Scabs / Sores near the tail?? (with pics)

[ryelle]

This isn't so much an emergency, but I am slightly concerned.

I was checking Sid over last night - I check him over because he barbers his fur, and sometimes he pierces the skin with his claws and it can be quite deep (I do keep his front nails trimmed because of this, but it doesn't always help). Anyways, i came across a bald and scabby patch at the base of his tail, above his Right teste (I originally thought it was ON it). Some of the scabs are just dry scabs, and some are red and look like they could have puss underneath. He HATES me looking at them. He runs away, hides or he turns his back end away from me so I can't see properly. He normally moves his body so i can rub any scabs he's made from barbering to relieve an itch he can't reach...but he won't let me anywhere near these :?
He doesn't have anything else like this anywhere on his body - although there is similar scabs on a smaller patch on the left side near his tail. The hair is still there though (if not a little thin) and there is only a few.

Sorry for the quality of the pictures - he didn't want me to check it, and he wouldn't stay still, and mobile phone camera isn't as good quality as a digi cam

Pictures of the Right Side:

Pictures of the Left Side:

My questions:

1. Could these be mite related? (He doesn't have any marks on his neck / shoulders or behind his ears).
2. Could this be contagious?
3. Could it be self inflicted? (Sid is a BIG guy and can't really bend round that far)
4. Should i get it checked by a vet?

Any suggestions or advice will be greatly appreciated I'll answer any questions aswell.

 

[lilratsy43]

From the pics it looks like dry itchy skin. I could be wrong on that one. Maybe you could give him an oatmeal bath to make his skin less itchy. Sorry I don't have any real answers for you.

 

[ryelle]

How do you give an oatmeal bath? Im assumin Oatmeal is Porridge Oats? lol

I'm concerned that it is maybe mites/lice and if not - my other boy could catch the same thing :?

 

[jorats]

I would think it's part of aging. Looks like sebum and/or dirt. It might very well be dry itchy skin. I don't think it's mite related, I doubt it's self inflicted too...
And unless you have a very good exotic vet and lots of money, I wouldn't bring them in to a vet for that. Not yet. I would try cleaning it and adding ointment and see if it clears.

 

[ryelle]

O.K. Im going to have a look through my box and see what stuff i have. Sure ive got a small animal ointment cream somewhere. If not, what should i use? Racking my brain and coming up with nothing.

Im going to be picking up some spot-on for the boys soon anyways so that will rule out mites. I've just never seen so many little scabs in one place on any of my rats before. And its in such a random place! I only came across it by accident

 

[mamarat]

Is your rat eating something with a high fat content? My oldies were given a supplement and the high fat in it gave them a rash on all their sex glands including the tail and at the top of the tail. The vet had me discontinue it and it took a long time for the rash to go away. It looked like what you see on your boy.

 

[ryelle]

I really don't think he is. I'm trying to remember what he's been eating. The dryness and the amount of scabs make me think it's been there for a while. I had him on some 'seed mix' stuff before, and only changed his food about 2 weeks ago to blocks. Apart from his main food he only gets fruit and veg. I really don't know though.

We've just had another chance to look at it, and you can only see half of the scabs in the picture. The rash reminds me of Eczema. Its not just random scabs dotted all over, but like a collection of loads in one place, some tiny, some quite large (the larger ones are in the pics) :?

 

[mamarat]

How old is he? I know on Noogie that's exactly what I thought, ecxema. It was a lot in the one place right where her tail meets her body. On Kanji it was going down his tail as well. The vet said to stop the supplement. Wish I had taken a pic.

 

[ryelle]

hhhmmmmmmmmmmmmmm im going to have to have a think and make a list of what they've eaten lately. I think he is 21 months old, so hes quite an oldy now.
Did you do anything to the scabs like clean them, like Jo and lilratsy have suggested?

 

[mamarat]

The vet told me to just leave it alone. Kanji and Noogie were both over 24 months.

 

[lilratsy43]

When my girl Brain got old her skin got really dry and itchy and red, the vet gave me medicated shampoo and I used it but Im not sure if it worked very well or not.

If you try the oatmeal bath, Im pretty sure you can find it in stores and I would just put it in the water and let him soak in it. (There is an actual thing for giving oatmeal baths)

I have to agree with Jo, I don't think its mites or lice.

 

[joolzratbag]

How are the scabs now?
The only times I have ever seen scabs and furloss that close to the tail it was caused by lice, so it might be worth bearing that in mind. I'm not 100% sure why but when there is a lice infestation, they mostly seem to gather around the tail area causing the rat to chew there. Do you see any tiny white dots attached to the hair shafts in the area, ie eggs/nits?

 

[ryelle]

I did check at the time and i didn't see any signs of lice (eggs, dirt, actual lice etc.). I've been ill so i haven't had my boys out for a few days

Just lured Sid out of his hide with a packet of treats. The scabs are getting better i think. The smaller ones are pretty much gone but theres still quite a few big ones. Sid doesn't want to come out and play anymore