Bugs in the substrate/wood toys?

[AmityvilleHams]

Most wooden toys should be able to get heated,as long as they don't have metal in them Bendy bridges for example would need replacing and couldn't be safely heated as to be made bendy they have wire in them.Metal and heat is a recipe for disaster,so just be very careful!

[Pebbles82]

I wouldn't heat food Freezing food is fine if it's for a week - 48 hours isn't long enough (I used to think it was). So I would do this:

1) Freeze the food for a week
2) Freeze enough bedding for a full change of bedding for a week.
3) Sit it out for a week (I doubt you'll have a major invasion in 7 days).
4) Do a full cage clean, disinfect the tank, replace all the bedding, clean all the toys and wheel just washing them in washing up liquid. Remove wood items for now and bag them up so it's airtight. You could stick them in the freezer for now until thinking what to do about them. Stick a cardboard shoe box in for now instead of the wood house maybe and if you need other toys replacing, a ceramic mug on its side or toilet roll tubes slit down their length (so they expand) could be good. Or half a cardboard egg box with treats in.

Hope you have enough space in the freezer! If not maybe buy a new bag of Carefresh and hope it's ok.

If all is ok and they are gone, then just carry on as before but maybe freezing bedding. I used to keep a spare bag of food in the freezer then when I needed to use it, put another bag in the freezer. It defrosts really quickly - less than an hour. Same with bedding.

I'm sure Blacky's tank isn't damp but he may have pee'd on something wood and just the level of humidity may have made eggs hatch.

[SKB_Hamsters]

I've seen some similar bugs on a few of my wood/natural hamster items a while ago when I had Sherbet, when I was sorting through all my hamster supplies. I did start panicking when I saw them thinking Sherbet would get mites but luckily she was fine. I put most of my hamster toys in air tight bags and put them in the freezer for a week - although a some things I forgot I had put in the freezer and found them a few week later. Once I removed them from the freezer I left them in the sealed bags - to make sure that the mites had completely gone before I decided to use them in Sherbet's cage. This seemed to get rid of these mites for me and haven't had any since - instead I had a few moth infestations. After all this I now, I make sure that I keep certain toy, chews and treats in airtight bags/boxes to hopefully prevent any more bugs and when I buy anything new for Pumpkin that I make sure that I put it in the freezer to kill any potential bugs on the item, before using them.

edit - just seen you have posted the same link in your post that I was going to post - this website also says supercooled too so items would be fine to freeze.

[Hamsterita]

Ok. I won't heat the food. I'm going to set appart a little bit for these days and freeze the rest again for a week. Anyway I don't think they are coming from the food. I would bet against the wood toys/substrate

I don't think I can freeze the substrate. I don't have room enough. I'll try to heat it and let's see what happens. If It doesn't work I just can't buy more, he would have to wait, coz where I live I only can buy pellets, corn, and wood shavings. There's no hemp, and neither carefresh (not that I want to repeat with carefresh, I didn't like it, and after this problem I kinda hate it even If I don't know for sure if it's causing it). maybe I should order a bulk right now anyway, but I have to re-think my options because after all these problems I think that I'm not going to buy again from the same website.

I think that Blacky only pees in his potty, I've never smell anything wrong out of it, and I don't need to use the dryer machine where I live, but it's a relatively humid climate. maybe that's why they hatched, or maybe a few drops fallen from the water bottle made the substrate wet enough for them to hatch. I think that the problem is the warehouse of the website where I buy everything. It can't be a coincidence that several things that I've bought there came with unpleasants surprises.

Thank you all for your advice, really. I panicked.

[Cinnamon Bear]

Is Blacky itching? I haven't caught up on Blacky's post. I've had to deal with mites before and really only a vet can help you get rid of them, cause the mites lay eggs in Blackys skin.

Internal medicine wasn't effective on Koala Bear even though he was on oral ivermectin for weeks. I had another time when 4 of my hamsters went to the vet for ivermectin. But my personal opinion is that having mites is the worst thing possible. I feel so bad for the little hammy's suffering (I'm guessing that Blacky has the bugs?)

But a cage clean isn't going to do any good if the bugs are laying eggs on blackys skin. He needs a vet to get the correct medicine, then do a full cage clean. and get rid of wood toys, I just threw them all in the garbage since I was spending so much on vet bills I didn't want to take chance of anything still in the toys, maybe unnessesary on my part, throwing away his toys, it's expensive to replace them too.

Truthfully Koala Bear had them so bad that I put him to sleep because of it. I did it because one of those bit me during a cage cleaning so I know how painful it was to him to have many on his body. I'm no way suggesting that yours could escalate to that point. There are different kinds of mites and a vet will do a skin scrape and look at it under a microscope to determine which mite it is and the correct treatment.

Not to sound negative but pet store mite sprays aren't going to work. Usually they are species specific, so you shouldn't get them, but if you are then I'd see a Doctor or talk to a pharmacist. Sorry you are going through this.

I forgot to say that there is topical treatment too. Although oral ivermectine is the most effective. Except it didn't work on Koala but his immune system wasn't strong enough to fight it.

[Pebbles82]

I think it's been thought Blacky doesn't have mites Cinnamon Bear They are some kind of bugs from the toys or substrate most likely. Only way to tell is the cage clean and substrate change really.

I don't think I'd fancy baking substrate I'd be worried about setting fire to it. I think I read somewhere about people sterilising things in the microwave though - not sure how or whatever.

I think you're right, it's most likely warehouse storage conditions. I think if it was me I would chuck the wood items (if you only have 2 or 3). Things made from plain kiln dried pine are ok - I think the kiln drying process is supposed to make sure nothing can live! I do tend to freeze absolutely everything before use. Except substrate - like you I can't really - I could do a couple of small bags but it would take ages to freeze it in such small batches. But if it's so hard to get hold of substrate then maybe you could manage a couple of carrier bag fulls in a freezer? Either the hemp or Carefresh or both. Or Zooplus should be able to ship some within a week.

[Cinnamon Bear]

Oh that's good Serendipity, I thought he had it based on those pics of bugs. That's good news it's not mites then

Mites aren't usually seen by human eye, so that makes sense that it's something else

[DrropS]

Im posting for this same thread since I might have the same problem, mites on Daisy.
I feel terrible at the moment, I feel a bad hammy mommy. She has had so many things in the past month and now even this

She is going crazy in her cage, she just can't stop grooming and scratching herself. Today I realised she has some small bald spots, behind the ears and under the belly, since they are the places she is scratching constantly.
Does anyone know if I can find mite treatment from pet shop, could I just give it to her without a consult of a vet? Since I am leaving to Germany for one week and I wouldnt want to let her to suffer for all that time

[chesca_27]

DrropS I've never had mites with Larry-Jasper before but I have had problems with guinea pigs before so I'll go off of that experience. I would consult a vet because they will be able to take a sample of bugs (if there are any) and analyse it under a microscope. They can also prescribe the necessary medication. Most pet shop treatments are ineffective or dangerous, so I would stick with a vet's advice. Most rodents (as far as I am aware) do have bald spots behind their ears and I believe Syrians have scent glands on their bellies (can't remember where, but if you specify that could help someone else) which have bald patches. Make sure the skin isn't inflamed, irritated or broken.

There is supposed to be an excellent vet just north of London, so if you want to travel, I can PM you the name of the vet and surgery. A well respected breeder uses him and I plan to, but have never needed to take Larry-Jasper to the vet.

[Pebbles82]

I would agree with seeing a vet and not buying something from a pet shop or elsewhere. Not only can they take a scraping to see if it is mites (it could be something else) but there are various types of treatment and I think only vet treatment is effective. Some things you buy are quite toxic too which would not be good at any time but particularly if it isn't mites. Vets can usually fit you in quite quickly and have evening sessions