Bruxing is a stress reliever, so she might not have been scared but trying to calm herself down.

 

Again a photo would be helpful. Are you sure they are bugs? Most parasites like lice or mites are barely visible to the human eye. In most cases, their presence is also accompanied by skin irritation/ redness, and/or localized hair loss. You also mentioned that the bugs are on the sides of the face. Would that be the cheeks? Hardly a place known for insect accumulation, as they are constantly cleaned and groomed by the rats.

 

With better lighting I am able to see they are scabs and not bugs. Why would she scratch her face enough to cause scabs?

Here are the pictures I took but you can't see as much in the photos as when holding her. The 2nd, 3rd, and 4th photos are with her fur wet with water to make it easier to see.

Hold a struggling and crying 5 month old rat, who I suspect is in heat, crazy from coming out of the cage, and really happy about being home after a week away, in one hand while taking a photo of her with the other is something I don't want to do again any time soon. I have said it before and will say it again, but she is a drama queen!

 

I can't see the scabs too well, but their placement screams external parasites to me. Fur mites in particular are too small to see with the human eye, so all you end up seeing are the scabs that result as the rat scratches at the parasites. Lice are visible, but my experience with Latte taught me that unless you know what to look for, you'll still miss them due to their small size.


I'd treat her and any other rats with revolution if possible (vet prescribed topical parasite treatment - but if you've been in for an appointment earlier this year they might sell it to you without an actual exam). Revolution is a cat/dog parasite poison that has a very wide margin of error dosage wise, making it the best parasite remover to use on rats (seriously love the stuff - when Latte got scabby (due to lice) I treated her with one small drop of revolution, and just a few hours later she started healing up! A few days down the line and both her scabs and fur were completely healed!).


Another option is to treat with ivermectin - this is an easier to obtain parasite poison usually used in livestock, however you'll need to be much more vigilant when using it as not only is it fairly easy to overdose a rat, but you need to go the whole 9 yards and deep clean the cage and surrounding area while using it (with revolution, it basically makes your rats a walking poison for the parasites in all stages of life - so instead of deep-cleaning the cage and toys, you just let your rat take care of it for you as they walk around the area).

 

Does she scratch and groom herself a lot, i.e. not only the cheek and every 10 seconds or so? If so, she may have mites or lice (which are invisible to the naked eye). You can treat those easily with kitten revolution (over the counter in Oz, don't know about US).

I am really getting annoyed with the sickness of my rats! It seems to me that I am getting all the problems rats have in the first year of having rats. First the respiratory infection, then a tumor, then bugs. Still, I wouldn't give them up for the world .

Yep, we're in the same boat
I've had the same with Blazy just in a different order, first mites, then the respiratory problems, then a tumor, then bumblefoot...I really hope that's all she has to endure! She is my first rat and all these things occurred within the first year!

 

Does she scratch and groom herself a lot, i.e. not only the cheek and every 10 seconds or so?

Maybe not every ten seconds but it is often (even interrupting training). Since I am new to rats I don't really know how often they usually scratch so I couldn't tell you if it is more than they should be doing. I guess I have to schedule another trip to the vet. Thank you for helping out!

 

I had a bad lice infestation last year. To the naked eye, they look small and long with a black to dark-reddish brown body. They are very mobile and can be seen crawling around the skin and hair. Magnified, they look exactly like regular head lice but to my knowledge they are different species and can not survive on human hair and despite my rats running around my room prior to descovering the lice, they never affected me. By the time I first noticed the bugs, they were already thriving and there were tonnes of eggs attached to every hair shaft. I just plucked a few hairs out and look at them under a flash light and I could clearly see tiny white, oval eggs attached to the base of the hairs. As for the rats skin, it was patchy and discoloured with lots of pin prick sores. I can't really remember it in great detail because it was almost a year ago.

 

I've also had mites, they were not visible and only scabs and patchyness were present. Revolution resolved both the mite and lice problem but the lice infestation took 2 treatments to fully get rid off because it was so bad.

 

Do you think I could get revolution over the counter at my dog's vet? It is closer to me and I bet it would be cheaper since the prices at that vet are really good. And would I have to make an appointment for the vet to confirm that they have bugs? I am pretty sure they do and would not want to wast another $30 on the vet saying what I already know. Do your vets let you get it over the counter?

 

I couldn't tell you, you'd have to ask them. In Australia revolution doesn't require a perscription or a vet appointment and its readily available in pet stores for anyone to buy..

 

Do you think I could get revolution over the counter at my dog's vet?

I'd call them and ask. It's generally not cheap but definitely worth it. If you don't need a script, you can buy it online straight away, usually cheaper than at the vet, too.

 

Is this it? https://www.petsmart.com/dog/pharmacy/flea-and-tick/spot-ons/revolution-for-puppy-or-kitten-under-5-lbs-5273350.html
I am hoping it is so I don't have to go to the vet.

 

PetSmart requires a prescription to order it online. It's only available with a prescription in the US. If you try to order it, PetSmart will need to contact your vet to get approval before sending it.

 

CorbinDallasMyMan is right about it being prescription only on the US, however, canadavet has it and you can order it from them without a prescription. It might take a few days to get to you however, and I’m not sure how much shipping would cost (since you have a dog, you could always try asking your vet for revolution “for” your dog and see if they’ll sell it to you that way. I know others have done that when they had less knowledgeable vets who weren’t inclined to try revolution on rats).

 

How much would I need?

 

How many rats do you have? I ask because you will probably have to treat all of them to prevent re-infestation. Out of all 5 of my rats, only 2 had a bad case of lice. The other 3 had a few lice crawling on them but you would never spot them unless you did a thorough search. If you only treat one then nothing is stopping the bugs from moving to an untreated rat and breeding on them instead. You have to be thorough and make sure there are no survivors. But to answer your question: one box should be more than enough if you have less than 5 rats. One box was only just enough to dose all five of my rats; they only need one single drop on the back of the neck.