Pet Hygiene
The Yorkshire Rat Club will meet normally on the 3rd Saturday, bi-
Some notes to help beginners when showing their pet rats.
Some times pet rats are bought from a Pet Shop, taken home and cared for, but the new owner may not notice the rats
can be carrying ' unwanted travellers' .
Lets list some of the villains:
1. Fleas. These are quite small fleas. Fact is that Rat fleas will always prefer to live on our rats. Cat fleas on the other hand wish to stay on Cats and so on through all the animals
but if desperate hungry will stay a while on rats.
Usually low numbers are found. Hard wiry and very nimble
creatures are fleas. But luckily they will soon succumb if we
ruffle a good flea killing powder into our rats fur.
The whole cage of litter, toys, bedding etc is best discarded
immediately and the cage vacuumed. Then before the fresh
new litter goes in, we must first puff some of the flea killer
powder over the cage floor area and well into the crevices if
any. Check your pets again in 8 days to see if still clear because its quite possible for eggs to have survived and developed into fleas.
2. Mange Mite ( burrows in and under the skin)
This awful pest invisible to the human eye is a relation to the
big fat Crab who lives in the Seas. Knowing this we can
attack the mange mite in a special way using Ivermectin. This agent is often injected
by a Vet -
Applied to the rats skin( Ears) is the much recommended way, to absorb or we can dose the rat orally with a paste form. The good news is that this awful disfiguring pest can be so easily destroyed and totally eliminated from the rat's system.
More info: please ask Colin about Ivermectin, if you discover the pests on your rats during the show.
3. After that scarey info lets get to the most common pest
that is found, the Hair Louse or 'Lice'
( the other 2 pests are fairly rare ).
As in humans it is a pesky resilient pest. Very tiny but we can see it if we know what to look for.!!. Tiny pale brown 'sticks'
about 1 mm long and very thin. These are Insects.
It is known that insects breathe through 'tubes' that open up on their body surface. Instead of attacking them with liquids or sprays, We can attack them with an insect powder, but
these days we mostly rely upon Ivermectin dabbed behind the lice afflicted rat.
After Ivermectin has been applied, one usually finds all traces of lice has gone within the first three days or so. Any eggs that should hatch will also die because the rats blood still carries the agent to kill lice. Thats why we must not treat our rat twice in the same week, very important !. If you took care, the pests are gone.
When you attend a Pet Rat Show for the first time, these nasties may be found on your pet. This is nothing to be ashamed or alarmed at but when you are not allowed to enter the pet into the show because of it please be understanding.
The reason is to protect your pets and all pets getting infected during the show. Please do not be alarmed or take offence if lice are discovered on your pet and it is pointed out to you.
It is right now that we can help you . The pest worries us all. The most experienced of us frequently find the pest has 'jumped' and got onto their most carefully cared for pets, we all hate the pest but knowing how easy it is to kill, we do kill the pest and bring our ' clean once more' pets to the next Show with confidence.
Please consult members and someone will advice you on how to treat the pet with Johnsons Insect Powder and to show how it is applied for best effect. We always have Johnsons at every show.
( Ivermectin liquid also kills these hair lice too, very effective)
Hope this advice will help everyone to not feel so guilty or shamed, they should not feel so. We are here to help and not to criticise. We welcome you instead to the joy of showing your pet rats, good companionship and fun
Rattenfänger
updated 14th February 2008
