Scabs under rats chins

Hey all,

First off I've been skulking on these forums quite a bit recently - there are such knowledgeable people on here and it's so lovely to see people who love rats as much as me!

I wanted to ask for some advice regarding my new bubba Sulley. He's now about 12 weeks old and has developed scabbing around his chin (see pics) Looking online it sounds like mites, however the others have a few scratches (need to clip their nails) but poor sulley looks really affected. He's eating and drinking and such a playful little rat, but clearly there's something going on. I have a vets appointment next week but I was hoping there was something I could do to cure/help him untill we get there!

He's one of 5 - 2 other 12 week olds and 2 year old bucks. The alpha can be quite dominating of them. I'm also slightly worried about the woulnds as Sulley has taken to sleeping in the litter tray - last thing he needs is an infection!

Also (poor photo) I'm finding little clumps lke this all around the cage if that helps at all.

Any advice would be brilliant x

My first impression is mites as well. Make sure ALL your rats get treated, even ones showing no signs of infection. Some people have doused their rats in oil to suffocate the mites, but I would be worried the rat would get cold with their fur oiled.
Anyway, Revolution (Selamectin) is usually effective, and only needs to be applied once as it lasts a month. You will need to swamp out the cage once they are treated and wash everything with hot, soapy water, and freeze anything that can't be washed.
If he is still having problems after that then he may have a different type of infection. Perhaps you could take one of those clumps in and they can look at it under the microscope. Take a good one with a chunk of skin. LOL

SO I've managed to take a closer look (that goodness the biggest one was starting to fall asleep) and I can see them. Little light brown flicks in the fur Part of me did hope it was just a reation to something but I feel awful that Sulley especially is feeling it :'( Poor little un. I'm going to try and ring the vets tomorrow to see if I can get squeezed in sooner.Is there anything I can do to easy any discomfort?

I hope my article helps

http://lilspazrats.wikispaces.com/Health+Care+-+What's+On+My+Rat?++(ectoparasites)

Thanks Lilspaz, it certainly cleared up a few things for me!!

Do you think its worth treating myself or just wait for the vet? I don't want them in any more discomfort then they're already in.

Joanne, I'll keep an eye out for any good ones! It's deffo one of the babies pulling the fur out

kryshbean said:

Thanks Lilspaz, it certainly cleared up a few things for me!!

Do you think its worth treating myself or just wait for the vet? I don't want them in any more discomfort then they're already in.

Joanne, I'll keep an eye out for any good ones! It's deffo one of the babies pulling the fur out

Click to expand...

If you can get your hands on Revo, treat yourself it's very safe and easy. Some vets refuse to prescribe Revolution for rats as its "off-label use"...which always makes me laugh as everything is off-label use with rats LOL

they might insist on giving ivermectin injections, which are painful, expensive and you have to go back to the vet each week to get them...also they sometimes don't work!

So if you can get your hands on Revo, or need a link to order it online let us know

Hey all, an update...

So the vet couldn't see anything on either Sulley or Ralph (larger alpha buck) but she's given us some treatment (Xeno?) to treat all the boys. Got home, put the gels on them and scrubbed the cage. All took it well except Ralph, who weirdly enough was a real sissy at the vets!

I'm in the UK, so I think our version of Revo is called Stronghold. I might invest for the future.

The vet believes it might be be an allergy rather than mites but looking at everyone's fur after the gel was applied everyone's got little nicks.

Thank you everyone! Really appreciate the advice!

Yes, it looks like Stronghold has the same medication, Selamectin.
A search on Xeno - it contains Ivermectin, so it will need to be reapplied for a few weeks, and you will need to keep disinfecting the cage at the same time to eliminate the bugs as they hatch.
A link on Ivermectin:
http://ratguide.com/meds/anti-infectives/ivermectin.php

Joanne said:

Yes, it looks like Stronghold has the same medication, Selamectin.
A search on Xeno - it contains Ivermectin, so it will need to be reapplied for a few weeks, and you will need to keep disinfecting the cage at the same time to eliminate the bugs as they hatch.
A link on Ivermectin:
http://ratguide.com/meds/anti-infectives/ivermectin.php

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The worst part is that they've been in a Liberta Explorer cage for a week now - workload doubled ahhh. They certainly chose the right time.

I've only been given one dose. The vet told me to come back in 2 weeks if it hasn't cleared up. From your advice and religiously searching online it's going to take longer so rather than go back I'll get order some Stronghold in.

Rats seem more interested in whose got the rice bone - recovered from the traumatic vet experience!