Posted by rodmalm on May 09, 2003 at 08:04:44:
I'm not positive I have a problem, but I suspect that I do.
I have 12 colonies of blue rats with babies and I occasionally sell a few just weaned babies to a local pet shop for pets. Anyway, customers that have bought them from the shop are coming down with ringworm!
Here's the thing, all of my rats look perfect--no missing or thinning hair, no scabs, no scratching noticed. I've throughly looked them all over and they look great.
Do you think I should treat them for ringworm? If so, is there an easy way? What should I use?
I am thinking of "dipping" them in a Nolvasan solution (chlorhexadine diacitate) when I clean their cages along with disinfectiong the cages with the same. (I have about 50 adults and 150 babies so treating them individually with anything like a salve/shampoo on a daily basis is out of the question.)--LOL, yeah right, shampooing rats!!
Also, since I can't see any symptoms, any idea how I can tell when things are better?
Lastly, does anyone know if a black light purchased at the local hardware store ($10) would work the same as a "woods" light? I understand some species of the ringworm fungus will illuminate under the right light and I don't want to spend $300 for a woods light if a normal black light will suffice. I already bought a $10 black light, and while the rats look amazing under it, I can't see anything that looks like it is glowing(except for their white fur).
Thanks,
Rodney
