Mite Infestation

My sister and I are both having issues with mites. If I have any dead rodents (such as dead offspring) or in the case of an old male that died a few months back, I see crawling mites all over the bodies and bedding. I read some info online about rat fur mites. The site says that rat fur mites are nearly impossible to find on a live rat but if a rat dies, the body cools and the mites crawl to the ends of the fur to seek a warm live rat.

Tonight we were cleaning my sister's rat cages and found mites all over the cages and crawling in the bedding. We checked the rats over and found no mites, though on one rat we did find a scab or two, which may be from scratching.

It said Frontline flea and tick spray, applied with a q-tip would rid the rats themselves of the mites but you would also have to treat the area. Other than bombing the area and tanks, is there anyway to get rid of these rats once and for all. We are planning on getting rid of all of our rats except for 2-3 of hers and 2 of mine as pets. The rest will be C02ed and frozen. So we can completely disinfect and treat every enclosure. Do you think these mites are coming from a pet store? We both got rats from the same stores?

I suppose I'm just looking for advice for mites because when I do get new rats, I do not want to run the risk of my new rats getting mites and I really don't want to deal with the mites again.

I treat any new rats I intend to put in my colony with a solution of "RID" head lice shampoo and water. It will kill the mites. You just can't use them as feeder for awhile.

Just delt with this myself and spent a week researching it, so heres what you do.

Basicly they are mange mites, nasty little buggers but theres hope. Now there are a few diffrent ways you can fight this. One of them involes going to the feed store and doseing your rats with a product called ivomec. Its a paste used for worming horses. You give your rats a rice grain size dose on days 1,7 and 15. It fights the mites from the inside out. There are however a few drawbacks to this method #1 is ivermectin, the active ingedient in ivomec, stays in your rats for 30 days after the last dose so they are no good for feeders until then. #2 is ivermectin has been shown to be passed from mother to offspring in milk and it kills your pinks. So there no good for breeders either. #3 is it is very easy to overdose your rats with ivomec.

Ivomec is better but harder to get right and your production shuts down.

Fortunately there is an easier way.

Go to any of the big box stores or your pet store and pick up a flea and tick spray for use on Cats and Kittens what your looking for as the ingredient is Permethrin between.05 and .06 % as long as its good for cats you are good to go. Dog flea and tick spray will kill them. Mange mites have a 21 day life cycle so you need to treat for 3 weeks. Spray down rat and bedding on day 1,7, and 15. Just be sure to rinse any rat that has been sprayed or been kept on sprayed bedding before you use it as a feeder. Using this method feeding and feeder production can go on as usual without having to call a lhalt to the whole thing.

Now then all that being said. I am on week two of trying the spray method I have used sprayed and rinsed rats as feeders with no ill effects. I got the method from a local person who breeds rodents for feeders on a large scale. The ivomec method I got of various places on the internet, mostly from pet rat sites who use it because they dont have the issue of having to feed off a medicated rat.

If you have PAM it works very well with rat mites as well, I use it preventively once a year and never had any problem.

Ditto, I use PAM on there bedding and have not had a problem. Knock on Wood! I put PAM on everything! I hate all those lil bugs!

Pam: the non stick food spray?

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Originally Posted by x10thkid

Pam: the non stick food spray?

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No. It is short for Prevent-a-mite. Sold by several reptile suppliers for mites on snakes.

Thanks everyone! I can't stand the little bugs either. Thing is, do these mites bite people? Every time I go into the room to clean or feed, I get little bites on my legs and arms. These bites itch for days. The last time I had rat mites I got these bites too. I've heard rat mites are species specific but if they are biting me, then I'm worried about my ferrets and cats.

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Originally Posted by Deborah

If you have PAM it works very well with rat mites as well, I use it preventively once a year and never had any problem.

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It's the best stuff and routinely spray the rats and snakes cages with it...

With the PAM, should I spray the cage/bedding and the rats, or just the cage/bedding?