Gayle, I read your original post and I don't think you offended anybody with it...

I believe you that its very true that rats are probably much more prone to disease than in the old days.  It is very possible.  It seems like the whole world is plagued with more disease and cancers these days though, in all species.

I think it is great that you have some rats again, and hopefully you will stick around and show us some pictures.

Sorry if it sounded like I was pouting. I was afraid people misread what I was trying to say and I was kind of embarrassed that a lot of people read it but never responded. I'm kind of on edge these days and maybe I'm being too sensitive. I have a lot going on in my life and now I have to worry about the ringworm. I'm taking the sickest one to my vet tomorrow. My brother already told me what his vet said to do but I'm not sure his vet gave him the right answer. I think he's mostly a dog/cat vet and doesn't know what to do with rats. I think the sickest rat looks worse, not better. The lesion on her head and neck looks kind of red and raw. I gave her a bath in mild cat shampoo to get the residue of the old medication off. Tomorrow she goes to the vet at 3:30 and I hope my vet can give me some better advice. The medicine my brother's vet recommended was over the counter fungal medicine formulated for humans. I just have a feeling that's wrong.
Sorry again for my odd behavior before.

I wouldn't worry too much about posting something that might seem odd here.  People here are really helpful (especially Shelagh) and so just ask about what you need to know.  If a lot of people read your thread but don't comment, don't take it too personally- they might have read the post thinking they could help and maybe after reading it, they had no advice. 

Hi GayleMG,  ,  sorry to hear your rats are not well with ringworm.  I'm sorry I was not able to help you with this problem, as I have not come across this before, but I have since done a bit of research and come up with these links, which may be able to help you further,
http://www.afrma.org/med_ringworm.htm
http://www.lbah.com/ringworm.htm

This site has further links for more info on ringworm:
http://ratguide.com/health/integumentary_skin/dermatophytosis.php

This sit is really good for general information:
http://www.dapper.com.au/articles.htm

I hope this helps with your problem and please let us know how things go at the vets, I'm a bit like you, it's always nice to hear it from the 'horses mouth' so to speak

Don't be embarrassed, I've done it before myself. If I don't get replies within a day or so, I usually go back and modify it. Maybe my questions weren't clear enough sort of thing. Not to mention the thousands of times I have to go back and correct my spelling. I've given up on grammar, heh!

I missed the original post as well. From what you've posted thus far, you took your brother's rats and they have ringworm, yes? I've never dealt with ringworm on rats, but I've dealt with it on my dogs, cats, and myself... I use Lotrimin antifungal cream, it's the athlete's foot stuff, but if you read the directions it mentions ringworm. I'm assuming they're all alot alike, or that the creams are so general as to cure any fungus.

My vet told me to clean the area twice a day, then just to put a very thin layer of cream on the infected areas and keep them from licking it until it dries. If you put a thin enough layer, that's no more than a few minutes. You do have to be very careful so you don't get yourself infected. Washing your hands before and after treating the areas, washing up any time you handle them, keeping their bedding and such constantly clean.. I know it sounds like the obvious, but I was amazed at how much dial I went through in the month it took to treat everyone. Not to mention Tide, oi..

Definitely check with your vet and make sure that you're comfortable with the treatment your brother's vet prescribed. No harm in being sure. If they just say use an antifungal cream, you know you have less expensive options than the stuff they might try to sell you.

Good luck with your new rats! Hope some of that helped.

Hi! I'm back!
Thanks for the advice and links you guys!
Well, the original post is kinda gone, but I basically said that I used to have rats as a kid 20-30 years ago and I never had problems with illness all the time. That is, my rats lived long (2-3 years or even longer) healthy lives and usually died peacefully in their sleep. Maybe I was just lucky then, but rats have SO many problems now. When I got some more as an adult I couldn't keep one alive past a year and they would get all of those horrible problems- tumors, respiratory disease, etc.
I love rats but stopped keeping them as pets because of these problems.
Now I have four that were my brother's rats until the ringworm popped up. He breeds Bichon Frises and he didn't want to take the time to treat the rats because it could spread to his dogs and new pups. I offered to take them and started the treatment his vet recommended, OTC fungal cream. I was afraid it wasn't working so I made an app't with my vet today. I know it takes a long time though.
I was also whining in my original post that I'm afraid of getting attached to these rats and deciding to keep them, or at least a couple of them. I just don't want them to get those dreaded diseases like rats tend to do these days and then lose them just as I get attached to them, ya know!
I used to have such fun with the rats I had as a kid. They had a cage, but most of the time they were loose in my room, playing on the bed, sitting on my stomach while I read a book, that kind of thing. But you can't play with something that's wheezing it's life away in a cage.
BTW, I can't play with the ones I have right now because of the fungus. EEK!

Yeah,
the rats I had as a kid were healthier too...
I had them about ten/twelve years ago and they got tumors but weren't so sneezy and abcessy, and were healthy for a few years.
I think maybe the fact that I bought supposedly feeder rats doesn't help, the pet store seems so careless with them.  Their personalities are great but they have health problems, poor dears.

...another option is that you can try mixing tea tree oil with water and applying it to the rats, you could do a five/one mixture.  I had a frog with a fungal infection that cleared up when I put this stuff in his water... but I've never tried this with rats.  It shouldn't really be ingested but can be applied topically.  So, be careful about this if you try it, I just know that tea tree oil is a great home remedy that works for lots of things. 

Dorasmommy,
Thanks! Yes, tea tree oil is good for a lot of things. It's a good thing to keep in mind. I've cured mild skin problems on myself and my pets with aloe vera straight from the plant, and vitamin E out of those gel cap things. You puncture the end of the gel cap with a pin & squeeze out the Vit E.
I just decided to go with the vet on this one since it's so contagious. I want to get rid of it  ASAP.

The vet says the ringworm doesn't look too bad on Peanut and it barely got started on Candy, so I'm using the medicine twice a day. The vet said that it would be okay to treat for a few days after the lesions clear up and then stop. I think that's because ringworm can resolve itself after awhile even if left untreated (I read this in a couple of places while I was researching this stuff) and Peanut's case is almost gone already.
So now I've made my decision about keeping them or not.

I'm keeping Peanut and Honey (nut n' honey!). The vet thought Peanut was precious.
I will see if I can adopt out Candy and Sassy.

I'd really like to keep them all, but four is a bit too much. Maybe when the time comes I can find someone on this board by posting in the adoption area.

I just wonder what would be a good time to wait before I try, just to make sure the RW is gone.
As rat owners, if any of you were going to adopt a rat that had had ringworm issues in the past, how long a time would you feel comfortable with since the ringworm was resolved? A month? or more?

I don't have a digital camera, but I'm planning to buy one of those disposable ones and get some pics of all the girls. I hope those disposable digital cameras work ok. I don't like the disposable 35mm ones because the flash is always too harsh and indoor pictures come out overexposed.

oh, OK. Thanks! I wondered what was going on!

Glad to hear you've found a good vet and the ringworm is on its way out. As for waiting until it's gone before adopting out some of them, I think as long as you're up front with potential adopters (and include some meds), you can go ahead and post the adoption. People are rescuing ratties in need all the time (especially folks here).

To reduce flash on a camera,  you can tape a piece of facial tissue over the flash. It will help reduce some of the light to give you a better picture.