My rats have mites (red/brown dots). I have no money to buy ivermectin or revolution. What do I do?

Question

I've noticed small brownish red dots on my rats. So I gave my rats a bath, and the dots jumped onto me. (Now, I feel like I have bugs all over me and it sucks.) I guess these are mites. I have no money. I am a college student that loves rats, and I've had rats before and this has never happened to me. Any home remedies for mites? And I am thinking of sacrificing my birthday to get them medication if needed. About how much is a tube of horse ivermectin? And how much is a single dose of kitten formula revolution? Is it safe to hold my rats or will the mites get onto me?

Also, some extra details:

-I use Carefresh bedding. I change and clean the cage once a week.

-The rats are not full grown; they are very young. Will this effect the dosage?

-I also noticed little white specks on their fur, and I don't know if it is just dust or something else.

-Will garlic help?

Also, what kind of mites are these? Can they kill my rats?

Answer 1

Doesn't sound like mites if you can see them, it's more likely fleas or lice.

They can get these from Carefresh sometimes. In the future, freeze the bedding for 2 days before you use it. This will kill anything living in it. I use Yesterday's News and have never heard of any problems like this with it, if you're interested.

As for the meds, you'll need to find some money, I'm afraid. Revolution is a much better choice. You'll only need one or two doses and it works much better with less heavy duty cleaning than Ivermectin. You'll have to go to a vet to get the Revolution, though, and can get Ivermectin at some feed & tack stores. A dose of the Revolution, which I've gotten, is about $18 from my vet. It might vary a bit with yours, and you'll likely also have to pay a fee for the office visit. That's usually between 20-50 dollars. But I think that's a much better idea than getting the Ivermectin and doing it yourself. No risk of overdosing and you only need to do it once, maybe twice.

If you go with the Ivermectin, the dose is about the size of an uncooked grain of rice. You'll do that once a week for a few weeks.

Whichever treatment you use, you need to clean the cage THOROUGHLY. As in, take it and spray it down with a bleach/water solution, then spray with vinegar, then rinse and let dry in the sun. Clean ALL toys, throw away wood toys or bake them in the oven, wash all cloth items in the cage. Everything.

Can't really tell you what kind of creatures they are without seeing them, and even then I may not know for sure, but from the description it sounds like lice. If it is, even if you use the treatment, you'll need to comb out the dead ones. You should take them to the vet and they'll look at them under a microscope and figure it out. They can eventually kill them, but only if left untreated for FAR too long. You should be alright.

And most rat mites/fleas/lice are usually rat specific and won't leave the rat.