Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Okay, so I figured out what the skin problem with my rat is. I have been picking at her and watching her and phasing out foods to see what she's allergic to. Then last night when I picked her up a flea jumped on me. A freakin' flea... I live in an apartment in CA and it never gets cold enough here to kill the bugs. When the neighbors let their animals out they bring in fleas who like the warm apartments and then the whole building gets them. I am calling my vet for advice because of course now all the rats have fleas including babies. I just want to see if anybody else has had this problem and how they treat them.

Thanks!
-----
Anna

The Zoo
Corns
1.0 Snow - Cornelius
1.1 Ghost(pastel) - Eek & Boo
1.1 Amel - Parker & Scarlet
0.1 Hypo - Nikko
0.1 Anery - Missy
0.1 Hypo Motley - Cordelia aka Cordy
Boas
0.1 Columbian (BCC) - Bella
Lizards
1.0 Leopard Gecko - Leo
Rats
0.1 Dumbo Agouti - Moon
1.0 Silvered Black - Pluto
1.0 Powder Blue - Corner
Plus the breeders
Cats
1.1 Siamese - Blue & Fiona
0.1 Gray DMS - Druscilla aka Dru
Horses
1.0 Thourghbred (Hunter/Jumper) - Morgan's Majesty aka Cody

>>Okay, so I figured out what the skin problem with my rat is. I have been picking at her and watching her and phasing out foods to see what she's allergic to. Then last night when I picked her up a flea jumped on me. A freakin' flea... I live in an apartment in CA and it never gets cold enough here to kill the bugs. When the neighbors let their animals out they bring in fleas who like the warm apartments and then the whole building gets them. I am calling my vet for advice because of course now all the rats have fleas including babies. I just want to see if anybody else has had this problem and how they treat them.
>>
>>Thanks!
>>-----
>>Anna

Least toxic is Ovitrol.....vet supplied flea spray. ( your vet may suggest another...but this has worked for me) Treat the animals, cage, bedding, and surrounding area....even the whole apartment maybe. Be very sure not to feed off treated animals for some time.
-----
Sonya

Failure is not an option. It comes bundled with the software.

It's a good thing I have some frozen. Thanks for the advice. I will discuss it with my vet.
-----
Anna

The Zoo
Corns
1.0 Snow - Cornelius
1.1 Ghost(pastel) - Eek & Boo
1.1 Amel - Parker & Scarlet
0.1 Hypo - Nikko
0.1 Anery - Missy
0.1 Hypo Motley - Cordelia aka Cordy
Boas
0.1 Columbian (BCC) - Bella
Lizards
1.0 Leopard Gecko - Leo
Rats
0.1 Dumbo Agouti - Moon
1.0 Silvered Black - Pluto
1.0 Powder Blue - Corner
Plus the breeders
Cats
1.1 Siamese - Blue & Fiona
0.1 Gray DMS - Druscilla aka Dru
Horses
1.0 Thourghbred (Hunter/Jumper) - Morgan's Majesty aka Cody

if you have some black knight around it also works well, again do not feed any off for a while after.

You may want to ask your vet about a product called Revolution. It is a topical flea/heartworm prevention. I have previously used the puppy/kitten size and applied one drop to each of my rats when I get them home. It has a great safety margin and works for 30 days. Remember though the infestation is relative to the number of flea eggs, larvae and pupae found in the environment (cage, animals, carpet, bedding etc...). To break the lifecycle treat the environment every 2 weeks for 3 times. Virtually all insecticides do not penentrate the egg shell, thus every 2 weeks new pupae and larvae will emerge from the egg/pupae. Good luck!
Sincerely,
Roly
-----
Miami Hurricanes #1
NATIONAL CHAMPS 83,87,89,91,01