I hate mites!!

Of course, the rat that I bought from a rattery (thinking "oh, it's a rattery, they must be healthy and extremely taken care of") started the mite infestation! Well, I had noticed there were tiny little scabs on her ears when I got her, but as I had never had a rat with mites before and was oblivious to it, I thought she had just been playing rough or something (dumb, I know).
Well, she was around my breeders and feeders for only a very short time (I know, I know, dumb again. QUARANTINE!). Well, the short time was enough and now I have bins and bins full of rats with mites. Awesome. And quite a few of those bins are mama rats with babies.
I have a few questions....
I've searched for mites in this section and have seen ivermectin mentioned a lot. But I've also seen that that kills babies. I don't want to do that. What is the best thing to use to treat the mamas and babies that won't kill the youngin's? How soon after treating them can I feed them off? And what is the best thing to use for the other rats (that don't have babies)? And how soon, If I need to, can I feed those off?
I am so over these stupid bugs and want them gone.

Ivermectin doesn't hurt babies at all, I've used it several times for mites including to pregnant moms and moms with babies and never lost a single baby.
The bad thing is it didn't work...:mad:
They just come back again and again.
The only thing that I know that does work is expensive, Revolution for cats.

You have to clean and sterilize everything and spray any wood down with bleach water and let dry.
Sorry you have to deal with them, they're a huge hassle, been there :(

I guess I'll just try the Ivermectin for now.
The babies are pretty much all at fuzzy (almost hopper) stage. And I have a few mink with merle....which is why I don't want the babies to die from any treatment (they're GORGEOUS!). Otherwise, I'd probably just put all the rats down that are on that rack. Or use the most potent and effective treatment.
The girl I got from the rattery no longer has mites. And she had them REEEALLY bad. Her ears got terrible and she got thin and incredibly weak. I just used baby oil and covered her ears, tail, feet, then a small coat on her fur. It made her look terrible for a little while, but she cleaned it all off and it definitely went through her (the poop is shiny. Haha). But she no longer has mites. I think I only had to put it on her twice and after that I never had any problems. And it's non-toxic. The only reason I don't want to use this again is because with how many rats I have that have mites now, it would take quite a while and my arms would probably be completely scratched up and bleeding.

Also, I've never heard of the Revolution stuff before...where can I find that?

Vets or ebay or google revolution for cats

http://ratguide.com/meds/anti-infect...revolution.php

Awesome, I found some!! I will be purchasing it today. Thank you so much!

Your welcome, I know how much work it is, but at least you'll be using something that works right off the bat, I went through treating with Ivermectin several times just to have it return over and over.
I've been clear for some time now, and hope to remain so :)

Spray the perimeter of the cage with permitherin.
I've been using it for years with no problem, and I never get mites on my rodents.
I use the gallon size bed bug and flea from the hardware store.

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Originally Posted by jasbus

Spray the perimeter of the cage with permitherin.
I've been using it for years with no problem, and I never get mites on my rodents.
I use the gallon size bed bug and flea from the hardware store.

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Thanks for adding that, I forget sometimes to say that and it does make a difference.
I have a large can of pyrethrin spray that I do monthly sprays of the carpet and surrounding areas which is partly why I haven't been re-infested lately.
Best safer than sorry when it comes to those nasty mites.
Generic head lice bedding spray works equally well :)

Thank you both.
And I have a few more questions (at least for now)....I have a couple rats that were supposed to be feeders for this week, but I noticed a couple of those nasty little pimple looking things on their ears. Those ones have not been treated with anything yet. Is it safe to give to my snakes? Or what if I freeze them and then thaw and feed? Would that be better? Or should I just wait until they've been treated and are completely better?

Good question, I haven't seen any problems feeding them, but I'm no mite expert either.

Yeah, I can't see it being a problem either as they're rat mites....but I just wanted to make sure.
But I'm kinda paranoid. And since you aren't sure, I think I'll just run to a shop and buy a bunch of feeders tomorrow =/
Ugh, stupid rat colony! Why do I have you if I can't use you?!

I generally don't sell or feed any rats that I recently treated directly. Give it a couple of weeks to get all the goo off...

If you spray the perimeter of the cage every week, you will never get mites. I never have to treat the animals themselves, haven't in forever. I spray once a month on the outside of my rodent building, and around the interior on top of the weekly tub spraying.
The best defense is to just kick them in the teeth to start with....;)

Also, when ever I add new animals from any other source other than my own, I mark the tub they were added to, and spray the living crap out of the rodent with reptile relief spray, and repeat in a couple of days. After a few weeks, I start using that tub for sale or feed...
The only time I ever get pests, are when I bring them in from somewhere else.

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Originally Posted by jasbus

I generally don't sell or feed any rats that I recently treated directly. Give it a couple of weeks to get all the goo off...

If you spray the perimeter of the cage every week, you will never get mites. I never have to treat the animals themselves, haven't in forever. I spray once a month on the outside of my rodent building, and around the interior on top of the weekly tub spraying.
The best defense is to just kick them in the teeth to start with....;)

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Can you provide links to online stores and what products you use? (:

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Originally Posted by jasbus

I generally don't sell or feed any rats that I recently treated directly. Give it a couple of weeks to get all the goo off...

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Yeah for sure, I was thinking she meant to feed untreated rats which I don't think is an issue.

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Originally Posted by starstrukk

Can you provide links to online stores and what products you use? (:

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I buy the permiterin local, home depot, ace, etc...
It's made by Hot Shot, called Bed bug and Flea Spray, come in aresol or spray, I buy the gallon size and use it in a pressurized sprayer... I get funny looks when I buy it, cause I usually buy them out. You know they're thinking I must have the worst bed bug case in history...
As for the Reptile Relief, I buy it from my wholesaler by the gallon also. You can get it at any pet store, made by Natural Chemistry. Used to be called DeFlea Reptile Spray...

Just to be clear.... You CANNOT use the permiterin on the animals, only cages... The Reptile Relief can be applied to the animal.

I've tried all the Revolution, Ivermectin(pour on and ingestible), spot treatments, diotamaceous earth, you name it... They only work on the one animal you're treating or are too messy. And, in my opinion, not very well. If you are raising on a large scale, it's just not cost effective to have to treat every single animal and keep track of when you gave what to which animal...
Even on the scale that I raise, I only use about two gallons of Hot Shot per month, alot cheaper then Ivermectin, and it works way better.