Holy Cow! What is living on my rat!?

[RougeTheRat]

My 2+ year old rat rouge just got a giant abscess removed from her face a couple of weeks ago.
Since then she has been living by herself mostly with a visitor every now and then. I do this because she can not get food on her own anymore really. She just sort of stores it and forgets about it, and the other rats will eat it. So she has to be byherself for the most part. I don't even think she minds..or notices, she is kind of  in the brain. Poor girl.


Anyhow, in her newcage I put some left over aspen bedding in it that I found in my back room.

Great? The problem though? It must have had BUGS in it.

What was I thinking! Aspen has given me mites and lice in the past, why would I even think to use it again?!

I don't know what these bugs are though, but they have COVERED her and her hair is dull and falling out. I didn't even notice the bugs before because they are hanging on near the roots of her hair basically out of site. Today though they were SWARMING on her. I was so suprised, you can't even imagine!

I have some pictures, can you please help me identify them.





I gave her a bath and put some olive oil on her. Nothing is moving on her now, but I can't get the dots off.

Are these rat fleas? Or what. My little old lady has had enough problems as of recently. I hated having to give her a bath.

Poor baby

[Kendra]

*ugh*  Those look like lice to me!  Sometimes when a rat is in ill health already, they get really bad like that.  If her health is too poor for ivermectin or Revolution and what not, you could cover her in olive oil for about fifteen minutes, then bathe her.  It wont get rid of everything, but it will smother the living ones.  You'll need to uber-clean her cage, too.  Poor baby.   

[RougeTheRat]

*ugh*  Those look like lice to me!  Sometimes when a rat is in ill health already, they get really bad like that.  If her health is too poor for ivermectin or Revolution and what not, you could cover her in olive oil for about fifteen minutes, then bathe her.  It wont get rid of everything, but it will smother the living ones.  You'll need to uber-clean her cage, too.  Poor baby.   

Thats basically what I have done already.

I thought lice were red bulb looking things, or perhaps they differ from mice to rats. (I guess they are species specefic)

I've been battling a mite and lice problem with my mice for the past 2 months!!! They won't go away no matter how much I clean, but they havn't touched my rats...until now.

I am going to pull  my hair out. 

[mandycoot]

I recommend Revolution if she can tolerate it--most people havn't had to do the major cage and room-cleaning as with Ivermectin, plus you only need to dose once. All bedding can get bugs; it's important to freeze it for 48 hours before you use it to ensure that anything is killed off. If the bag didn't come with them, sitting in the back room for a while is probably what allowed bugs to get into it.

Poor Rouge! Those must itch like crazy.

[RougeTheRat]

I think you can buy revolution online, but should I go to the vet to get proper dosing or what?

Bugs are crazy here. They need to leave my house!!! 
As for bedding, I am fed up with store bought stuff at the moment, so I am temporarily just using felt material. I mean I am going to have to clean cages constantly anyway so no use spending a bunch of money on bedding that is probably contributing to the problem.

I also have a very very small freezer, so freezing bedding isn't always an option if the freezer is full of food :/

[scout]

You should be able to run your felt bedding through the dryer at the highest temperature and kill the bugs. Unfortunately, freezing doesn't kill lice nits (the eggs). You just have to let your bedding sit through a couple of life cycles of the bugs to starve them to death.

Poor girl, I hope you can find something that works soon.

[lilspaz68]

Yeah that looks like lice to me.  I would get Revolution from your vet (for a few rats it should be fairly inexpensive)...the usual dose is one drop between the ears and the lice will be dying as you watch, very soon afterward.  I have dosed really old rats with no problems at all, older than your girl even.
Lice are little cigar shaped beasties that are clearish with a red spot in the middle (blood) that don't particularly move fast.  I've likened their movement to those big cars from the 70's that drove like boats...haha.
On a weakened rat they can really take over.  Remember to treat all your rats and that drop you put on them is effective for 30 days which is more than the life cycle of the lice.

[amymckee]

Wow, definitely lice! Sesame and Won-Ton brought those from the rescue when I got them. Yikes!

[qefan!]

Looks like termites, but are lice!

My little rattie Peanut got them when he was really sick... I have no idea where he got them from, I am guessing from his food because I was using carefresh at the time, with absolutely no notice of anything living in it.

Unfortuantely, he passed away before I could get him rid of the lice.

[Maxxsgirl]

WAYYYY lice.  My rat Baby had a really nice infestation of them and that is EXACTLY what they look like.  I didn't even notice them until they were crawling all over her.  Instead of Revolution, you could also use Advantage, (it comes in tiny little cat-dosage tubes,) which I've heard can be somewhat less hard on a little rats system than Revolution.  I used it with my rats and it cleared up the lice issue right away.

[myzoo2]

so if those are lice... hmmm i thought lice were white, what do mites look like?

[scout]

Lice are white until they have a blood snack. Then they're reddish. Fur mites are so small you can't see them without a microscope (or maybe a really strong magnifying glass). Here's a link to some pictures of mites:

http://ratguide.com/health/figures/ectoparasites_figure_4.php

[myzoo2]

Thanks for clearing that up... I always want to have information on things incase It ever happens to any of my rats or other pets... Thankfully I have never had an issue with pests on my pets... I always freeze bedding/litter for 48 hours and I freeze the food too not so much for incase they have pests but more of a trying to keep that giant bag of blocks fresh longer  thanks again!

[Mischief_Love]

About 2 days after reading this, I found my boys with lice:( Is revolution perscribed? If so, will I have to schedule a vet visit to get it?   

[lilspaz68]

About 2 days after reading this, I found my boys with lice:( Is revolution perscribed? If so, will I have to schedule a vet visit to get it?   

Yes, you have to get Revolution through your vet.  Puppy/kitten strength is the one you want.  If you have a good relationship with your vet maybe they won't have to see your rats.  Fingers crossed for you.