Me rat is bleeding

Question
I bought my rat about 3 months ago and noticed he was itching all the time, so after seven day he was taken to the vet since I was worried about mites and him being uncomfortable.  The vet treated him for dry skin.  since then he continued to itch occasionally and I started to notice hard small scabs under his fur on the right side behind his ear.  I went and changed his litter from carefresh to aspen bedding on the recomendation of a  pet store about 5 days ago.  Today I'm petting and scratching him behind the ears where he loves and when I run my fingers through the left side he now has hard scabs there and majorly on the right side and they are bleeding enough to leave about a drop on my finger when I rubbed over it.
I feed him Nutriphase for rats and mice (recommended by pet store) and give him a piece of carrot about an inch long once a day.  He seems to be such a happy rat, but I got him a buddy, but I'm afraid to introduce them/ put them together until this problem is cleared up.  (only had the new one for a couple days though so I don't plan to introduce for a couple weeks).  I just don't know what to do.
Thanks for any advice you can give.

Answer

I do believe your rat is showing signs of allergies to his food. The food he is eating is not food for him, pet store recommend or not. In fact, 80% of Pet stores have no clue what is good for the small animals they sell.  From the poor hermit crabs they keep in dry cool conditions rather than warm and humid like the tropical areas they dwell, (notice at least half of the hermit crabs in the tanks at pet stores are dead? Mine are 8 years old!!)  They have no clue what is good for rats esp, which is why half of them hand you seed mixes and pine or cedar litter which is also bad for rats and all small mammals to be exact.  Rats and mice do not have the exact same nutritional needs. Rats cannot handle high protein in their diet and same applies to fats.  This contributes to kidney disease later in life as well as skin problems, which sounds like your little guy is suffering from.  The scabs are usually found on the head and around the ears when its related to poor diet.

Please check my website for info on proper diet.

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


He should be getting a variety of vegetables, from carrots to peas, and even some fruits daily are good. Grains are a favorite for rats so when you see on my site about diet you will notice various recipes on making a rat diet esp for rats. This includes using cereals such as puffed rice and puffed wheat, oatmeal flakes, even the "wacky macaroni" that comes in green and reds which stands for spinach and carrots. rats seem to love the wacky mac!

I think once you change it you will see a huge change in his skin.  Also, you can apply some neosporin to the bleeding scabs to prevent infection and if he is itchy, cortisone cream found right at any drug store including Walmart will help with itching.   Also, you want to keep his skin hydrated so you will want to give him some olive oil. A bite of a cracker drenched in some olive oil at least once a day for a few weeks will help replenish oils to his skin and will also help with itching.