If I try to give my rats a bath they scratch and bite... HELP PLEASE!!?

I have two male rats and they both have disguisting oil glands on their backs and smell horrible and one has lice, but when ever I try to give them a bath they scratch and bite HELP!If I try to give my rats a bath they scratch and bite... HELP PLEASE!!?
Yeah. They'll do that. Lets start out with baths don't cause wet tail, Lawsonia intracellularis does for the most part. And last I checked, water gets tested for bacteria. I'd go on a 'I despise hamsters' rant, but yeah.





Now onto your questions. Your boys have buck grease. Its one of the charms of owning a male rat. Most of them don't groom it off because they think it makes them look sexy.





You can do things to limit the production of the buck grease by increasing the omega 3 fatty acids in their diet. Olive oil or flaxseed oil on wheat bread 2-3 times a week should reduce the buck grease and keep them all sleek and pretty.





Lice, not good. One rat gets lice, 2 rats have lice. Lice can lead to all sorts of problems.


http://ratfanclub.org/skin.html


That site has some information on treating lice. Just remember that rats are tiny compared to cats/dogs and anything you could use on them thats meant for a cat or dog could kill them in an improper dose.


You'll have to treat the entire cage including toys , discard even unused bedding (lice have been known to come in on bedding) and sanitize 'soft' surfaces (hammocks) and all that to ensure that you are getting rid of the lice.








On to bath time. My babies start out early getting baths for this reason. The sooner they understand that you're not trying to drown them, the easier it is.


When I first get a baby rat, after I socialize it and I'm sure its trusting me, we try a fake bath. I put about a half inch of water in the sink, no water running, and just put the rat in the sink. I wet my hands and just pet the rat, talk to it, scratch its favorite spots, all with wet hands and the rat sitting in water. It learns that nothing horrid is going to come of being in the sink with that water. I do that as much as every day for a week before real bath time.





The first time I use soap, I fill the sink as before, wet the rat the same as always, and usually use dawn dish soap (original) or a baby shampoo like no-tears. I put a bit of soap on the counter, and use my fingers to dab the soap onto the rat. It keeps that gush of air from coming out of the soap bottle onto the rat, along with any sound that could cause more distress. I soap the rat up, using my fingers, talking to them the entire time. Then, with my girls, I can turn the water on, get it to a good temperature and rinse them under running water, but it took alot of training to be able to do that. Your best bet is to have a way to wash the rat in one sink, rinse it in standing water in another.


You might need a second application of soap on the back of your males the first bath, but avoid that much soap on the entire body. Avoid eyes, ears and mouth, and watch what you do with their front feet because they'll use it to touch their eyes at some point during the bath, and rats get ANGRY when they have shampoo in their eyes.





You can use a soft bristle toothbrush on the tail, brushing base to tip, to get any urine-stains off of it.





I'd recommend a once a month bath on them because they're males, less if the buck grease gets better from the olive oil on bread.





Its really just a matter of re-trust training your rat to a new situation. Once bath time is over, put them in a towel, rub them dry (which seems to be every rats favorite part) and give them a treat or 2. Make sure you tell them that they're good rats the entire time, talk to them nicely, don't raise your voice. Its a scary ordeal to let someone SO much bigger than them dunk them in water and make them smell funny. The fake bath training that I use, with plain water, seems to make my babies actually like their baths. They don't scratch, they don't fight. I've never been bitten during bath time. They all get the 'fake bath' training no matter their age (I've gotten weanlings to old abandoned abuse cases)


The fake bath works, every day, every other day, put them in the sink with a bit of water, pet them, get them used to the bath area surroundings, take them out, dry them off and give them treats and lots of love.





I hope that helps.If I try to give my rats a bath they scratch and bite... HELP PLEASE!!?
There are usually a number of people around here to give good answers about rats, but they haven't chimed in yet.





I'm not expert enough to give you direct advice, but I can refer you to some information I believe is correct and I hope will be helpful. The first link below gives some good suggestions about bathing. The second one has some information about lice.





Beyond that, you might want to ask questions at a rat-specific place, such as The Rat Shack. (See the third link below.) There's also good information at/through the Spaz Rats site (fourth link below); the owner of that site is one of the people who usually give good answers to rat questions here.
Whoever said they can get wet tail is dead wrong, wet tail is a type of diarrhea found primarily in hamsters.





Of course your rats don't like water. Suck it up- put on a long sleeved shirt, get some ferret shampoo, don't get their faces wet, and scrub away. You'll probably get a few scratches, nothing deadly. If your rat has lice/ mites it needs to see a vet.
well you can get spray bath stuff in the pet store its not healthy to give a rat a bath they can get sick really easy i got some for my hammie and it smells real good 2





hope i helped
dont keep them together or theyll both have lice
Bathe them in Chinchilla Sand