Hi there, looking for advice please. New pet rats, young females have small brownish tag like things on edge of ears - not sure if parasite, fungus or what.
Any advice appreciated.
New rats have brown ear tags
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Re: New rats have brown ear tags
Sounds like they could be mange mites - an antiparasitic treatment should clear them up. You can order harkamectin from lots of places online.
Re: New rats have brown ear tags
Thank you Mary! I'm in Nairobi and products are a bit limited (not so many rats as pets here)... Is it possible to use a kitten product or similar?
Re: New rats have brown ear tags
Rat keepers here frequently use spot-on ivermectin treatments marketed for birds (e.g. Harkamectin) so using products aimed at other species is not necessarily wrong. However, getting a suitable concentration might be an issue if you're using something for a significantly larger animal: you don't want something so concentrated that you run the risk of overdosing your rats. (On the other hand, you don't want something so dilute you drench the poor creatures.
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If you can get something for pigeons or similar, that tends to work well: you want roughly a 150μg (i.e. 0.15mg) dose for a 300g rat. Make sure it's ivermectin though.

If you can get something for pigeons or similar, that tends to work well: you want roughly a 150μg (i.e. 0.15mg) dose for a 300g rat. Make sure it's ivermectin though.
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Fondly remembering: Zephyr Mick Jagger "Edgeworth"; Din (NLA28); Zephyr Donovan "Phoenix"; Xeltan; Lita (NLA32); Lia (NLA28); Zephyr Delanynder (NLA28); Falere (NLA36); Mirala (NLA36); Zephyr Opold; Rila.