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Old 07-06-2020, 10:25 AM   #1
kattsy
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Exclamation Bugs in my hamsters cage! help!

Hello!

I've been noticing these little bugs in my hamsters food, water (and probably other places in the cage but they're so small i cant notice them). What are they and how do i get rid of them?

Thank you!
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Old 07-06-2020, 11:10 AM   #2
beautifulhammy
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Default Re: Bugs in my hamsters cage! help!

Not sure what they are, but if they are in your hamsters food and cage, it means you have a serious cleanliness problem. How often do you clean out the cage?

You might have to throw out all the food and buy more. You will have to do a deep clean of your hamsters cage and toys too... wash everything plastic, throw away any wooden toys as the bugs most likely use the wood to hide in and lay their eggs.

Have you noticed your hamster scratching him/ her self quite alot? Perhaps it has them in it's fur too?
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Old 07-06-2020, 11:14 AM   #3
kattsy
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Default Re: Bugs in my hamsters cage! help!

I spot clean her cage every 3-4 days as she only pees in one spot under her house and only poops in one spot in her house

I only have wooden stuff in her cage , since its a natural cage setup, i've heard you can bake wooden items in the oven to desinfect them, is that an option?

I haven't noticed her scratching herself, i will check her later tonight as she is still sleeping right now
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Old 07-06-2020, 11:47 AM   #4
Pebbles82
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Default Re: Bugs in my hamsters cage! help!

Hi there. It’s common to get bugs in pet food - they look like weavils to me. It almost always comes from the food. It is nothing to do with your cleanliness. It’s why I now freeze all hamster food for a week before using! After having an outbreak of moths. Moth eggs are too small to see but common in most pet foods. They hatch out when it’s warmer. Freezing kills moth eggs and other bugs.

If they are in the bedding as well now then yes you will need to do a full cage clean unfortunately. Not great for the hamster but he should settle again in a week or so. Just scatter some treats afterwards to make up for it.

They shouldn’t do any harm - hamsters will eat bugs - a bit of live food! But they could start breeding so you want rid.
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Old 07-06-2020, 01:58 PM   #5
kattsy
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Default Re: Bugs in my hamsters cage! help!

Quote:
Originally Posted by Serendipity7000 View Post
Hi there. It’s common to get bugs in pet food - they look like weavils to me. It almost always comes from the food. It is nothing to do with your cleanliness. It’s why I now freeze all hamster food for a week before using! After having an outbreak of moths. Moth eggs are too small to see but common in most pet foods. They hatch out when it’s warmer. Freezing kills moth eggs and other bugs.

If they are in the bedding as well now then yes you will need to do a full cage clean unfortunately. Not great for the hamster but he should settle again in a week or so. Just scatter some treats afterwards to make up for it.

They shouldn’t do any harm - hamsters will eat bugs - a bit of live food! But they could start breeding so you want rid.
Hello!

I've put her in a bin cage for now, put everything fresh and clean inside, i disinfected her wooden items and baked them in the over for 2 hours. Im gonna fully clean her old cage tomorrow with a disinfector. I'm a bit worried i wont be able to clean all of them out as they are sooo tiny, its hard to spot them without a flashlight, i noticed now that theyre all over the cages lid, in the small holes etc. Hopefully i can get them out.
We're thinking of taking her to the vet tomorrow, just to make sure they're not mites or anything harmfull.
I also threw out her house since it was full with them, i dont know how i didnt notice it before! So she'll also get a new house tomorrow haha
Thank you for your reply, it calmed me down a bit! I google Weavils and im almost certain its the same bug.
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Old 07-06-2020, 02:07 PM   #6
Pebbles82
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Default Re: Bugs in my hamsters cage! help!

You get them in flour as well. We used to eat them baked in the cakes lol. My grandma just accepted weavils in flour.

It is quite gross when you get loads. When I had to disinfect my cage after I found it was crawling with moths (under the substrate) I phoned the vet and they said use beaphar for small animals as that’s what they use when they do a deep clean.

I took the cage base up to the bathroom and put it in the bath and squirted it all over with beaphar left it on for a few minutes and wiped it in all over. Then showered it off in the bath - that should rinse off any stragglers if they haven’t been killed or drowned.

Then left the base outside to air then did the same bath/shower treatment with the bars.
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Old 07-06-2020, 02:09 PM   #7
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Default Re: Bugs in my hamsters cage! help!

Here it is. It seems to be a stupid price on amazon at the moment but pet shops sell it as well. I’d get two bottles as I used one up by dowsing things.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Beaphar-Dee...4069693&sr=8-2

As for the food - either chuck the bag or put it in the freezer. Persionally I’d chuck that bag and put a new bag in the freezer. Obviously you still need to feed him but you can just take a bit out of the bag in the freezer. Although I leave it a week to make sure anything is well and truly dead, a spoonful is probably fine after 24 hours. And a new bag may be fine anyway.
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Old 07-06-2020, 02:21 PM   #8
kattsy
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Default Re: Bugs in my hamsters cage! help!

Quote:
Originally Posted by Serendipity7000 View Post
You get them in flour as well. We used to eat them baked in the cakes lol. My grandma just accepted weavils in flour.

It is quite gross when you get loads. When I had to disinfect my cage after I found it was crawling with moths (under the substrate) I phoned the vet and they said use beaphar for small animals as that’s what they use when they do a deep clean.

I took the cage base up to the bathroom and put it in the bath and squirted it all over with beaphar left it on for a few minutes and wiped it in all over. Then showered it off in the bath - that should rinse off any stragglers if they haven’t been killed or drowned.

Then left the base outside to air then did the same bath/shower treatment with the bars.
She has a big glass tank (i attached an image) , so i can't really carry it to the bath, its super heavy and i think too big for the bath haha. I do have a special disinfector for small animal cages that i got at the pet store, i plan on washing it with soapy water ,whiping in down, then spraying it all with the disinfector, hopefully that helps
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Old 07-06-2020, 02:23 PM   #9
kattsy
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Default Re: Bugs in my hamsters cage! help!

i recently got her a new food mix that said to freeze it for 48 hours, which i did, but maybe there were still some bugs alive in there? i also got her a bunch of new treats, hays etc, so its possible that they came from one of those items. Im gonna make sure i put everything in the freezer

thank you so much for the replies!
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Old 07-06-2020, 02:24 PM   #10
kattsy
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Default Re: Bugs in my hamsters cage! help!

Quote:
Originally Posted by Serendipity7000 View Post
Here it is. It seems to be a stupid price on amazon at the moment but pet shops sell it as well. I’d get two bottles as I used one up by dowsing things.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Beaphar-Dee...4069693&sr=8-2

As for the food - either chuck the bag or put it in the freezer. Persionally I’d chuck that bag and put a new bag in the freezer. Obviously you still need to feed him but you can just take a bit out of the bag in the freezer. Although I leave it a week to make sure anything is well and truly dead, a spoonful is probably fine after 24 hours. And a new bag may be fine anyway.
i recently got her a new food mix that said to freeze it for 48 hours, which i did, but maybe there were still some bugs alive in there? i also got her a bunch of new treats, hays etc, so its possible that they came from one of those items. Im gonna make sure i put everything in the freezer

thank you so much for the replies!
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