Today, I decided to adopt to little bucks from an ad on Craigslist.
I met with her, and she clearly cared a great deal for her animals. I met the bucks, and inquired about the scabs on one of the buck's ears. She said she believed that the young boys from her litter (this particular buck was left over from a litter her fiance's rat had had three weeks prior to her own litter...) were biting on his ears.
As I had already fallen in love with these two boys, I took this in stride, and decided I would take them.
I've had a few hours to look them both over.
The larger of the two has severe, cauliflower like scabbing along the edges of his ears, and some bumps/scabs on his tail.
The younger, smaller buck has no visible scabbing on his ears, but a couple of tiny white bumps I only noticed with close inspection. His tail also has bumps and scabs. (I would relate the bumps to looking something like white heads, though not always white but flesh colored).
I've been looking it up, and I haven't found any mention of rats nibbling on each other causing this sort of damage. I'm afraid they may have mites, or some other type of parasite. And as my mother has held them, and then proceeded to hold my older bucks, I'm afraid they may have spread within a single day of having my baby rats!
Other than the scabbing, they appear to be in excellent health. They love being held already, and have no problem snuggling up against my neck (which makes me believe my instinct to trust the woman who sold them to me was correct: she genuinely cared for them). They are extremely active, and climbing all over the cage.
I have previously treated my older bucks for mites with Revolution, and it cleared up the scabbing symptoms straight away. My concern is that these two are so young, and small (I'd hazard a guess at 4 and 7 weeks, as they are 3 weeks apart).
Advice? (Yes, the most obvious advice is: take them to the vet. I'm looking into it first thing after class tomorrow. But I'd like to hear any other thoughts.) (I haven't been able to get any decent pictures of the scabbing.)
I met with her, and she clearly cared a great deal for her animals. I met the bucks, and inquired about the scabs on one of the buck's ears. She said she believed that the young boys from her litter (this particular buck was left over from a litter her fiance's rat had had three weeks prior to her own litter...) were biting on his ears.
As I had already fallen in love with these two boys, I took this in stride, and decided I would take them.
I've had a few hours to look them both over.
The larger of the two has severe, cauliflower like scabbing along the edges of his ears, and some bumps/scabs on his tail.
The younger, smaller buck has no visible scabbing on his ears, but a couple of tiny white bumps I only noticed with close inspection. His tail also has bumps and scabs. (I would relate the bumps to looking something like white heads, though not always white but flesh colored).
I've been looking it up, and I haven't found any mention of rats nibbling on each other causing this sort of damage. I'm afraid they may have mites, or some other type of parasite. And as my mother has held them, and then proceeded to hold my older bucks, I'm afraid they may have spread within a single day of having my baby rats!
Other than the scabbing, they appear to be in excellent health. They love being held already, and have no problem snuggling up against my neck (which makes me believe my instinct to trust the woman who sold them to me was correct: she genuinely cared for them). They are extremely active, and climbing all over the cage.
I have previously treated my older bucks for mites with Revolution, and it cleared up the scabbing symptoms straight away. My concern is that these two are so young, and small (I'd hazard a guess at 4 and 7 weeks, as they are 3 weeks apart).
Advice? (Yes, the most obvious advice is: take them to the vet. I'm looking into it first thing after class tomorrow. But I'd like to hear any other thoughts.) (I haven't been able to get any decent pictures of the scabbing.)
