Red soars on Pet Rat

Question
Hello:
     My pet rat has tiny pimple type soares in half of her body, I gave her a dog shampoo bath, did not find not one flea! I got her dried off and put triple anti-boitic oinment on each soar, some had a brown scab, but others were just starting looking like pink pimples. I changed pe cages for now and removed the pine large chips that I was using. right now I'm using news paper and she loves it.
What Kind of soars are they, Please advice.
Thanks Oscar

Answer
It's hard to tell without looking at it, but it sounds like it might be mites or lice.  Mites usually bite around the exposed skin on rats like their ears, feet, and the base of their tail, causing tiny itchy bumps.  Lice can also cause itchiness over the rest of the body.  Rats don't get fleas too often, surprisingly.

To treat for mites and lice, buy a single tube of the puppy / kitten size of either Advantage or Revolution, both available from your vet.  Ask for a 1cc syringe as well (no needle).  Open the tube, draw up 0.1cc and apply it to the skin at the back of her neck.  This will kill any parasites on her.  Clean the cage out really well and in two weeks repeat the dosage again.  You can even do a third dosing two weeks after that if you wish (many people recommend three but I have always done two and it worked fine).

Pine is not a good bedding to use for rats, as it contains phenols which can irritate their lungs and cause respiratory problems.  The only safe wood chips commonly marketed is the aspen shavings.  Other beddings made of recycled paper are good too, such as Carefresh, Cellsorb, SoftSorb, and Yesterday's News.

If the treatment for parasites doesn't work, she may have an allergy to her food, bedding, or any fabrics in the cage.  You may have to switch out things one at a time to see if she gets any better.  I'm betting it is mites, though, so hopefully she will improve quickly after the first dosage.

If they are larger than the head of a pin they may be small abscesses.  If she is biting at herself (either from itchiness or boredom) or another rat is in the cage biting at her it can easily become an abscess which looks like a gross infected pimple.  These usually have to be lanced and cleaned by a vet and antibiotics prescribed to get rid of the infection.

If you are unsure about any of this please take her to the vet for a professional opinion (though keep in mind a lot of vets don't know a lot about rats).

Hope that helps, good luck!