Mites? Lice? Ear infection?

[Ktina]

I find what's happening with my girls a bit weird right now. They live on the top of the FN while the boys live at the bottom. The boys have none of these weird scars that the girls are showing. The girls don't seem to be itching at all and seem happy, they also don't over groom each other (Rosalie might but there's no way Minnow would and the scars on Rosalie are places she can't reach herself). The only thing I have noticed on Minnow is kind of what looked like it could be lice (like when you look at boys and they have the flaky buck grease in their fur) but I couldn't be sure.

Also, Rosalie seems to be going deaf. She doesn't hear me when I open the cage and doesn't wake up until I touch her. The other day I noticed she had a lot of gunk in her ear, it was brown and stunk almost like infection. I'm not sure if she has ear mites or if it is an infection. Any thoughts?

Here are pictures of Rosalie's marks. The ear she has the marks behind is the opposite ear of which had the gunk in it. I'm not bugging Minnow with the camera since she is sick and doesn't have much more time with me.

(her eyes not really... deformed looking. She was just squinting and trying to squirm away!)

DSCN0987 by KtinaE


DSCN0989 by KtinaE, on Flickr


DSCN0991 by KtinaE, on Flickr

 

[jorats]

I would treat for buggies just to be on the safe side. But perhaps start her on meds too just in case she has some type of dermal issues.
How old is Roselie? Some rats as they age don't hear as well.

 

[Ktina]

She's "only" about a year and a half. I was wondering if maybe since she's a bit older she's just slacking on cleaning her ears but it's only one ear and it's pretty stinky. I've never had a ratty who didn't clean their ears even in old age so I'm not sure what it looks or smells like.

 

[lilspaz68]

I would say infection, from the smell. Ear mites in rats aren't like cats at all, they just show up on the outside rim of the ear and are not common. Definitely antibiotics at this point.