Question about parasites

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PepaGringa

New Member
Joined
Dec 26, 2018
Messages
3
Location
Canada
Hello, two days ago the most incredible thing happened. Our little Blanca escaped a month ago after finding a way to open her cage and we couldn't find her anywhere. After two weeks, we had lost hope and thought we would never see her again.. our septic tank was due to be emptied on Wednesday and when the employee opened it, she was there, alive, and very much happy to see me. It had been a month by now. I gave her baths with Dawn soap, and immediately gave her water, food pellets, fruits and veggies. She has scabs on her tail and ears, probably from the drain flies that live in there? I called the only exotic vet in my region and they told me to bring her to test her for parasites, but their prices are ridiculous and I've had bad experiences with them before. My trusted vet is in Ottawa but I can't go there because of the lockdown. She's lost weight but she seems fine overall, considering the situation. She was at the very top of the tank, right under the lid (if she had fallen to the bottom she would have obviously died). I still can't believe it. How likely is it that my girl picked up intestinal parasites from there? I checked her fur for mites and lice but she doesn't seem to have any
 
Intestinal parasites aren't common with rats besides pinworms which are normally in a rat and usually harmless. I think just keep feeding her well and watch her carefully.

She may have developed a bacterial infection from the sewage. Can you post a pic?
 
Hmm ok thanks for the info. She was being treated on antibios before she ran away for an upper respiratory infection (she had two days left to take) and now she sneezes once in a while but I was expecting worse. I just took these pics (poor baby looks done)
 

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She looks better than I expected.

Her condition will affect her coat and skin. So keep feeding right and see if things resolve. If the scabs get worse or turn into lesions you might be looking at an ectoparasite infestation or a bacterial skin infection.
I would also watch her weight gain just in case she met a wild male rat. This does happen and what I call halfie babies are born.
 
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