Bad skin rash / Possible mites / unknown problem

[speedyjonzalas]

Hey folks,

Our alpha girl had been at war with our other girls over the last few weeks and it never seemed to be too bad. Then over the last few days we noticed what we thought was some bite marks so we decided to separate her and keep her with the two smallest girls in another cage.

As they were all getting quite smelly we thought we would give them a quick bath tonight. After we bathed them all it came to Lori's turn and once we bathed her we seen the real extent of her scabs. It looks really bad, but you could not see 90% of them when she was dry. None of the others have any scabs at all which is confusing us as we immediately thought mites - but we cant see any sign of them, and i have been looking very closely. In the second pic you can see near her neck what we thought were bite marks originally.

So we need some help in figuring out what to do. Obviously we will get her to the vet but it would be good to get everyone's opinion before we go. At the moment she doesn't seem bothered by it at all which is good.

My thoughts are maybe

1) mites - though we cant see them at all (we know to look for the super tiny white things). And would they not effect the other girls?

2) A rash - Possibly caused by stress? (She doesn't seem stressed)

3) Over cleaning - though it does seem to be all over her so im not convinced by this - unless its by the other girls.

4) Diet - All of them are sisters and they get a very balanced diet between grain mix, cumins, fruit and veg.

5) Dry skin

[AmesLea]

How very odd... It does look like it could be mites or an allergic reaction to something. I haven't ever seen it before, unfortunately so I doubt it is anything I can give many tips on. Might want to take a look at Trillian's thread about Mopsy here:
http://australianratforum.com/forum/...ighlight=mopsy

Wish I could be more help. :/ Let me know how she goes. I'll keep an eye on mine just in case you brought home something on your clothes for the other day but none of mine have anything like that.

[speedyjonzalas]

After reading this article im thinking it may be fur mites -

http://www.freewebs.com/rattyloving/healthhygiene.htm

"Fur mites are always present on the rat; they only become an issue when the rat is unable to groom themselves efficiently during, sickness, stressful times and through disability (or old age)."

Now we have bathed her it may calm down a bit. Megan will get some mite drops tomorrow and we will treat all the girls. This isn't good though as they are supposed to be coming to your place Amy

[AmesLea]

Hmmm... I can put your girls in the sun room until we are sure they are clear, but mine have been treated recently anyway.

Hope it helps them to treat them!

Oh.. when was I watching them for you again? I can't remember :/

[speedyjonzalas]

I think from around about the 29th or 30th to the 7-8th or so if thats cool. Can't quite remember the exact dates but i will get them tomorrow. We'l make sure they all get treated tomorrow.

[AmesLea]

Should be fine just pm or text me the details when you find them if you like
Goodness me will I ever have a house with less that 20 rats again? it'll be so nice.to watch th littlies for you. Miss them so much when I send them to their new homes!

[meguano]

Hey AmesLea! We fly away midday on the 30th, so might drop them to you on the 29th if that's cool. 90% sure we're back on the 7th - John will text ya to confirm.

Our poor lil Lori I just went and bought some mite spray today from a Pets Doman then read a sticky on the forum afterwards about how they're no good, so that's frustrating! Anyway, she's got an appointment with the vets tomorrow, so fingers crossed she'll be back on track very soon.

<20 rats? Probably not the way you are going!! How many will you have if we drop the girls around?

[Siana]

Aww, poor wee thing. Definitely looks like it's mites - it's not uncommon for only one or two out of a group to show symptoms. Often mites will overpower the weaker/older/sicker/immune compromised of the group. Rat mites generally can't be seen with the naked eye too. What are you going to use to treat?

[speedyjonzalas]

Megan bought stuff today to treat her with but she then read a topic on here saying stay away from that stuff. She is booked in tomorrow morning so the vet can have a look at her. Hopefully the vet will have something to use, preferably inverctamin or revolution.

Shes still as happy as ever though so at least she doesn't seem to bothered by it all.

[rissa]

Our Lori had some scabs like that on her face. We cleaned out the cage then treated everyone with Revolution (1 drop on each rat, the Kitten one) and it cleared right up! I've just recently treated everyone again because I noticed they'd been itching more and then realised I'd been using straw as bedding and hadn't treated it *facepalm* everyone seems good again now lol.