Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Does anyone have experience with rat mites , just found out i have them..i am gonna try permethrin and see if that gets rid of these buggers..

I put Seven Dust in the bedding and a little on the rats backs. Works great. Don't use too much because dust is not goo for rats. One dose should work. I have found that the bugs come in the bedding.

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Shannon in Reno
2.3 dogs
1.0 cat
Bunch O fancy rats and mice
50 something chickens
1.0 Black rat snake
2.0 Albino corn snakes
0.1 Chissel tooth kangaroo rat
0.1 Rosy Boa
0.1 Kenyan Sand Boa
1.0 Amazing Boyfriend

My mice have mites now. I thought they came in from a rat or other wild animal that got in my garage. I sure hope they didn't come in on the aspen bedding, as I've used that same bedding for some of my kingsnakes as well. Which bedding have you found mites in? Please tell me it's not Kaytee Aspen Bedding & Litter. Usually I use the Zoo Med aspen bedding for my snakes, but it's expensive. I recently tried some of that recycled Carefresh stuff. It smells like used toilet paper, but the snakes do seem to enjoy burrowing in it.

When I lived in MD it came in the pine bedding. I live in Reno and it comes in the Aspen, Kaytee I think. I have never experienced them going onto my reptiles. My snakes also use the aspen. Here is a good website

http://www.rmca.org/Articles/bugs.htm
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Shannon in Reno
2.3 dogs
1.0 cat
Bunch O fancy rats and mice
50 something chickens
1.0 Black rat snake
2.0 Albino corn snakes
0.1 Chissel tooth kangaroo rat
0.1 Rosy Boa
0.1 Kenyan Sand Boa
1.0 Amazing Boyfriend

Thanks for the info and the link. The mites my mice have are dark red, round in shape. When they're on the inside of the plastic lid that covers my mouse tubs, if I smash them blood comes out. So I fear that these may be the blood sucking variety of mites. They die pretty easily by spraying with either a pyrethrin based spray or even an herbal flea/tick spray that has rosemary. I just got some sevin at home depot too.

I won't feed mite infested mice to my snakes though, so unfortunately I'm having to gas, freeze and throw away most of my feeder mice at this time. I have a few that don't have mites, so I'm going to start over with those.

Do you find the mites on the mice or just the cages? It also helps when cleaning to wash the cages, lids, bottles...
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Shannon in Reno
2.3 dogs
1.0 cat
Bunch O fancy rats and mice
50 something chickens
1.0 Black rat snake
2.0 Albino corn snakes
0.1 Chissel tooth kangaroo rat
0.1 Rosy Boa
0.1 Kenyan Sand Boa
1.0 Amazing Boyfriend

Oh yeah, they're on the mice alright. I hose off the lids every time I see mites on them.

Rat mites do not come in on bedding. Wood mites are most likely what you are referringa to, and they will do ZERO harm to anything in your collection (snakes, rats, mice, etc). They are a pain in the ass to get rid of though. I find hanging some Vapona kills them without doing any harm to my collection though.
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www.strictlyballs.ca

That's good to know, thanks. I'm pretty certain I've got rat mites or some other insidious ones though. I know for a fact that rats have been in my garage where the mice are kept. There have also been blue jays, cats, and possibly squirrels and skunks. I know it sounds like a nightmare... and it is! This is what I get for leaving the garage door open at times.

The mites I've got are are round and dark red. They get pretty big and are clearly visible. They are definitely bothering the mice, and they could be transmitting rickets. Actually I've got to get back to work on cleaning up the situation, just thought I'd check in on this thread while I take a short break.

Round and dark red = ticks.
black and tiny = mites.
Good luck...
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www.strictlyballs.ca

I don't know, they'd have to be really tiny ticks. I'm still pretty sure they're mites of some sort. Maybe I'll take a picture and post it. I would like to know.

Revolution for cats works very well, one drop on the back of the neck of every rat at the same time.
One dose should eradicate them.
Stays in system for 30 days.

Probably not feasible for a lot of feeders and feeder breeders, though on a small scale works perfectly.

Good to know. Thanks. You're right, I probably have too many to treat them all, but I may try it with some.

If you don't treat all the animals the mites will just hide out on the un-treated and then re-infest everyone else eventually.

Yeah I figured I'd have to isolate the treated ones. I'm already doing that with the ones that don't have mites. I'll treat them first just to make sure. Of course I'll put them in clean tubs with fresh bedding after treatment. Thanks again.

The vet wouldn't give me Revolution for that purpose. I had one of the girls at the counter ask him over the phone. I should have waited until I could talk to him myself I guess, but he might not do it anyway. So I guess I'll have to have my neighbor with cats get it for me or find another vet. I've spent thousands of dollars at that place too.

seven dust ok thank you very much, i hate seeing the newborns itch and squirm as mites make meals outa them, im breeding rats to feed my boas not mites, thanks again..

Be real careful with feeding those rats to your boas. I know a boa breeder and he had a major mite outbreak recently. They will get on the boas. Also, obviously you don't want to feed your snakes with rats that have been sprayed or exposed to any insecticides. This is why I'm basically getting rid of most of my feeders and starting over. Luckily I have a few clean frozen mice stashed away, and a few tubs that don't have mites.

One more thing. When I clean my mouse tubs, I write the date and mouse population on a piece of masking tape that I stick on each tub. I've noticed dead mites get stuck under the tape. So now I put a strip of masking tape all the way around the side of each tub. I figure this will do a lot to keep them from spreading to other tubs, or from getting in from other tubs.