Worry of Lice...Am I just being silly?

[bokuza]

Lice are species specific but despite knowing that I am a little worried about infecting my baby ASF colony with two rats infected with lice being treated. I need to move the two tanks onto one counter top as I have a carpet steamer coming to do the room. (Feeder rabbits got out...EEEWWW)

Am I just being silly? Will everyone be ok?

[Egapal]

Lice are species specific but despite knowing that I am a little worried about infecting my baby ASF colony with two rats infected with lice being treated. I need to move the two tanks onto one counter top as I have a carpet steamer coming to do the room. (Feeder rabbits got out...EEEWWW)

Am I just being silly? Will everyone be ok?

Well ASF is short for African Soft Furred RAT so I would be concerned. I would believe that a rat parasite would do just fine on an ASF.

[bokuza]

Well ASF is short for African Soft Furred RAT so I would be concerned. I would believe that a rat parasite would do just fine on an ASF.

True but aren't they a different species? They aren't really true rats or true mice...Still a little lost on that.

[Egapal]

True but aren't they a different species? They aren't really true rats or true mice...Still a little lost on that.

They are not only a different species but a different genus. ASF's are Praomys where as mice are Mus and rats are Rattus. That being said I would be worried about the lice until proven otherwise.

[bokuza]

They are not only a different species but a different genus. ASF's are Praomys where as mice are Mus and rats are Rattus. That being said I would be worried about the lice until proven otherwise.

Ah ok. Thanks for clearing that up for me. I guess Ill figure something out! How would I treat the ASFs if they were infected?

[Egapal]

Ah ok. Thanks for clearing that up for me. I guess Ill figure something out! How would I treat the ASFs if they were infected?

Ok a little more detail. If your Rats have lice your ASF's should be safe. But mites are not quite as picky as lice so be sure you have lice and not mites. You should be able to treat the ASF's the same way you are treating the Rats, the problem is that any treatment is most likely going to take them off the menu for your snakes. Good luck.

[bokuza]

Ok a little more detail. If your Rats have lice your ASF's should be safe. But mites are not quite as picky as lice so be sure you have lice and not mites. You should be able to treat the ASF's the same way you are treating the Rats, the problem is that any treatment is most likely going to take them off the menu for your snakes. Good luck.

I don't quite understand as you contradicted your previous post. Yes, it is indeed lice. Which is it, they should be fine or won't be? I understand you can only guess based on the information you have available but you flip flopped.

[snakesRkewl]

Lice as in head lice?

Rats and asf's can share rodent mites, but lice?

[bokuza]

Lice as in head lice?

Rats and asf's can share rodent mites, but lice?

Yes like head lice. Yeah, it's why I'm worried about the lice. However mites aren't species specific where lice is said to be in theory. With ASFs I have no idea if it's possible to contaminate lice.

[Egapal]

I don't quite understand as you contradicted your previous post. Yes, it is indeed lice. Which is it, they should be fine or won't be? I understand you can only guess based on the information you have available but you flip flopped.

Not so much a flip flop as a rethinking of my original post. I was not giving you enough credit in my first post and I apologize for that. Assuming you are sure that you are dealing with lice I believe your ASF's should be fine. My original post was just generic good advice for most people. Most people can't tell the difference between lice and mites and fleas for that matter. For your average person if they have one infected animal they should be worried about their others. Since it sounds like you know what you are talking about and since I now see the error of assuming you didn't I am giving my flip flopped comment. As usual all of my comments are offered with no guarantees and with only devote hobbyist credentials.