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?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by x10thkid

Pam: the non stick food spray?

---

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.

Quote:

---

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.

---

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?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Jay_Bunny

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

---

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:

---

Originally Posted by Jay_Bunny

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

---

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.