Rat has a blood nose

Hi, I'm on my phone and just woken up so can't remember exactly what its called or look it up but I know that's not blood. I used to have 2 rats that had this. I'll pop back on later and try and find an article for you (if somebody doesn't beat me to it)

Well I am awake and on my computer now so here goes

It's not blood, it's actually called porphyrin, it's discharge from the eyes and nose. You might also see it around their cage or in other places on the fur as they will clean themselves with their paws and can spread it around.
It is usually caused by stress, but I remember reading somewhere that it can be to do with poor ventilation or inappropriate housing (this was the cause of mine), it can also be caused by a number of other things.

Here is a photo of the rats I had a few years ago. Please excuse the photo quality and how dreadful they look, they were Rex rats and very elderly - 6 years!



Both rats had this problem though you can see it better in the one on the right of the photo as he is completely white. Around his eyes and nose he was pretty much bald from rubbing at them, and you can see the porphyrin. You can also see a few splatters on the shelf they are sleeping on.

I rescued/adopted them when they were 6 years old from the petting farm I worked at - they were no longer able to be on display because visitors were complaining about how awful they looked so I gave them a retirement home.
I believe their problems were caused because they had been kept in a glass tank which wasn't well ventilated enough and they ended up with a respiratory infection. As you can see in the photo I kept them in a wire cage which had much better ventilation. This photo was taken not long after I took them home but after a few weeks it had mostly cleared up on it's own.
It might also have been because they were stressed about their previous home (very busy with lots of people looking at them all day) which was fine when they were younger but could have been stressful as they got older. They had a very quiet life with me and were very lazy (again see photo ) so it could have been the change there that helped too - who knows?

Here are some articles for you to read:

www.sandyscrittercity.com/bloodynoseandeyes.htm
ratguide.com/health/eyes/porphyrin_secretions_red_tears.php

Have you changed anything in their environment (cage, bedding etc) or has anything else changed recently which could have brought this on?

I can't really offer too much advice on what to do as I am no rat expert, I only owned them for around 6 months before they both died and theirs cleared up on it's own. It might be worth making a trip to the vet if it goes on and you can't work out the cause of it on your own or if he starts to look otherwise unwell and you are worried.

If you have already had them around 4 months and it has only just come on then I doubt it would be to do with housing at the pet shop as it would have been apparent at the time.

I would be looking into other possible causes, and perhaps a trip to the vet might be necessary.

I never gave mine chocolate as I didn't know you could and I would have assumed it isn't good for them.

However I've just looked it up and apparently they can have it - you learn something new every day!

Only in very small amounts and it should be a good quality dark chocolate. Apparently it can help to relieve symptoms of respiratory infection.