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rats with lice?

catsapp

catsapp

New member
I found little lice-like parasites on a couple of my rats and within days it had spread to all of them. I did a google search and found a few ways people have tried to get rid of parasites including bathing their rats using cat shampoo for fleas and ticks and then putting them on cedar bedding for a few days (cedar is supposed to repel bugs :shrugs: ). i tried this, and other than having my rats go from the bottom of the sink to the top of my head in a blink of the eye and the house smelling like trees it has not worked. the more active females have been able to groom themselves and each other to keep the critters to a minimum but my older females are crawling and looking pathetic. can anyone offer some advice on getting rid of the bugs? :flames:
 
Well I guess the question you would have to answer now is, is it worth the time and effort? Or should you get a new pair? I don't know how close you are with your mice but I myself would get rid of them.
 
CMatt2157 said:
I don't know how close you are with your mice but I myself would get rid of them.
Click to expand...

If it were mice in question I would agree, freeze them all for at least a week to kill the parasites and feed em off. But the post here is talking about RATS, not mice.
 
Flagg said:
If it were mice in question I would agree, freeze them all for at least a week to kill the parasites and feed em off. But the post here is talking about RATS, not mice.
Click to expand...
:roflmao: I noticed that too!
Have you asked your vet about one of the systemic injections? certainly I'd look at the cost of sorting all the breeders/keepers with it and culling the rest?
Had similar situation with guinea pigs when I was breeding them, so just a suggestion that might help
 
Go to the hardware store and get some "sevin dust" and some "no pest strips"~ put a teaspoon of Sevin dust under the substrate in the tubs when you clean them~ hang some no pest strips in the room. Clean everything you can with bleach water~ if your racks are wood it would probably be a good idea to pick up some "provent-a-mite" (look online for it) and spray down the racks. Do this for at least 4 weeks STRAIGHT changing the bedding and new sevin dust EVERY cleaning (every 5-7 days), swab everything down with bleach water on cleaning days too. It may LOOK like the mites/lice are gone after a couple weeks~ but you want to get all the life cycles so keep it up for at least 4 weeks.

None of these products~ used in moderation are harmful to your rodents or your snakes. I do the Sevin dust for 4 weeks EVERY spring (I have wood racks and am nervous of bugs) and I keep No Pest strips up year round. While using the Sevin dust just run feeders under the tap for a few minuites to rinse off any Sevin that may be in their hair (or on pinks) before feeding.

Good luck!
 
I would think if you fed rats that have been dusted with sevin dust to a snake, that it would probably kill the snake. These are feeders right?
Maybe better to kull them, get rid of all the bedding and bleach and rinse the cage and accessories, then start over after a long while.
Let me say that I am not a rodent expert/breeder, so this is loose advice. I would love to hear from someone else that has had this problem and dealt with it.
 
I've been doing it for two (or maybe three? I don't recall for sure) years every spring since we moved here, another breeder told me about it when my rats suddenly began losing hair~ I've since discovered that the hair loss is due to the protien content in my feed combined with the sudden heat/humidity jump here in the spring (thats why I only see this symptom this time of year). No effect I can detect on my snakes~ they all eat~ thrive and breed fine~ but I am no expert either, and I do only use a very little bit (about a teaspoon in the bottom of every tub for 4 weeks every spring) To each his/her own~ do what you think is best.

Good luck.
 
just a quick update. my rats are parasite free now, i used a spray for pet birds to kill the bugs. it worked within a few days and i haven't seen anymore lice in the last few weeks. i still spray the cage down every now and then to make sure i got everything. if anybody else has or has had this problem i wanted to share the end result. :cheers:
 
I had a rat when I was younger that got lice. We used i think it was viniger and bakingsoda mixture and scrubbed him down and rinsed him off. We did that for about a week on and off every 2 days. Worked for us. :shrugs:
 
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