Pet Forum / Mammals / Rats / October 2006

I believe that all lice are species specific, they do not cross the
species barrier, so rat lice will not live on humans and vise versa.
They will only live on one type of blood.
Plus, unlike mites and fleas, lice aren't very mobile.  They don't jump
or do much crawling.  Even if you have a rat with lice, chances are
that the other rats won't get them unless they are living together.  It
is always good to treat all of the rats in a house, especially if they
freerange in the same area together to be safe, but they do not spread
as easily as mites and other parasites do.  They won't travel from one
cage to another on their own.
Lice are also easier to diagnose because they are visible to the naked
eye, and so are the nits.  I would rather deal with lice a hundred
times over than to have to deal with mites or fleas.  Lice are also
easier to destoy, many products will kill them that will not kill
mites.  Normally you treat the host, do some laundry and some
vacuuming, and that is all that it takes to get rid of them.  It isn't
like you have to treat your entire house for weeks on end with sprays
and products to kill them off.
Humans spread lice in the same fashion, they have to be in very close
proximity to each other.  Lice can't be spread with casual interaction
with someone who has them, they have to be in very close contact with
the infected person.
Lice will only live about 24 hours without a host and then they die, so
lice that fall off humans or animals and find themselves on carpets and
whatnot will usually die off.  If people are sharing pillows, towels
and stuff, then they have a better chance of spreading them.