Inconsiderate!!!

[Linds]

Ugh! Well was visiting a friends place last week. Spoke with him yesterday and he told me what he did that day, which included giving flea baths to his animals! Now he knows how many animals I have, and even if I had only one, you still tell the person you have fleas!!!!!!!!! I haven't been able to find any fleas, but I did wake up with a little bite that looked like a flea bite. So off to the vet to pick up some Advantage (damn law changed so now they cannot sell individual treatments either :rolleyes: ). Now he gave me one of his rex rats to add to my colony, so there's probably a decent enough chance that all my 200 rodents have been exposed to fleas as well :mad: There is no way I can use anything topical on the buggers since they are food, so I reluctantly hung a strip of vapona in the area. My question is, will the vapours be absorbed by the dog food? Will any residue accumulate on the rodents? I have been leaving minimal amounts of food, but do not like to keep running my rats on empty like this if there is no need. If anyone has had to deal with this, any tips would be greatly appreciated.

[Syco]

Linds,
try this website http://www.naturalchemistry.com .
They sell non-toxic sprays for fleas and also mite spray for reptiles. Actually they sell a lot of stuff. :D It's only supposed to be lethal to the fleas and mites, completely non-toxic to mammals and reptiles. I have some of their products and really like them.

[Linds]

Toxicity is dependant though. It may be non-toxic to reptiles when aplied externally, but those products weren't designed to be ingested (and reptiles seem to be more sensitive to chemicals) which is what worries me. I have used the DeFlea Reptile Relief treatments for reptiles at my old job, and we used it once and never again. It stopped my breathing in no time....wheezing, everything tightened right up......no good. Had all the same warnings as all the other toxic products as well :confused: Thanks for the link anyways though :)

[chas*e]

Vapona strips are bad for reptiles for sure....that site that Syco posted is great for non-toxic pesticides

[Stockwell]

Linds, I have both flea and rodent mite problems every fall. Not sure why, but they do seem to appear this time of year. It's also hard to tell the difference between mite bites and flea bites.
Both seem to often occur simultaneously. Rodent mites look almost identical to snake mites, but they are specific to mammals only.
My ankles are all bit up, and it's damn annoying when you wake up with bites, because they are very itchy and take many weeks to heal. They leave a characteristic "tripod" looking bite, usually 3 holes in close proximity.
I found Vapona wasn't very effective, especially in vented rooms with fans, but Provent o mite sure is.

I spray it sparingly, on the shelves the cages sit on, and this seems to do the trick.

I have experimented with tiny blasts of it on mouse cage bottoms before putting the shavings in and that completely cleared them up, but I noticed that the mice in those cages developed tumors right after that,and while that could have been coincidental, I'm not convinced. The stuff is obviously TOXIC.
I couldn't really recommend feeding rodents to snakes after they had DIRECT contact with POM or any other poison.
Now whether or not airborne vapors can be absorbed by porous rodent foods, for transmission into the the rodent... is a good question.
I suspect this is possible, although the real question is will the trace amounts be ultimately injurious to the reptiles that eventually consume it.
Its hard to say, but it probably isn't beneficial.

[Linds]

Thanks for the replies everyone!

These are definitely not mites. They are fleas, the kind that jump around on cats and dogs. Same friend 4 years ago had a flea infestation from a stray cat he brought in, so I'm familiar with the bites they give as well. I had a bout with rodent mites (little brown specks) last year, but they seemed to go away on their own :confused:
I do have a flea/tick product intended for rodents (active ingredient pyrethrin). However, I am hesitant to put anything in the actual cages. My snakes need to eat :flick: I was debating on spraying the bottom of the cages in combination when I cleaned them, but I do not know how safe this is? I don't think there would be any direct contact, but whether or not it is still too close? Bah! Parasites are so freakin frustrating when they get in to your homes :mad:

[Lisa]

for our breeders when they get a mite infestation we give them a grain sized dose of invermectin once a week, 3 weeks running. the food rats (which are seperated from the breeding colonies) just get put down. mites on rodents seem to stick to a particular few rodents ignoring other rodents in the same cage.

as for fleas we haven't had to deal with, but from asking around any flea and tick bath should get rid of the problem though you wouldn't be able to use them as feeders right away, so i'd knock off all the rodents marked for food (once frozen the fleas shouldn't be an issue), treat the breeders and suplement your supply with appropriate sized rats from the next show. Eventually your rat colony will grow again.

[Kyle Barker]

non-toxic pesticides

LOL! sorry but i hope you see the humour in that :D

[Linds]

So far I haven't seen any fleas so hopefully the vapona is having some (good) effect on the situation, although I know it's gotta be doing something crappy as well. Anything that kills by vapour is obviously not something you wanna be messing with unless you have to anyways :( I haven't used any of the spray in the tubs yet as it is still a bit of a concern.

Originally posted by Lisa
so i'd knock off all the rodents marked for food (once frozen the fleas shouldn't be an issue), treat the breeders and suplement your supply with appropriate sized rats from the next show. Eventually your rat colony will grow again.

Unfortunately I go through enough large meals monthly with the small income I have that knocking off my established colony isn't an option for me. That's the whole reason I breed them (I would much rather buy them then spend all the time and hassle breeding my own :rollreyes: ). I have about 150 designated for food right now that are being raised up. Most of my snakes feed on large - jumbo+ rats which can take 4-8 months or so to acheive. I only pump about $60 monthly in to maintaining the colony :)

[Lisa]

Originally posted by Linds
Unfortunately I go through enough large meals monthly with the small income I have that knocking off my established colony isn't an option for me. That's the whole reason I breed them (I would much rather buy them then spend all the time and hassle breeding my own :rollreyes: ). I have about 150 designated for food right now that are being raised up. Most of my snakes feed on large - jumbo+ rats which can take 4-8 months or so to acheive. I only pump about $60 monthly in to maintaining the colony :)


sell off some of the small ones to pay for the big ones, lots of people looking for rats.

[Ciddian]

This may help.....well hopefully lol:D
I myself have a dumbo rat who has come down with a bad case of lice.... I think it's lice bcause they do not jump like fleas would. So.....off to my local pet store for some advice and this is what i was told.
Brewers Yeast.....Yup apparently that is the way to go because for one i can't use sprays and all that because of my cat :)

So... you just add the brewers yeast to the rats food and that makes the blood taste unpleasent and they starve. You'll need to keep up with your litter cleaning to remove any left over fleas...

Iam currently trying this myself... i'll come back and tell you if it actually works or not lol

~*Ciddian*~

[Linds]

Oooooooo Ciddian thanks for the input! I totally forgot about that! I remember we used to supplement one of our old dogs diet (she was allergic to fleas) with it.

[Ciddian]

OOhhh good..then the guy wan't telling me crap? lol
Tell me though...i picked up some yeast but it's in the form of granules??....
and bubba the rat is too smart and doesn't eat them.... I was thinking about changing his food to a mash type and letting the yeast soak??

i dunno....maybe i bought the wrong stuff lol

~*Ciddian*~

[Lisa]

When we give our rats meds we mix it with baby food (like apricot). they eat it up like fruit loops and frozen peas.

[reptilesalonica]

Good luck with your case Linds. I've had the same promlem 2 weeks ago with my feeder mice and rats (about 300 feeders).
The infestation was from brown-grey mites. The problem was huge! In 2 cages the mites were so many that some of the babies eventualy died (with hundreds of mites uppon them) :(
I used two kinds of sprays for dog fleas.
The one is very good but very expensive (Frontline).
The second is Ardap and i don't know if you have it there in America.
I have noticed 2 deaths in embryos, before they born, but i don't know if it was from those products.
Now the problem is reduced close to zero but again i see a couple of females with bloody ears from iching :(
~Greg~