Reptile & Amphibian Forums

hey guys.. i have kind of started breeding rats.. and a litter of rats that are around 1.5 months old? have started losing some hair from the back of their heads and shoulders.. anyone know why? is it mites? if it is mites.. can i just kill off the rats and freeze them and use them as feeders later on? or is this an genetic thing that they are losing their hair? thanks

>>hey guys.. i have kind of started breeding rats.. and a litter of rats that are around 1.5 months old? have started losing some hair from the back of their heads and shoulders.. anyone know why? is it mites? if it is mites.. can i just kill off the rats and freeze them and use them as feeders later on? or is this an genetic thing that they are losing their hair? thanks

Look for bugs...you will either see little black, little red or little white bugs if they have them. If the hair is thinning and seems shorter too then they may be barbering each other. Really happens. Someone starts chewing the hair off the others. No harm there. And unless they have a nasty looking skin thing I wouldn't sweat the hair loss anyway. If they lose all their hair except a bit of fuzz on their face then they may be double rexes and going hairless.
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Sonya

the parents areboth white lab rats that i bought from a local pet shop.. and they have all their hair and look normal.. these little guys had hair there but now are losing hair.. i dont think i see black things.. what if they do have black things? would it still be ok if i freezed them to feed my snake?

Be cautious--as someone pointed out, your breeder parents could have recessive genes for hairless. However, it could also be something more sinister. Does the skin under the hairless areas appear healthy, or irritated? If it's reddened, rash-like, or flakey, it could be either an allergy, or much worse--mange.
Mange mites burrow under the skin, and cause hair loss.

would it still be possible to feed my snakes if the rats have this?

eeerrr.....yes...but....you want to find out for certain, wear latex gloves, and completely sterilize the entire area you have them in, get rid of everything, and the rodents as well.

Some forms of mange are zoonotic, meaning they can infest humans, even though humans aren't their primary hosts. You don't really want a horrible itching skin rash that would require intensive treatment to get rid of. Examine your rodents closesly ASAP to determine if the bare skin appears healthy. If it does, no problems, but if it doesn't, don't take any chances.