Mite Infestation

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Originally Posted by Jay_Bunny

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

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do not spray the animal directly with pam. just spray the enclosure down. no need to sprary the bedding as i hop you change it regularly

I change the bedding on a weekly basis. I looked it up and what the rats have are tropical rat mites. (these bite people too, but do not live on people) They look like mini ticks and crawl around on the cage but only crawl on the rat to bite them. It said the best treatment is ivermectin, so I'm going to see how much that costs for the rats I plan to keep. Of course I might just do PAM or some flea and tick treatment.

Thanks everyone for all your help! :D

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Jay_Bunny

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

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NEVER spray animals, use PAM as directed on the can, spray the enclosure like you would your snake enclosure wait about 30 minutes before placing your rats back.

I'm in the middle of putting the flea and tick spray on everyone. My sister put it on her rats about a week ago and she says she can't find any mites. So we will see how this works on mine as mine are far more infested. We are trying to figure out where all these mites came from and as far as we can tell, the only time both of us got a rat from the same place, was when we got our blue girls. Our two blue girls had the mites the worst. She CO2ed her blue female and my blue girl is looking horrible (covered in mites) and the male she was in with a few weeks ago is looking terrible too. All my other rats look healthy and normal. I'm treating everyone and everything. I don't think my blue girl is going to make it and I might CO2 them both (blue girl and the beige male she was in with).

I'm very close to just CO2ing everyone and treating all the enclosures and carpet and starting over. I know I've been advised to do this but I can't help but want to give the girls I've been raising as breeders a chance.

Diatomaceous earth can be found at most nursery supply stores. Sprinkling it into the rat's fur and into the bedding once a week is (dirt, pardon the pun) cheap, and kills all chitinous insects by piercing their exoskeleton, then they dry out and die.

It works VERY well, and isn't a toxic chemical.

Jay_Bunny, DO NOT USE FLEA AND TICK SPRAY! It is TOXIC! It can create a burning sensation on a rats skin and if they lick to much they'll croak on you.

Mites are not species specific. Read this: http://www.rmca.org/Articles/bugs.htm

Diatomaceous Earth FOOD GRADE can be used for mites and other parasites. Throw some on the rats, rub it in on both their fur and bedding. I put it on the bedding to prevent outer parasites too. Like Chully said, it can be found at Feed Stores or plant stores. Frequent cleaning will still be a must however it will cut down the number of mites.

Ivermectin (horse gel at 1.28% I believe) can be given orally as a grain of uncooked rice. It kills outside parasites very well. For small rats use it once to two times a week (preferable once on Monday and once on Friday) and for larger males and female who aren't carrying it can be done 3 times a week. Make sure the dose they get is not a big glob every time, it will kill them. Not doubt about that, I've done it before on accident. I like to the hold the rat and press their mouth against the barely cranked out gel. It'll leave litter smears and they will eat it off. You can buy an apple flavored one that they like. :) A tube can be found at any Feed Store for about $5.00-$9.00.

Revolution for cats is...amazing when it comes to mites. A single drop will nuke mites and kill them off in about 5 hrs. AMAZING. However it's prescription (unless ordered through CanadaVet) and cost about $20.

Oh, don't dust babies with diatomaceous earth; it can plug up tiny nasal passages and cause respiratory problems in the little ones. Just the bedding around the outside, don't hit a nest of pinkies directly until they're hoppers or larger.