My rat has scabs on her lower back

[gn3ranger]

Recently my pet rat When i was changing her litter i noticed she had a small scab on her lower back then i checked around the area and i discovered even more. She is very active and hyper, still I read that it can be mites. I read on several sights that you can treat mites or just scabs with olive oil is there any truth to this? She doesn't seem like it's bothering her but, I still don't want to take the chance that it'll get worse i want to be sure olive oil is safe for my rat.

"JUST SOME STUFF ABOUT MY RAT"
Her cage mate died last week very different personalities the girl that died was very social and loved to be carried. the one That is still alive isn't anti social but she gets terrified if shes anywhere but her cage. when i get near the cage She will come up to the front and lick me but when i pet her she like gets scared i don't understand i've had her for just about 2 years now. Like if you approach her fast she will sometimes bite you because she gets surprised really easily.

 

[eagle]

it could be mites, do you see any red bugs moving or white spots on the end of the hair? Most of us use Revolution.

 

[passionfruit]

I'm sorry about the death of your other rat. My vet said that sometimes stress (i.e. death of cage mate) can weaken the immune system which allows the parasites that are normally kept at bay to flourish. I found something like that on one of my rats as well. She had small patches of red scabs, and some small marks on her tail as well. At first I thought it was that her and her cage mate was fighting, but the vet pointed out that if that's the case the marks should be closer to the head (show dominance). Either way, we treated her for parasites, and the red marks went away after the first week. She's still scratching from time to time, but she's not biting herself until she bleeds anymore.

I vaguely (very vaguely) remember reading something about olive oil. But I had already gotten the medication at that point and I didn't put too much thought into it. I think it was somewhat successful (again, very vaguely remembering this)... I imagine it won't be harmful to the rat since you can eat olive oil. But I think it might make her quite dirty and slimy which she may not like.

Hope this helps

Oh and I used revolution too, for all three of my rats.

 

[gn3ranger]

No she did not have any white spots on her fur i did not see anything moving i used the olive oil already and now shes licking it off When i used the oil i could see her scabs clearly she had quite a few of them I cant tell if shes ever in trouble shes always so hyper is hard to tell. to be sure I'll treat her 2 more times like 8 days apart i guess. After 24 hours of olive oil am i suppose to take her a bath with baby shampoo every time or just the 1 time. i don't like giving her bathes to often because i heard it'll dry out her skin if u do it to much.

 

[SQ]

Olive oil and baths will not help.
She needs medication - please have her treated with revolution (from the vet).
The amount depends on her weight.
Pet store remedies will omly waste your money.

I also hope you can get her a new friend as she is likely depressed and missing her friend.

When a nursing mama rat has parasities, medication can not be given because it will harm the nursing babies.
Sometimes people will use olive oil and/or baths to try to drown enough of the parasities to keep them under control until the babies are old enough that they can all be treated with revolution. Using olive oil and baths does not get rid of the parasities. It is a desperate temporary partial solution done only when it is impossible to provide proper treatment. Please treat her with revolution, you are wasting your time using olive oil and baths.

 

[jorats]

I would definitely do a mite/lice treatment. Scabs on rats almost always mean bugs.

 

[gn3ranger]

It would seem after 1 treatment with the olive oil she has stopped scratching herself like crazy I don't think she had mites but if the problem persist I'll definitely get her checked out by a vet. Bleached her cage i threw my old litter out and bought a new bag It doesn't seem like shes uncomfortable but if i see any new scabs appear she will get checked.

 

[gn3ranger]

 

[SQ]

Just in case you are not aware,
After purchase you need to freeze litter for 72 hours in order to kill parasites that may be in it

 

[jorats]

The olive oil will alleviate the symptoms temporarily. Something is causing it, I would definitely do a treatment. Left unchecked, it can cause quite a bit is issues later on.