Hairless ASF's?

Can't say I've heard that ivermectin gets rid of it. It may help the symptoms, but it won't kill the mites.

I'd still get a skin scraping and see what is causing it. May be fungal, may be bacterial, or parasitic.. Ya never know.

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Originally Posted by SatanicIntention

Can't say I've heard that ivermectin gets rid of it. It may help the symptoms, but it won't kill the mites.

I'd still get a skin scraping and see what is causing it. May be fungal, may be bacterial, or parasitic.. Ya never know.

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What makes you think it is not genetic? I don't think it is mites, fungal, bacterial, or parasitic at all. The reason I say this is that it does not appear to be contageous! the ones that had it, had it, and the ones that didn't, didn't.... even though they were housed together.

Also, to my knowledge this condition only occurs in albino's. I am no veterinarian. I am only basing my theories on my observations and common sense. If it were mites, fungal, bacterial, or parasitic, isn't it to safe to say that at least one of the "normal" ASF's housed together with the "reds" would likely start to show symptoms?

I produced 4 groups of babies that contained reds from the same parents before I fed off all the red related ASF's. those babies once weined were put in with normal babies from completely different parents. I never had any of the normal babies show any simptoms of the reds.

Has anyone ever experienced this condition with a non albino? If so, can you post a pic of it?

Maybe it is allergies?

mike

Demodectic mange isn't contagious and only shows up in animals with weak immune systems(ie puppies and young animals). So no, the adults won't get it because they are immune to the mites.

The albinos likely just have poor immune systems and are the only ones with the problem.

Demodex is also genetic. It follows lines of weak immune systems. Breed an animal that had it as a baby, and you'll end up with most of the litter infected.

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Originally Posted by SatanicIntention

Demodectic mange isn't contagious and only shows up in animals with weak immune systems(ie puppies and young animals). So no, the adults won't get it because they are immune to the mites.

The albinos likely just have poor immune systems and are the only ones with the problem.

Demodex is also genetic. It follows lines of weak immune systems. Breed an animal that had it as a baby, and you'll end up with most of the litter infected.

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Thank you for that explanation! :gj:

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Originally Posted by SatanicIntention

Can't say I've heard that ivermectin gets rid of it. It may help the symptoms, but it won't kill the mites.

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Ivermectin kills demodectic mange when given the correct dosage. Not sure what I'm going to do with these guys yet.

Really? Sorry, I just have to ask since I have two rats from bad lines that have demodex. If I can just use injectable ivermectin, that will work great.

Does your vet have a dosage? My vet has been out and I haven't been able to ask her about anything.

If ivermectin works, why not find a TSC that sells the injectable and just put it on your ASF's skin? Injectable ivermectin works well when put behind the ears and orally is fine too.

We sell the injectible Ivomec and prescribe it for a lot of dogs that the dip did not work on, or the owners did not want to dip. Just don't use it on Collie breeds. The dosage for dogs is like a weaning dosage, and it is an oral SID dose for something like a month straight, then again if skin scrapes are still positive. The exotics doctor at my vet is a new graduate so I'm not sure how much help she will be exactly, but I can definitely look in the exotics formulary to see if anything is mentioned, and I may take them up to my regular exotics vet for the heck of it, so see if anything horrible is really going on with these guys.

http://memphisrats.com/Images/hairless.JPG
The hairless is not specific to only amber ASFs. I have 12 breeding sets, and 1 of the 12 will occassionally produce a mix of almost hairless, thin fur, or normals. I plan to feed the breeding set off and starting over, but I'm setting aside this male and a couple females like this one to observe their offspring.

~Nate

I've tried breeding for it, with no luck. It seems to just be a flaw that pops up from time to time, though I am un-sure if it is genetic, or environmental.