Rat hair loss/ skin condition

Question
QUESTION: My male rat Leo is almost a year old. He was in a very large cage with 3 other young rats. I believe they may have over groomed him and now what started as a small missing patch of hair behind the left ear/neck area is about the size of a half dollar and has little scratches and almost looks like a hot spot.i think it started about 2 weeks ago. It isn't really red and there does not appear to be any puss or infection. There are a few scabs, but its not a dark colored scab just kind of dry shiny yellowish skin. I can't get him into the vet until tomorrow at the earliest and even then i will have to wait and see if i can be worked in. He is eating and drinking normally and is still always on the go. What could it be? I use newspaper for bedding because he had a terrible bout with a respitory infection and he is in a cage by him self currently. I did not see any mites on him or the other 3 boys is there anything I can do for it myself if I cant get him into the vet? I haven't given him a bath or put anything on it because i don't want to further irritate the skin, but it does look bad. I don't want my baby boy to suffer...help!

ANSWER: Is the skin flaky?  Is the residue on the rats skin almost like a wax like substance?
Is there an odor, such as a yeast odor or perhaps a sour odor?

Can you take a photo of him?   Has her fur fallen out in these areas?

Can you attach a photo after our follow up?

Also please take a look at my website and the page here about little Jasper. I am not sure if Jasper looks anything like what your rat has, but I want you to take a look just to make sure its NOT the same thing.

http://www.freewebs.com/crittercity/skinproblemsabscesses.htm

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------


Leo   QUESTION: the skin is a little crusty near the scab, but not anywhere else. there is no odor and it doesn't weep or ooze. My female had an abcess right after her litter was weened and this doesn't look like that at all. it does somewhat look like the picture on your site of the rat with mites. I spoke to several vet's offices today and they have all discontinued using revolution. one vet suggested that i use advantage for cats instead. Will the advantage work like the revolution? I have included a photo of Leo's boo boo this time. Let me know what you think.

Answer

Probably mites.  Start with neosporin on that nasty area to help infection. You can use some hydrocortisone on it for itching.  As for revolution, I have no clue why they are not using it but No, advantage does nothing for mites and is not recommended to be used on rats at all. Ivermetcin is for lice, revolution for mites.