Urgh! Mites?

[frecklypeach]

After posting such a lovely introduction for Dexter the other day, I came home today and noticed some small shiny-looking bugs on his EAR. I freaked out, put him in a spare completely clean cage, gave him a full check over and found more on him in his fur. There were more in his bedding and cage, it was horrific. If I squished them, there was blood. I've never seen anything like this before.

Thrown away his toys, his bedding, his food, and cleaned the hell out of the rest with boiling water, put him in a clean cage with just food, and water and his sterilised wheel and ran straight up the road to my regular pet shop. The owner knows a lot about small animals, and I also texted my friend who was a vet whilst I was there.

Both of them were mystified as to what the bugs were, and both advised the same thing, spot on for hamsters. The shop owner was horrified, these bugs appeared after I bought some bedding and food from her, so she's withdrawn everything until she's investigated. Never had any problems with anything from her before, and she gave me the spot-on for free because she was so worried.

He seems happy and well otherwise, he loved the new cage I put him in, he's been happily digging, playing with my flatmate, enjoying cuddles and running around on his wheel and didn't mind me putting the spot-on on the back of his neck.

Anyone got any ideas or experience with bugs or Spot-on? I don't like putting things on him too much...

[kyrilliondaemon]

We used the spot-on stuff, can't remember which brand but when Scamp was little we may as well have bathed her in it with the amount there was lol
She was fine though and it did clear her mites

[Nush]

I'm sure a lot of people here have had to put anti-mite spot on on their hammies. Generally the hamster doesn't seem to mind. As long as you've weight him and given him the right dosage, then the mites should go.

But give him a check after a few days and see whether they've gone or not - in case it's something other than mites. But it does sounds like mites.

[frecklypeach]

Thank you very much for your reassurances guys. I'm glad to know you used lots kyrilliondaemon, (hello fellow Welshie!) because that's what worried me.

Still not sure what the bugs are - the big ones are black and smaller ones are red. Just concerned that they've been sucking his blood. He's been asleep for the afternoon, but not in his usual spot, just crashed out in a corner. I weighed him on my friend's advice, as she is a vet, and she got me the right spot-on and told me what to do. He's still a healthy weight which is good.

He woke up earlier and sat on my lap quietly. I picked 8 more bugs out of his fur and crushed them. He seemed to enjoy that and now he's gone back to sleep.. you can see the Spot-on in his fur, it's like a greased 90's parted fringe!

[jesselle]

Can you describe the bugs? It sounds like they're very visible?

[frecklypeach]

Yeup, I found them crawling around the very bottom of the cage or on him or his toys. I tried to get a picture of them for this post but I couldn't get a non-blurry image, I will try again though. They're not the black spots visible on his bedding in the photo; that's just the paper.

At their biggest they're black and shiny, the size of a large nit or headlice. At their smallest they're like the tiny blood-coloured insects you sometimes find in brickwork.

[Flamestriker]

I thought mites were microscopic?

[frecklypeach]

After some research, they are indeed. So I now have no idea what these are. Thankfully this morning there's none left in his bedding or on him but there's a lot of dead ones in his food corner.

[Francescamice]

do you have other animals in your house? cats? dogs?
yeah and keep eye on his weight and eating , water and sleeping habits. Good that you have a friend who is a vet, curious to know what these things are though, could have come in off food ,bedding . Keep us posted and hope Dexter is rid of them soon !!

[HollyHamster]

Hmmmm. Were those little black shiny bugs oval in shape? And did they jump around a lot?

If they are, then your hamster might have had fleas. It could have come from anywhere, and from any place Dexter could have been before he came home to live with you. I will do some research and try to come up with an answer as best I can (I have a bit of free time )