# Warts? Bugs? Abscess? No One Knows!



## ShameOnSnakeFood (Jul 25, 2013)

Hi. Im new here to Rat Forum. I'm a first time rat owner and I own a little African Soft Fur Rat. Also known as an Asf rat. For all of your information he is not a regular rat. He is much smaller, I would say larger than a mouse. But slightly smaller than a normal female rat, but he requires all of the basic needs of the regular rat. He is a white male with a grey black spot over his back, a bit over 6 months. He was healthy when we got him, fairly active, loved to play, very intelligent and he knows his own name. We got Cosa from a breeder that bred asf rats for both snake food and pets.....so as you can imagine they were not kept the healthiest. She kept these creatures by I would say over the twenties in these glass fish tanks, they would nip each others tails, and interbred. I change his cage about once a week, his water every couple days, and his food whenever it looks like it could use a filling. I feed I'm the commercial pet food which I know is not the best for him so I add some lettuce, almonds, fruits etc. every once in a while to his bowlNow lately, he started losing hair. I wasn't very concerned because he had a little bald spot on him in the first place. But now it looks like he just gave himself a terrible haircut! Then he got this wart thing on the side of his eye. (I will post pictures.) that one I was more concerning. But he often got debris in his eye every now and then and it usually left so I take much action. He now has this wart thing on his chin and tummy. Little zit things are underneath his bald spot and he scratches furiously! We took him to the vet and she didn't know what they were, she said something about Pappiloma but she sees Pappiloma on dogs, never on rats. She injected something to possibly kill the virus if it was a wart and gave me some antibiotic to give to him twice a day to stop the itching. It was called Baytril I believe. I gave that to him for a week, he stopped scratching for a while, but it never got rid of those warts. Now he has this huge lump thing on his side, It has some scab on the top and I think its an abscess but I don't know if that's right or not, and how to get rid of it.His eyes squint, which I've read is a sigh of pain in rats. He seems less jumpy. My dad says that we either fix the problem or put him to sleep. Because he already spent over 100$+ on him. And he was only 2$ when we bought him! I really don't want to put him to sleep and I will do whatever I can as long as I can reach it to fix him, but if putting him to sleep is the only option, I will do it. Taking him to the vet again is not an option, unless to put him to sleep. Is there like some medication I can buy at a pet store to get rid of them? I don't know what else to do, asking here is my last option to find out what it is. Please help!Oh and another thing. Whenever I touch him now,I. Get lumps too!!! Oo. What!? They go away eventually and they look like little zits on me yet they don't itch. This has given me a HUGE scare and I don't touch him as much. I didnt get these when we first got him, I started getting them during and after that antibiotic. Is this an allergic reaction? Or does he have some bug on him that he passes to me? Or does he pass his wart things to me? Bleh! XP I think its some type if mite or something I DONT KNOW!Here are some pictures.....i know that the way I'm holding him is not the most rat friendly but it was the only way I could get him to stop squirming and hold still, I don't hold him like this all the time. I took these in my bedroom, which I know is a pretty random place but oh well. And I know that my floor is pretty filthy, even though I washed it only 2 days ago, and you can say thank you to this little rat for that. Because of his squirminess, I was unable to get the one on his belly, it just looks like a red dot zit thing. I know these pictures are not the most highest quality and they are slanted at different positions but they are the best I could get at the moment so if you look closely on the chin on and the hairless part on you might see these pink bumps slightly elevated, the one on his chin looks similar to the one on his eye btw if its really hard to see.You also may notice Im wearing gloves.....I already explained that though.If you need some better pictures I will take them, these are just last minute things I did like 5 seconds ago.Thank you


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## Isamurat (Jul 27, 2012)

I don't know this type of rat however fancy rats can get the paploma virus. It does give them warts though not normally loads like this. Have you treated him for mites, the itchiness may be sarcoptic mange mites. this gives crusty growths and itchiness. For the rats I'm used to you need to treat with ivermetcin. As I've not gota clue of the dosage I would get it through your vet. Failing that getting a skin scraping done this will tell you what's going on.


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## ShameOnSnakeFood (Jul 25, 2013)

Thank you so much Isamurat! I need to ask you though. If it is a pappiloma virus, how did he get it? I don't think its sarcoptic mange mites, cuz those usually bite the ears and make them kinda crusty and he doesn't have that. However I am not doubting that it could be mites, like I've said I get these lump zits after I touch them and if I look very closely, there's a mark on top, so could it be bugs that are biting him, than bite me? Ew. i know XP They don't itch me though.And about the invermetcin, I've heard that treats worms and such, Can it kill whatever's causing it, whether a virus or bug? And where can I get it? Can I just get it over the counter at the vets office or somethin? How expensive is it?Asking a lot of questions here haha  thank u!


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