# Maggots



## cami (Mar 15, 2009)

I was looking at my rat just a few minutes ago and noticed there are maggots in her butt! I feel like a horrible person, how do I get them out as soon as possible? Does anyone have any ideas? I held her last night and she didn't have any, so it must have been today she got them. Has anyone else had this problem? Please help!!!


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## cami (Mar 15, 2009)

okay Im getting them out with rinsing her butt under water, they are coming out. Im just so worried.


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## TamSmith (Mar 1, 2010)

I have a feeling its not maggots in her but. I don't know what it really is but I HIGHLY recommend you go to the vet right away.


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## lilangel (Mar 26, 2009)

Yes prob some type of worm and they need to be treated by the vet with meds(different meds treat different types of worms your vet will need to see what type it is). Most likely all your rats will need treatment. And try not to pull them out in case.

http://ratguide.com/health/digestive/endoparasites.php


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## ema-leigh (Jan 24, 2010)

Yeah maggots are usually in rotting/infected flesh, and IF your girls does have maggots they would be eating her from the inside out and there would most likely be some sort of exposed wound where they got in. 

Its more likely you are seeing worms, take her the vet to get a stool sample done - so they can tell you which worm it is and which course of treatment she will need.

Good luck! 

Any ideas how she would of got them? Has she been in contact with any other animals feces?


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## cami (Mar 15, 2009)

she was old and on her last legs anyway so we brought her to the vet to be put down. turns out she has lice too.


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## lilspaz68 (Feb 24, 2007)

cami said:


> she was old and on her last legs anyway so we brought her to the vet to be put down. turns out she has lice too.


You didn't realize she had lice? Do you have more rats at home, because they ALL need to be treated for endoparasites and lice.


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## ema-leigh (Jan 24, 2010)

Put down because of worms and lice? :-\ Unless she was deathly sick, you could of attempted treatment.


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## cami (Mar 15, 2009)

i only have one rat left the others all died of old age and i am trying to treat her right now i have sprayed down my room with flea spray, bleached her cage, and given her a bath with watered down dog flea and tick shampoo.

i had to put her down because she was not going too last much longer anyways. she was 3 years old and she had gone blind and she was dieing. she couldn't eat or drink and she was gasping for air.

she was old and lived a long happy life until the end.

i brought her to the vet to be put down. the vet confirmed it. they were maggots. no worms or anything. they were maggots and lice.


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## ema-leigh (Jan 24, 2010)

How did your rats get maggots inside of her? Something must of really not been right there. 

Thats good, hopefully your remaining rat will feel a lot better shortly!!


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## cami (Mar 15, 2009)

i hope so too. she is already doing better
i have no idea how it happened but i feel like a terrible mommy for letting that happen to my lil girl.


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## ema-leigh (Jan 24, 2010)

Don't feel bad.... accidents happen. The best thing you can do is learn from it, and learn what to look out for in the future. Were you seeing them daily? Were there any other symptoms? I'm just curious as I've never heard of a rat with maggots inside of them!


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## digitalangel (Apr 16, 2009)

I would say most likely your rat had some sort of worm, maybe pin worm or flat worms but there are others that infect rats. http://www.rmca.org/Articles/worms.htm Worms can do horrible damage to an already sick rat, they absorb all their nutrients and make them uncomfortable, if one rat has worms then ALL rats have to be treated for worms properly. 

edit: second link about worms in rats http://ratguide.com/health/digestive/endoparasites.php


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## Alphonse (May 1, 2010)

cami said:


> i only have one rat left the others all died of old age and i am trying to treat her right now i have sprayed down my room with flea spray, bleached her cage, and given her a bath with watered down dog flea and tick shampoo.


Seriously?

Dog/Cat flea and tick shampoos have pesticides in it. Watered down or not, that is _dangerous_ to your rat. Your rat should have been treated with revolution or ivermectin. I hope you also kept her out of the room with the flea and tick shampoos for at least 12-24 hours as her inhaling that is also dangerous.

Also, maggots do not eat living flesh.


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## ema-leigh (Jan 24, 2010)

digitalangel said:


> I would say most likely your rat had some sort of worm, maybe pin worm or flat worms but there are others that infect rats. http://www.rmca.org/Articles/worms.htm Worms can do horrible damage to an already sick rat, they absorb all their nutrients and make them uncomfortable, if one rat has worms then ALL rats have to be treated for worms properly.
> 
> edit: second link about worms in rats http://ratguide.com/health/digestive/endoparasites.php


Thats what I said, but apparently the vet confirmed it was maggots. I have never heard of this, have you? It seems strange since maggots are from flies, and they lay the eggs in dead flesh for the young to eat. I can't imagine how they got inside of her?


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## cami (Mar 15, 2009)

i honestly have no idea what happened. i saw flys on her a few days before that and i kept batting them away but they always came back.
the vet was the one that told me to use the dog flea and tick shampoo on them. i could tell she really hated it because her upper back and neck is almost covered in scabs and that must have stung really badly. 

im going to the vet tomorrow to see if i can get revolution.

and yes the vet did say they were maggots. and yes i know maggots don't eat live flesh. i think she was rotting from the inside out.

he told me that when a rat gets a bad case of lice, which my dead rat had, then the scabs start creating sores and dead flesh. then they attract flys that lay eggs in them. he said that if i didnt let the lice get that bad then she wouldn't have gotten the maggots. the lice weren't even bad on her they are on my last rat. she barley had any scabs at all.

i don't know if that was true or if he was just making stuff up or what but how could the maggots get inside her and eat her from the inside out?


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## lilspaz68 (Feb 24, 2007)

I wonder if it was bot fly larvae? I took in a girl who had been let "free" and she lived in this woman's backyard in Ottawa. poor Rennie ended up with rabbit bot fly larvae...they get inside the body as eggs, hatch inside and burrow out of the body. They have to be removed carefully but Rennie did well and lived to almost 3 years old  I have pics  I can put up links if anyone is curious?


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## cami (Mar 15, 2009)

please do i would really like to see if they are the same thing


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