# rat lice



## DragunzGirl (Dec 22, 2011)

One of my rats has lice. A week ago I took him out of the cage cause he stopped eating and all. So i put him in a small tank, and fed and gave water. He is eating fine now but i gave him a bath and saw these tiny little things ALLLL in his fur and on his skin. I looked closer and saw it was lice... He was coverd. I went to check all my rats and saw all have a few on them not many tho. So NOW i know i got to do something about this.... SO what can i use?


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## jessyyyissiqqq (Feb 7, 2011)

I just noticed yesterday that mine all do too. At first I only saw it on one and thought it was fleas though because it's "flea season" and I saw all these little red specks near his butt area so I thought it was "flea dirt" but then I looked closer and saw that they were moving, so I ruled out fleas because I know what fleas look like, and mites because you can't see mites, and these things fit the definition of lice. So then I looked closely at all of my rats(I have six) and realized they all have it along with scabs and scratches from scratching so much/hard. So I started looking up how to get rid of it and I found this one on yahoo answers http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080104100931AAXUVeK


"Lice/mites breathe through their exoskeleton. When their bodies are covered in oil they can't breathe and they suffocate. We recommend olive oil at Holistarat because other types of oil seem to make the rats sick with diarrhea. There are many benefits to using (extra virgin) olive oil. It's easy to obtain at the grocery store, it soothes dry, sore, skin inflicted by the mites/lice, and it's nutritious, because we know the rat is going to lick it off.
The only drawbacks is the rat sometimes gets upset with this method because now we have mussed up their beautiful coat and they are fastidiously clean animals; they have to sit around for 5 minutes coated with oil and some owners like to humiliate them by sharing photos of them looking their worse; and then you need to give them a bath to get the oil, bugs, and eggs out. This has to be done once a week for three weeks.I have used all of these methods with success. Along with treating all of the rats that you have in the same cage, you need to clean the cage, all accessories, and surrounding area with bleach."

So I looked it up more and found that a lot of people have actually used this method with success so that is what I'm about to do.. if my mom will ever wake up and go buy bleach. I pray it will work!


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## Kinsey (Jun 14, 2009)

Don't do that.

Go to the vet and get some revolution, they will sell it to you, and then put one drop on the back of your rat's neck. (it needs to be the kitten formula.)


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## Jaguar (Nov 15, 2009)

Use the Ivermectin or the Revolution Kinsey mentioned.. Olive oil will make a dang mess and your rats will eat more than what is healthy for them.


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## DragunzGirl (Dec 22, 2011)

Dang.... well I can't take them to a vet there is no rat vet near me. I do not drive an I'm only one that takes care of them. I do have puppy shampoo that kills lice should I try that? Also I think I have use the oil before on my mice when they had mites.


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## Korra (Dec 11, 2011)

Is there not a Petsmart near you? The Banfield vets treat rats.


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## Kinsey (Jun 14, 2009)

You can try treating with ivermectin, which is cheap and can be purchased at a farm store- it is sold in tubes for horses.

Please please PLEASE do not -ever- soak a mouse in anything, especially not oil! They are very fragile and prone to getting very sick! They cannot be allowed to get wet like that and it can actually kill them!

There are better, safer ways to treat for parasites. Revolution is one, and ivermectin the other. (however mice must never receive ivermectin orally, only topically)

Also, I did not have to actually take my rats to the vet to get revolution. I believe it is only required that they sell it, so if you called around there may be a vet who has it.

And, try to find a vet for your rats because if they get sick you are going to be in trouble.


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