Completely horrified right now.....

[Mrsbeccabear55]

I just found bugs on one of my girls.. They are little red ones. I have never seen them before and cant figure out how she got them..
Was doing my daily checks and found them on my Molly. I looked on all my other girls (and all of my gpigs) but they dont seem to have any. I took a flash light to all of them and nothing. Does anyone know what these are? Or how I can get rid of them. I've done some googling and some sites are saying "Hartz Control Flea and tick repellent for kittens" works well. To just spray it on, leave it for 5 min and then wash it out. Is this okay to use?


AH.. I feel horribly itchy now!!!! :sick2:

 

[Petunia]

sounds like lice:
Lice
At 2mm long lice are just visible to the naked eye and if an infested rat is examined closely the lice can be seen moving on the skin at the base of the fur. They are often described as orange/tan or deep red (colour depends on how recently they have fed).

Rat lice are species specific so will not feed from other animals or humans. Within the species they also tend to show a high degree of host specifity, prefering to remain on and feed from only one individual of the species. This might explain why one rat in a group might be heavily infested whilst others appear to have no lice at all.


there's some info on treatment and prevention here:
viewtopic.php?f=21&t=22482&view=next

good luck!

 

[Bundyrats]

Thanks Petunia, that's great info.

 

[Mrsbeccabear55]

Ah thanks so much.

 

[Unepuce]

I just found bugs on one of my girls.. They are little red ones. I have never seen them before and cant figure out how she got them..

Don't feel bad, she probably had them all along - rats do carry lice naturally, but their immune system fights infestation. When they get old or sick and their immune system gets a little down they can spread - maybe that's what happened to Molly?

 

[EDK]

Still though they need to be removed, if you can't see a vet yet then just use what eagle suggested, dose her in olive oil and be sure to do the same to your other rats! Lice spreads just like human lice, if one of us has it the whole household has to wash our heads lol

 

[Petunia]

I just found bugs on one of my girls.. They are little red ones. I have never seen them before and cant figure out how she got them..

Don't feel bad, she probably had them all along - rats do carry lice naturally, but their immune system fights infestation. When they get old or sick and their immune system gets a little down they can spread - maybe that's what happened to Molly?

um I'm not 100% sure but I think it's mites that rats have all the time, and lice they can get from boxes and wood, etc that has nits on it, and hasn't been frozen to kill them...........??

I'm trying to find where I read that, but anyway, it's nothing to be ashamed of or anything, they are very easy to get and nearly every rat owner has to deal with these pesky pests at some time or other

hmm I found this in a case history of a rat with lice, hope this helps:
"Preventative Measures Freezing bedding & boxes (if you have a large enough freezer for the boxes) can kill any nits (eggs) that may be on them. If you don’t have a freezer, you can store them for about 4 weeks. Rat lice nits should hatch within 20 days, so I’m going to wait a little longer to make sure the hatchee’s have died!"
from:
http://ratguide.com/health/figures/ecto ... gure_3.php

and this explains how lice can re infest your rats- so I think you need to be more careful cleaning things when your rat has lice, then you do when they have an outbreak of mites
http://www.fancy-rats.co.uk/information ... =parasites

 

[Mrsbeccabear55]

I did what eagle suggested and ran out and got some olive oil this morning
they dont like it one bit, but if it helps get rid of these nasty little things im down for a couple of scratches here and there..
i think i figured out when they came from.. i recently switched to paper bedding from fleece.. it must have come in on that..

 

[Mrsbeccabear55]

oh a side note..and completely unrelated.. i just found out i have a tail wagger. was sitting with one of the girls drying her off and when i went for her ears she started wagging her tail. lol?

 

[EDK]

Awwwwwwwwww tail waggers are cute! lol

 

[Mrsbeccabear55]

At least they don't seem to hate me too much at the moment. D: And I gave them back their old fleeces so maybe that will make them feel better.
It was a good opportunity for me to deep clean their tails though. Just hope it works. *fingers crossed*

 

[hopefloats]

That over the counter flea stuff by hartz is bad. I have seen so many reports over it making animals sick. I would even use it on my dog or cats.

Lice is typical with critters, bedding can have it or anywhere. it is always a good idea to keep revolution in the house with rats. They seem to get these things.

 

[Mrsbeccabear55]

I'm just so embarrassed/mortified because I always try to keep their cage really really clean.. D:
Thank you for all the advise everyone. Truly glad to have this forum. ^.^

 

[hopefloats]

I dont know why you would be over it, it is no different than a dog getting fleas. It happens. anything that comes in from store can carry it.

 

[coreline]

um I'm not 100% sure but I think it's mites that rats have all the time, and lice they can get from boxes and wood, etc that has nits on it, and hasn't been frozen to kill them...........??

my vet has told me in the past that they carry mites all the time/for long periods, I think. I believe that's what he said when I had issues with mites over the fall. so that sounds about right imo.

 

[temblabamomo]

Definitely no need to be horrified, bugs happen. One of my groups is on bedding, and I admit to occasionally forgetting to freeze it and having itchy boys within a week. Revolution always does the trick, but as I wait for it to kick in I do a full bedding change and wipe down the cage with white vinegar, as I've always been told it kills live mites on contact (but not eggs), then wipe again with fragrance free baby wipes to get rid of the vinegar smell.

 

[MissGuardian]

I'm just so embarrassed/mortified because I always try to keep their cage really really clean.. D:
Thank you for all the advise everyone. Truly glad to have this forum. ^.^

You don't have to be.
It's pretty common... I've had lice on mine a couple of times, and mites too..
I too keep their cage clean.

 

[Aida]

Don't worry, it's nothing to be ashamed of. I know mites can even be bought in on shoes from walking outside- there's no way to prevent it, and it's no ones fault. Hope your girls are itch-free shortly. :]

 

[Mrsbeccabear55]

:joy: The bugs are dead, the bugs are dead!! :dance:

Now I am just going to wait a couple of days for the eggs to hatch and then drown those suckers.
The ones that were on her are just falling off now, but i went out and got a fine-toothed comb and have been playing monkey will all the girls.
I'm just glad they have stopped itching. I think they will be mad at me for a while though..

 

[EDK]

Bug free is good though at least, I''m sure they'll forgive you eventually lol