Hair Loss and Weanlings iching...

[jallenfl]

The OP stated in the original thread that balding ASFs are already getting fed off so as not to introduce them into the gene pool.

Yeah I have been feeding all of them off. Dont want that blood line dancing with the ladies in the future, if you will...

Now like I said I am OCD and will be conducting a study to see where and how this happened. I have the original breeders that produced the offspring but they have since been seperated from males...

I have the original sunseeds and vitarat mix remaining and will be testing to see if either of those are what gave me the problems...

Thanks to all that have commented...J

[GoBoilers]

Just a quick note about a discovery I made with a few of my weanlings this afternoon!

I, too, started noticing hair loss and itchiness in my weanlings about a week ago...the adults were perfect, though! I am also a stickler about cleanliness...I only have 3 lab-style cages set up with the parents in one and the weanlings/grow-outs in the other 2 separated by sex. I disinfect their cages weekly and use pine pellets for bedding and Mazuri lab block as a diet. I began to worry about microscopic mites that take advantage of immature immune systems as it was only the babies that were affected (ie. Demodex). I took a few of the kids to the clinic with me this afternoon and did a quick skin scraping...sure enough, found mites but of the sarcoptic variety! Fortunately, they are highly host-specific so can't infect humans or other animals...but they do make the babies miserable so I opted to euthanize everyone but the parents and went ahead and treated mom and dad.

Anyhoo, thought I'd throw this out there if you want to do a quick rule out of mites...like I said, I would never had known as they didn't affect the parents like they did the babies and the babies only showed a little hair loss and itchiness (no scale, dandruff, etc.).

Hope this helps!

[llovelace]

Just a quick note about a discovery I made with a few of my weanlings this afternoon!

I, too, started noticing hair loss and itchiness in my weanlings about a week ago...the adults were perfect, though! I am also a stickler about cleanliness...I only have 3 lab-style cages set up with the parents in one and the weanlings/grow-outs in the other 2 separated by sex. I disinfect their cages weekly and use pine pellets for bedding and Mazuri lab block as a diet. I began to worry about microscopic mites that take advantage of immature immune systems as it was only the babies that were affected (ie. Demodex). I took a few of the kids to the clinic with me this afternoon and did a quick skin scraping...sure enough, found mites but of the sarcoptic variety! Fortunately, they are highly host-specific so can't infect humans or other animals...but they do make the babies miserable so I opted to euthanize everyone but the parents and went ahead and treated mom and dad.

Anyhoo, thought I'd throw this out there if you want to do a quick rule out of mites...like I said, I would never had known as they didn't affect the parents like they did the babies and the babies only showed a little hair loss and itchiness (no scale, dandruff, etc.).

Hope this helps!

What did you treat the adults with?

[GoBoilers]

Actually treated the adults with the feline flea product Revolution...just put one drop on each rat and repeat in 1 month. Selamectin (active ingredient in Revolution) is in the same family as Ivermectin (the gold standard, apparently, for mite treatment). If you have cats, you should be able to pick up Revolution at your vet clinic! I even put a small drop on the 1 week old pups...I didn't have the heart to euthanize them and just hoped that the Revolution wouldn't kill them...so far, so good! Obviously, none of these guys will be fed off for months, so I'm not too concerned about the snakes...they've now got a plentiful supply of f/t.

[UltimatePythons]

I had an issue with mine losing hair but it was due to heat in the garage once I moved them to an A/C building the hair loss thing went away. Probably not the same reason as yours but thought I would mention it.

[llovelace]

Just an update, I tried the codliver oil on graham crackers for a couple of days before I left for the mountains, came home and all the little ones are fine & full of fur in a week. . At least I know mine isn't a mite problem

[GoBoilers]

Just an update, I tried the codliver oil on graham crackers for a couple of days before I left for the mountains, came home and all the little ones are fine & full of fur in a week. . At least I know mine isn't a mite problem

Glad to hear they've "furred up!" Stay on the look-out, though...some mites (like the kind I had) only become obvious on young animals because of their immature immune systems. As the rats grow up, their immune systems strengthen and they are able to keep the mites "at a dull roar" on their own...ie. Juvies and adults may only harbor a few mites because their immune systems keep them in check...but as I found out, they wreak havoc on the babies. If it happens again (or consistently), you may want to have it checked out by a vet!

[SnakeKB]

Is there anything that can be sprayed in the cage on the substrate to kill off mites and there eggs? My weaned soft furs are doing the same thing.

[GoBoilers]

Fortunately, these particular mites live out their entire life cycle on the host. Ie, they don't live very long off of the rat. The eggs actually stick to the fur as opposed to falling off (like fleas). So this means means a couple of things: 1) It takes close, physical contact to spread these guys and 2) any mites/eggs in the environment aren't going to live very long so all you need to do is change out the bedding frequently to be on the safe side.

Unfortunately, this also means that the rats, themselves, must be treated in order to kill the mites. I'm having good luck with Revolution so far...but like I said, I won't be feeding these guys off for months to be on the safe side.

[SnakeKB]

I put the Hartz cat drops on them last night. I think that helped. They don't seem to be itching much if at all today.