I hate mites!!

[snakesRkewl]

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

[CLSpider]

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?!

[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....

[jasbus]

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.

[starstrukk]

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....

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

[snakesRkewl]

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...

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

[jasbus]

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

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.