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Old 09-06-2021, 08:14 AM  
Pebbles82
Hamster Antics
 
Join Date: Sep 2014
Posts: 23,533
Default Re: I found those bugs in my hamsters cage. What are those?

Hello. The photo needs resizing to fit the forum page - I couldn't see much - but I clicked on your link to see the photo and saw the bug. No idea what it is - but the most likely source is from the hamster food. It almost always comes from the food. Maybe some kind of grain weavil.

So you said you'd done a complete deep clean - was that after you found the bugs? What you need to do is bin the remaining food and buy a new bag. And freeze it for a week. During that week you can take the daily amount of food needed out while the bag is in the freezer (the food defrosts very quickly). Chances are the new bag will be absolutely fine (hence ok to take daily amounts out during the first week) but freezing for a week will kill any eggs that might hatch out later if it wasn't frozen.

After a moth outbreak from hamster food, I freeze all hamster food, including treats and chew sticks etc! Best way is to get two bags at a time, freeze them both for a week, then keep the contents in a lock and lock type storage container. Then when you start on the second bag, buy another bag to go in the freezer for a week.

Your hamster will almost certainly be stressed and upset by a full cage clean so it's not something you want to do normally, but in this case, you do need to.

So since you found the bugs you've done a full cage clean with vinegar and water? Just make sure you rinse everything well so the smell doesn't overpower the hamster. You'll also need to clean all the cage contents - the house, toys etc. And throw away all bedding, food and nesting. It's a huge upheaval for the hamster especially as new to you, so he'll probably need a good two weeks to settle into the cage again and during that time, no cleaning or moving things - and just talk to him and say sorry! But it was necessary. He'll get over it once he starts to get a routine and feel more confident.

Any plastic or ceramic items you can just wash with soapy fairy liquid water and rinse well. Smooth wood items you can just wipe with a damp cloth. Bark wood items are the tricky thing. They either need replacing or baking in the oven. I haven't had much success with baking wood items in the oven personally! Maybe I did it wrong but they smelled awful and I ended up having to replace them. One reason why I now use very few bark wood items and prefer smooth wood and ceramic or plastic items!

The bugs will be from the food - but they of course spread to substrate and toys etc.

Once you've done this they'll be gone - providing you don't keep using the same bag of food. If you could PM one of the moderators (Souffle or Amethyst) and ask them to resize your photo, then it will be easier to read as the photo has stretched your thread so it's hard to read! Don't worry - it takes time to get used to posting photos on here but you need to resize them to 600 pixels wide,
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