I had a pretty bad mite infestation a while ago. Enough of one that I CO2ed my entire rat colony (about 10 or more rats). I kept one because my husband had named her. She's not handled at all and freaks out if you go anywhere near her. She will never be bred, so that leaves us with no rats for breeding.

The mites are almost gone. It has gone from me getting bitten every day, in several places, to never getting bitten and I've only seen one mite in several weeks. The one mite lets me know they are still there, but I no longer see them cruising along the rim of the tanks or crawling all over the water bottles. I treated the one rat with flea spray but other than that she has not been treated with anything else. I did get a tube of ivermectin meant for horses and was told to give her some in the amount the equivalent of a grain of rice.

I'm pretty certain these are rat mites as they only showed up when I got a new rat from a pet store and my mice seem unaffected. I check their cages and them on a daily basis for signs of mites, but so far, nothing.

I have several snakes that eat small rats. I'd like to breed my own but I'm afraid of having the mites take over again. I would be starting over with new, healthy stock, but I'm still afraid of the mites. We might be moving soon to a new apartment with hardwood floors. I plan on starting over with brand new tubs and brand new animals, but some of my supplies will have to come with me, including two mouse tubs that were exposed to the mites and a small 2-tub rat rack that was also exposed to the mites (and where the rat that introduced the mites first lived.)

The last mite I saw was only a few days ago. What steps can I take to ensure I have no more mites. Bombing the room is not an option as I also house several other animals in there that would be hard to move. If I treat the one rat with ivermectin and wash/bleach all of the tanks, tubs, and water bottles, would it be safe to start over with new stock or should I throw everything away and start over with brand new tubs (including throwing out the 2-tub rack)?