# How do rats get mites?



## flamegurl

My girls scratch alot. Behind the ears and arms and chest. There isnt anything visable. And its annoying because everytime i play with them, half the time is spent scratching. I have taken them outside a few times and wonder if they picked up anything frim dogs or cats that wander around the area?!

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## Rumy91989

They can pick up mites from anywhere--you could have picked some up in a pet store while you were getting supplies, they can get them outside, they can get them from the dogs, the cats, each other--anywhere. If they're scratching that much there is clearly something going on and they should get some treatment. Do you have a vet you regularly see, or would you rather buy treatment over the counter?


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## LightningWolf

Mites are species specific so they can't get it from your other animals.

Mites are often found in bedding, reason why it is recommended to freeze bedding for 48 hours or if you are like me with a tiny freezer to bake it in the oven for about an hour (for paper bedding at lowest temperature your oven will go, or at least under 200 to prevent accidental fires, Aspen (and I want to say Hemp) are safe to bake up to 250, I normally do 200).

Mites can also be picked up from outdoors especially if the rat population in your area is really big. (though if it is, you need to also look out for ticks and other parasites which are Not species specific and can get you sick as well, especially ticks and fleas).

Sounds like mites or lice from their bedding though. It happens, some mites are able to survive freezing bedding (reason it's recommended to freeze for 48 or more hours) especially if your freezer does not get cold enough.

Mites are easy to treat though. you can get Invermectin which is a horse paste (can get it at tractor supply for cheap, was able to get apple flavored one which my boys really liked for only $4). make sure to give around an uncooked piece of rice size to each one. best to give it to them individually to avoid over dosing. treatment has to be given once a week for 4 weeks.

Can also get Revolution (for cats normally) from your vet. one treatment last 1 month which is long enough to kill all mites.

Another one that Can work but is a pain to do, which is bathing them in olive oil once a week for up to 4 to 6 weeks. Personally to avoid hassle and make it less stressful go with Revolution if you can.


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## Kaliloca

LightningWolf said:


> Mites are species specific so they can't get it from your other animals.
> 
> Mites are often found in bedding, reason why it is recommended to freeze bedding for 48 hours or if you are like me with a tiny freezer to bake it in the oven for about an hour (for paper bedding at lowest temperature your oven will go, or at least under 200 to prevent accidental fires, Aspen (and I want to say Hemp) are safe to bake up to 250, I normally do 200).
> 
> Mites can also be picked up from outdoors especially if the rat population in your area is really big. (though if it is, you need to also look out for ticks and other parasites which are Not species specific and can get you sick as well, especially ticks and fleas).
> 
> Sounds like mites or lice from their bedding though. It happens, some mites are able to survive freezing bedding (reason it's recommended to freeze for 48 or more hours) especially if your freezer does not get cold enough.
> 
> Mites are easy to treat though. you can get Invermectin which is a horse paste (can get it at tractor supply for cheap, was able to get apple flavored one which my boys really liked for only $4). make sure to give around an uncooked piece of rice size to each one. best to give it to them individually to avoid over dosing. treatment has to be given once a week for 4 weeks.
> 
> Can also get Revolution (for cats normally) from your vet. one treatment last 1 month which is long enough to kill all mites.
> 
> Another one that Can work but is a pain to do, which is bathing them in olive oil once a week for up to 4 to 6 weeks. Personally to avoid hassle and make it less stressful go with Revolution if you can.


Mites aren't species specific. Lice are species specific. Mites are host specific meaning that with certain species of mites, if the desired host is not available, they may cross to another species. 

Actually,
Here's a link. It's less typing that way. 

http://ratguide.com/health/integumentary_skin/ectoparasites.php


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## flamegurl

Turns out my girls didn't have them. Vet said patches of the skin would be missing. She did however, suggest i clean the cage twice a week instead of once.


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## Raturday

My rats had mites and didn't have patches of hair missing. Sometimes they won't show any signs other than thin hair or tiny scabs or you'll just notice them scratching a lot. Did she do a skin scrape or sample to determine that?


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## flamegurl

She didnt do a scrape, i was just paranoid. The vet owned 4 rats herself! Pretty cool 

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## Rat Daddy

All myths aside, rats get mites from other rats or mice. My daughter bought a mouse and it brought in mites. We adopted a rat and it brought in mites. Some rats are all but immune to mites, Amelia gave Fuzzy Rat mites but never showed a single scab.

Wood chip bedding is made from bark stripped kiln dried lumber shavings. Mites don't live inside trees and they wouldn't survive the drying process if they did. Paper bedding is recycled paper dissolved in a toxic chemical soup. Again mites don't live in paper and wouldn't survive the recycling and drying process even if the paper was originally sourced from the bottom of a mite infested rat cage. And with how long the sealed packages of bedding sit on shelves before they are sold, I can't imagine any mites surviving the shelf time alone.

Also mites rarely leave their host until it dies then they move to the very tips of the fur and hope to get picked up by another passing animal.... You aren't likely to get mites from the great outdoors... Our rats are shoulder rats, well at least Fuzzy Rat is... She's gone many places where other rodents and even rats live and never picked up a mite. Our part wild rat lived outdoors for 5 months and came home mite free. Now Fuzzy Rat did get Wood Tick nymphs which do hang out in the tall grass waiting for passing rodents, but those aren't mites.

So if you get mites the probability is that your rat came into contact with a rat with mites, the second likelihood is that you handled another rodent with mites or someone who handled a rodent with mites then handled your rats. 

On our way to buy revolution for Fuzzy Rat's mites we stopped by a petshop to pick up some food... the girl who takes care of the small animals there knew Fuzzy Rat and snatched her from my shoulder and gave her a big squishy hug... I warned her that Fuzzy Rat was mite infested and cautioned her to wash her hands and change her shirt before handling any of the rodents in the store.... if she didn't and you bought your rat at that store... you got your mites from us.

So... to recap mites travel rodent to rodent (mice and rats are interchangeable for most mites) There's a slimmer chance that the mites rubbed off onto a human and back onto a rodent... there is also a slim chance that your rat picked up the mites from a really rodent infested local or more likely the home of a fellow rat owner on a rattie play date. And all of the myths like bedding etc make up .0001% of the real mite infestation cases. I never say never... but seriously its so unlikely to be absurd...

The reason for the myth is that rats like our Amelia don't show any symptoms until their immune system get weakened or they pass the mites to another rat that isn't mite resistant. And suddenly out of the blue there's a mite infestation and people start looking for the cause. Amelia might have had mites for months before infecting Fuzzy Rat. And Fuzzy Rat didn't show any symptoms for at least a month after we adopted Amelia. If it weren't winter and if Amelia showed any symptoms too, we might have believed it came from the great outdoors... The fact is some people with mite resistant rats will tell you that all rats have mites or that rats scratching is normal... neither is true. If Fuzzy Rat is scratching, she's got mites and revolution blows them away.


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