I just had fecals run on my rat and mouse colonies ( I combined stool from several tubs so the sample would be representative of the colony on not just one animal~ thanks for that tip Connie) and they both came out “negative” (no parasites).
I was actually more worried about this than you would think~ I believed my colonies were clean~ but I just wanted to be sure. Once I took in the samples I began imagining all these horrible scenarios with me trying to medicate a couple hundred rats one at a time! LOL! I’ve been building these colonies for a couple years now~ with new breeding stock in here and there~ I had trouble with myco last summer and lost several rats. I’ve also lost several breeders in the last couple months. Most of those were getting old~ and I suspect they were just worn out and passed away, but I have lost a few younger animals I was bringing up as future breeders~ so I was worried maybe there was a parasite and I was unaware of it.
Now that I have the results though~ you would not believe how nice it feels to KNOW they are clean~ and it only cost me $33.00 to find out for sure! I’m going to make a policy to have fecals run at least once a year (maybe every 6 months). The peace of mind and confidence that $33.00 buys is so worth it!
I was actually more worried about this than you would think~ I believed my colonies were clean~ but I just wanted to be sure. Once I took in the samples I began imagining all these horrible scenarios with me trying to medicate a couple hundred rats one at a time! LOL! I’ve been building these colonies for a couple years now~ with new breeding stock in here and there~ I had trouble with myco last summer and lost several rats. I’ve also lost several breeders in the last couple months. Most of those were getting old~ and I suspect they were just worn out and passed away, but I have lost a few younger animals I was bringing up as future breeders~ so I was worried maybe there was a parasite and I was unaware of it.
Now that I have the results though~ you would not believe how nice it feels to KNOW they are clean~ and it only cost me $33.00 to find out for sure! I’m going to make a policy to have fecals run at least once a year (maybe every 6 months). The peace of mind and confidence that $33.00 buys is so worth it!