tiri (PEW rescue) - 30 months (hind leg degeneration/'old age')
Cinder <3 (mink rescue) - 37 months (pituitary tumor)

That's all of them, except my first, Comet....but I don't know how old she was when she died as she was an adult when we got her from a pet store and she only lived 5 days in my care before passing from horrible myco.

Frank DOB 7/3/05 Passed 7/19/07 Aged 2 yrs 16 days. Passed a few hours after surgery to remove a superficial tumor. Was fine in the afternoon. When about to bring him to me he had respiratory distress. Unknown if respiratory disease, choking, or possible terminal cancer, reaction to anesthsia. He passed very very quickly. Within 7 minutes he was gone. RIP little friend

Ebenezer (M) Aprox. 5 weeks - Older rat attacked him fatally.
Julian (M) Aprox. 8 Months - Myco
Blizzard (M) Aprox. 1 year 2 Months - Pnemonia/Myco
Harold (M) Aprox. 8 Months - Not sure, went the same time as Blizzard but Blizzard was sick for a week and didn't respond well to medicine, Harold was found dead hours after seeming just fine. We did bring a new rat home and only did a week worth of quarantine (lazy mistakes).



Currently; (all rats almost 2 weeks into a baytril/tetracycline treatment, and revolution)
Igor (M) Aprox. 1 year 5 months - Depressed/Working on Skin Problems (he lost his cagemate recently, but new ones are on the way soon)
Sydney (M) Aprox. 7 months - Happy/Healthy
Sylvester (M) Aprox. 7 months - Happy/Sneezy but being treated
Stanley (M) Aprox. 3 months - Happy/Healthy

MY GOD!!! Are they meant to die of such horrible things , Like cancer & Pneumonia!!!! Is there anything we can do to minimise this??? Mine are only 4 months old. I cant imagine what I'll do if they die so young...

Burke 23 months (cause unknown but vet believes he had some sort of illness he was possibly born with) PTS
Lloyd 31 months (went peacefully in his sleep)
Hank ~6 months (pet sitter gone wrong - PTS due to evisceration injury)