# Yellow and red particles falling off my rats. What is the 'yellow' stuff?



## luvmy4rats (Nov 29, 2013)

I was pushing one of my rat's fur in the wrong direction noticing the colour of his skin was yellow and mottled. As I examined him more it ran down the length of his back. Other parts were normal pink. I vigorously (as vigorously as you can with a rat) rubbed his fur and used a barbie brush to loosen those 'bits' to examine them under a jewelers loupe. These things were flat and yellow and uniform in size.

Now, I don't know if these yellow things are _scabs_ or _dead parasites_, but would assume the red things are the poop of whatever is biting my rats. After bathing both my rats with _neem seed oil shampoo_, the bucket I rinsed them in had hundreds of bits floating on top. 

Which parasite is this? I also pulled hair out of my rats (they didn't even notice) to see if there were eggs attached as I have seen before when I first brought them home from the pet store (under a loupe of course) and there were none! I did treat them with a rice sized amount of Ivermectin horse paste.

What is going on?


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## Finnebon (Jul 15, 2013)

It COULD be a parasite. But it also might be porphyrin crusted fur (red stuff) and/or buck grease (orange/yellow) which is just excessive skin oil that adult boy rats produce that can sometimes crust up and clump so it's visible. Whenever I give my boys baths, I can see their skin more easily through their fur which is normal pink, but around their back and rump area, their skin looks almost orange. A good sign that it is actually parasites is if he has little scabs around his face, jaw, and shoulders. I hope it's just buck grease though!


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## luvmy4rats (Nov 29, 2013)

> But it also might be porphyrin crusted fur (red stuff) and/or buck grease (orange/yellow) which is just excessive skin oil that adult boy rats produce that can sometimes crust up and clump so it's visible.


The only way to see this it on my rats is my parting their fur like we part our hair. Also, my one rat would squeak a lot during gentle handling (maybe in protest?) and he squeeked a lot during his neem bath too (I feel sorry for him when he does this!). I just read those yellow things are 'scales of grease'. How often should my boys be bathed?

Oh...I just looked it up on Google Images and this is exactly what I saw on my boys! Does it flake off because it crusts up?

BTW...thank you for your quick response! I thought my boys were being preyed on. 

http://lostinutopia.livejournal.com/pics/catalog/362/3241


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## Finnebon (Jul 15, 2013)

Yeah, when it builds up it will dry out a little and chunk together so it will look like flakes or dandruff or something similar. My rats freak out when I inspect them too so they will protest and squeak and squirm and throw a fit lol. They're happy to be held, pet, harrassed, skritched and kissed and will even stay on their backs for a little while when I hold them in my hands, but once they realize I need them to sit still and am parting their fur or trying to look at a certain spot, they flip!

You're welcome! I hope it helps.  I hope that it really is just greasy boys and not mites or lice (I'm dealing with these bugs now and treatments and it's not fun! lol).


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## trematode (Sep 8, 2012)

Is this an issue we should be concerned about or completely normal?


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## Finnebon (Jul 15, 2013)

trematode said:


> Is this an issue we should be concerned about or completely normal?


Buck grease? No it's completely normal. It's (I think) mostly a hormonal thing so the more "manly" boys will usually have more. They might need more frequent baths if they get greasy, but it's up to you. I don't believe it's anything to be concerned about at all, but I could be wrong. If it is porphyrin however, it is something to keep an eye on, because they usually produce more porphyrin when sick or overly stressed out.


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