If you're desperate to keep the babies, and you have time, there is another option. You can bathe your nursing/pregnant rats with Dawn dish soap. You wet them down, dump Dawn on them, COVERING every part that you can, like you would with flea shampoo, let the Dawn on for a few minutes (five minutes I believe it is) and then you rinse, pulling anything off that you might find that shouldn't be there. The babies can either be picked clean, or if they're older, they can be put through the same treatment. Clean their tubs in the same way as the others. I've used this method on young puppies and rats/mice and their babies. It honestly does work if done properly, and you only have to worry about keeping their body temperature up if they're young. It IS time consuming, but, if the rats are more important than time, then go for it. This method simply suffocates the pests.
You've done this with ASF's? You're a tough woman! I would never try to wash an ASF LOL
10-04-2008, 10:00 AM
PigsnPythons
Re: Mites?!!!HELP!
Just an update...It's been a week and a half and I haven't seen any more mites. The nursing mother's pups are all still alive. Also, another rat gave birth after recieving the treatment and they are also all still alive.
10-13-2008, 12:02 PM
whytepizza
Re: Mites?!!!HELP!
Quote:
Originally Posted by PigsnPythons
Just an update...It's been a week and a half and I haven't seen any more mites. The nursing mother's pups are all still alive. Also, another rat gave birth after recieving the treatment and they are also all still alive.
That's awesome! One thing you may want to do just as a preventative...
I had a bunch of rats and i used feline pine bedding which breaks down. Apparently it contains cultures of lice in it. Well, i had a preggo rat and she gave birth come to find out all the babies had lice within a few days. Not bad, just annoying. So when they were old enough i treated them all and now i use yesterday's news. To prevent that from happeneing again i bought those 8 in 1 bird protectors. Works wonders. I lay it on top of their cage (i have a metal corrugated top and a breathable magnetic lid). Not only does it prevent but in case any more issues arise it usually (not always) kills anything that will hurt them.
