Bugs in the substrate/wood toys?

[BorisPasha]

I've no idea what those are Hamsterita I don't like the look of that willow tunnel either, it looks in pretty terrible condition to me. I would have thrown it out but then I'm a bit OTT when it comes to bugs so maybe see what others have to say, maybe it's meant to look like that (I've not had one of those tunnels so I don't know).

[souffle]

I can't really see it as the pic is too fuzzy. The fibres on the bridge look like the stuff that the grain moths make when they are larvae. Send the pic to them and ask for a refund.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_mealmoth

[Pebbles82]

The first pic from the substrate - almost just looks like a piece of paper/substrate to me. But if you've found a few .... it's hard to tell when it's so close up on the photo. The willow tunnel looks very dirty apart from anything else. I would seal it up in a plastic bag, send the photo to Zooplus and ask for a refund. Say it looks like moth webbing or they'll just say clean it. They will probably tell you to bin it and send you another one.

Looking at the pic of the thing from the Ovo substrate again - is that a white bit on the end? It almost looks like something hatching out of a chrysalis if that is the case. Was it new substrate you put in the Ovo?

Do Amazon ship to you? I have found of all the things I have ever bought, the things from Amazon are always absolutely fine - and wrapped in plastic usually. They must have good storage or a big turnover of items - or both - so things aren't sitting there too long.

[Hamsterita]

Thank you cypher, Boris, Souffle and Serendipity for your answers.

Cypher, Souffle and Serendipity, I've contacted the zooplus staff and in theory they're giving me a parcial refund. I don't need to send it back (thankfully because it was going to be more expensive than the tunnel itself). Anyway I'm not very happy because they are going to refund me the cost of the tunnel, but it came unpackaged and it was directly over a grass hammock that was unpackaged as well, so it may be infected too... I've baked it at 100º for half an hour so I hope If the hammock was infected it's ok now. These things are making me a nervous wreck

Serendipity If I find more (I hope not) I'll take more photos. But it's strange, it looks a lot like the thing that I found stuck on the ovo walls the other day, but I didn't have my glasses on so I'm not sure. I would have thought that it was rests of food (it's hard, like pasta after a few days or when it's raw) but I think that it's unlikely because I've been feeding him pellets, because his HH mix is in the fridge, and it doesn't look as a sunflower seed at all. So I thought that maybe it was some kind of egg or cocoon or other nasty thing. The substrate that I'm using now is carefresh natural

Amazon has an spanish website and obviously they send to Spain, but it doesn't have so many things as amazon.com or amazon.uk and it doesn't have almost any hamster productos. Some sellers from amazon.uk also send to Spain but it's ridiculously expensive (I'm talking about 20 euros for a bendy bridge and so on).

I have the worst luck ever

[Pebbles82]

It could just be a piece of Carefresh natural Right colour and you often get clumpy bits. Keep them in a jar and see if anything happens. So sorry you're having all this but it does make us more sensitive to seeing these things - I kept thinking I could see moths and they were just marks on the woodwork in the house

I also know what you mean about other items being in with a suspect item. If you've baked the grass hammock it should be fine. Maybe freeze it afterwards as well!

Miscota is in Spain isn't it? Do they sell hamster things? I know they sell cages. I have to say I stuck mostly to ceramic, plastic and plain plastikoted wood items after my moth incident - things that were easy to just wash in soapy water.

[Hamsterita]

Originally Posted by Serendipity7000

It could just be a piece of Carefresh natural Right colour and you often get clumpy bits. Keep them in a jar and see if anything happens. So sorry you're having all this but it does make us more sensitive to seeing these things - I kept thinking I could see moths and they were just marks on the woodwork in the house

I also know what you mean about other items being in with a suspect item. If you've baked the grass hammock it should be fine. Maybe freeze it afterwards as well!

Miscota is in Spain isn't it? Do they sell hamster things? I know they sell cages.

I immediately throw everything down the toilet But you're right, to be sure next time I should monitor it.

Wikipedia says "None of the stages of the organism (eggs, larvae, adults) is very temperature-tolerant and all can be killed by a week of freezing or by brief heating in a microwave or conventional oven when such treatment is practical." I spent the whole morning baking EVERYTHING and I have some left hemp that I'm going to bake tomorrow. So FINGERS CROSSED. Nothing will touch the new tank without being baked/frozen first.

My freezer is completely full and I'm having problems freezing the food. I'm doing it in several batches because I don't have enough room so it's taking me ages, I didn't finish the first batch (today is the 7th day) and I think that I'll have to put two more (so it will take me almost a whole month)

Miscota is were I had bought all my other hamster products and they were the ones that sent me the HH with moths (and in this case I'm 100% sure that it was the food because I found the larvae inside the tupperware, and it had the webby thing all over the place). However the second bag apparently (apparently, because I don't know anymore) was fine. And they aren't serious, they announce a lot of things that they don't have on stock and they don't send you the order in ages because they are getting them from the stockists. The last order that I did was the fastest and they it took a week and a half to arrive, and I had paid for the 24hours delivery, incredible. And if you don't complain, they don't say anything about having problems with the order.

Anyway they are very cheap (the cheapest that I've found) and it's the website with more variety in Spain (by far), so thinking about my terrible luck, if all the things that I receive are infested maybe I should buy there again, because at least that way I can save money and order everything from the same place.

[Pebbles82]

It's a total pain. I just go with freezing absolutely everthing Although I gave up freezing bedding due to space issues.

[Hekomi]

Oh dear! That's a huge pain.

We had grain weevils ourselves, but they look maybe more like pantry moths? Upon inspection, looks like the same thing Souffle suggested.

They're a bit of a pain but I'm sure you'll kick them fast! Sorry you're having so many issues. I can't imagine how frustrated you are!