Rat losing hair and his balls

Question
Hello

we have a pet rat who is now around 3, in the last week he has lost alot of his hair and both of his testicals, no idea on that one, there are small tics or mites on the area with no fur.

Just concered what is wrong, we are going to get tic shampoo i think just really concered where his balls went? no in his cage or anything?

Thanks in advance

Matthew

Answer
Sounds like he has mites, not tics.  The shampoos you plan on getting are toxic to rats and wont do anything but possibly make him sick.

As for his testicles, I can almost promise you that they are not just laying around the cage in a corner somewhere.

I can assure you they are still inside the rats scrotum. Rats have an open inguinal canal. This allows them to draw their testicles up and an untrained eye may even mistake the male for a female. Rats will do this when they are feeling unwell or very scared.

I think perhaps a vet should investigate this further. While he is looking for the rats man bits he can treat him for mites properly using ivermectin.  ;)