Rat Lice?

[Jimi_Reptile]

What do you guys do when your breeding colony gets lice?

[Foschi Exotic Serpents]

It's my understanding that rats almost always have it but healthy, active rats who clean their body's regularly will never have a noticeable outbreak.

In my colonies there is only one breeding pair that I've ever noticed rodent mites on. They never seem to be on any others. I've checked them very well. Those 2 are the oldest and rather lazy. I've done some research on it myself and it seems the rat mites/lice will not stay on healthy, active rats.

As for treatment, I'm not sure if anything is safe for them. One rat breeder did tell me once that if the rats are kept on cedar for one week (not long enough to cause health issues for the rats) then the bugs will disappear. But I'm not sure I trust this method of treatment since cedar is known to dangerous. Especially reptiles.

[jasbus]

permitherin.
Hot shot bed bug/flea spray, gallon costs $12-14. Spray all around the cage(s) and the inside perimeter of the cage every week when you clean for a month or more to kill them off, then spray once a month to keep them away.
And, no, not all rats have them, healthy or not. Get rid of them quick, or they will take over.

For the rats themselves, use Natural Chemistry Reptile Relief spray, but don't feed any to your snakes for at least a week to allow them time to get it off...

[snakeman13]

Get some ivermectin from a feed store, put it in the water.
It will kill all parisites internaly and externaly.

[Foschi Exotic Serpents]

Ivermectin can cause paralysis and death if administered wrong which is why I didn't mention it. Telling someone to put liquid ivermectin in the water may likely cause them to kill all their rats..

A much easier way if you want to use this method is to simply go to the pet store and buy a bird mite disc. It's a small disc that hangs on a birds cage. If you peel the paper off the front and hang it near, not in, the rats enclosure, it should get rid of any mites.

It is nearly impossible to keep a rat population free of rat mites 100% of the time due to bedding. They will often get them again.

The reason people say their rats don't have mites is because healthy rats with a string immune system will show no symptoms. Even a skin scrape at the vet will often show a false negative. A weakened immune system or allergy is usually the only way you will ever know if your rat has fur mites.

So try the mite disc option and read this page for more information.

http://www.swanimalhospital.net/html...s/ratinfo.html

[Foschi Exotic Serpents]

I guess what we should asking is can you physically see bugs? Because the mites I'm talking about can not be seen. They are microscopic and only cause skin problems on older or immune compromised rats.

If what you have is something different and you can actually see them (lice) then try to figure out where they are coming from. Bedding? Other rats brought in from pet stores? Because visible bugs on a rat is not nearly as common and unlike rat fur mites, may be passed on to other mammals you have.

I've never delt with visible bugs on my rodents so I honestly have no other advice for that.

[snakeman13]

Get some ivermectin from a feed store, put it in the water.
It will kill all parisites internaly and externaly.

I should of added that the ratio is 1 Tablespoon to 5 Gallons of water

[Kristian]

These are definitely lice. They are visible to the naked eye. I put one under a microscope and positively identified it. These are NOT mites.

Lice are species specific. They do not transfer from species to species. Human lice will not transfer to a dog, rat lice will not transfer to a mouse or a squirrel or dog or cat or anything but another rat.

So, for lice specific treatment, would permitherin be advised? I have quite a bit of experience with ivermectin treatment for larger animals, but not on rats. I would be comfortable administering it with the guidance of experienced supervision.

We have only found this on one of our rats. He happens to have an RI at the moment. The problem is that there are about 100 more that have been either in direct contact or in the immediate vicinity of this particular rat.

I am OP's dad, by the way.

[jasbus]

Personally, I would never use Ivermectin on rodents. But, if you do, make sure you get the sheep ivermectin, not cattle, it's way too strong.

You say you positively idetified them as lice. In my experience, mites are like fleas, you're gonna get them eventually if you keep large numbers of rodents. I breed, not just for my reptiles, for a living. It's what I do. I own a pet store, and breed animals.
I tried the Ivermectin a couple of years ago, and just found it to be too strong for rodents, much less feeding them to reptiles too. I've literally tried everything. Natural treatments, soaps, they only thing I've found that works is permiterin. It works every time, and so far, I haven't had any mites since I started using it. That was well over a year ago. Hoping they don't grow immune to it... I use it every week when cleaing my cages. I spray the perimeter of the tub.
Permiterin is the pesticide thats in PAM.

[tonkatoyman]

I should of added that the ratio is 1 Tablespoon to 5 Gallons of water

If you use this with pregnant females they can abort the babies.