Little white mites that appear out of nowhere?

[Woweth]

I’ve had problems with these little white mites with my previous hamster, and now it’s started again with my new one. I’m not sure where they come from, or why they’re there, but they seem to cover absolutely everything in the cage, which you’ll only find if you look really close. My late hamster had them in a different enclosure from this one, with a different bedding and food, and yet they’ve came back. I spot cleaned both of the enclosures regularly as they’re both big, but they still come back. I’ve changed up the bedding and food numerous times, right now it’s a mixture of dried hay and straw, which were bought from a pet shop. Neither hamsters ever showed signs of itching, hair loss, or discomfort, I never saw any mites on the hamsters themselves, just in the enclosure. The last time I had them I did a full cleaning with insecticide shampoo, but I left one of the wooden hides that seemed to have got it the worst, and kept it in a box to see if the mites would survive being away from the hamster, as an experiment I guess. The box was fully sealed, and when I checked back weeks later they were still alive, so I don’t possibly know what they survive on, or where they came from. I thought possibly they might have came from my trixie natural wooden hides, but I’m not sure. Does anyone know what these things are, and are they actually harmful to the hamster or just a nuisance?

[Pebbles82]

It sounds like the hay- you can get little mites from hay. I would freeze it for a week before use to kill any bugs that could hatch out (eggs are often too tiny to see).

Is that the only bedding you use? Because a paper based substrate tends to work best - some people add a bit of hay for enrichment but it isn't necessary and hamsters aren't really hay eaters like rabbits are. I tend to avoid it as it can have sharp pokey bits and also because of the mites issue - although freezing it first should help.

Storing bedding is important too. It really needs to be stored indoors in a dry environment at a normal temperature. Sometimes if bedding gets a bit damp say from being stored outdoors, it encourages mites too.

You can get bugs in food too and that is usually the source of any bugs. Although hay is a known source as well. I freeze alll hamster food and treats etc for a week first. To kill off anything that might be in it.

[beautifulhammy]

I agree, it's the hay. I always use woodshavings and have never had any problems with mites, but certainly you get mites living in the hay.

[kattsy]

Hello!
Im having the same issue right now!

We took our hamster to the vet today and turns out they were mites, she got treatment and should be all okey now. (we had to desinfect everything)

i strongly recommend taking her to the vet !

[Pebbles82]

There are many different kinds of mites. The ones that live on hamsters are far too small to see. They usually take a skin scraping and look at it under a magnifying glass to diagnose hamster mites. I’m just saying that because some vets are pretty gung ho about prescribing for hamster mites without fully checking and the invermectin used has high toxicity so should only be used if really needed.

There are loads of other bugs called “mites “ like the type you get in hay which are visible to the human eye. Hamsters naturally have a certain type of mite that lives on them permanently- it only becomes an issue if they start proliferating if the hamster has a reduced immune system - eg due to illness or stress.