Hamster Central - View Single Post - Book lice problem in hamsters cage. Any help?

kattsy · 10-07-2022, 04:17 AM

Hello, everyone!
I've recently discovered small bugs in my hamster's cage. They're mostly around dried flowers/leaves, the water bowl, but they can be found all around the cage. From reading online, I think they're book lice.
My cage is quite big - 160x60x80 cm
Most solutions I've read online say to throw the bedding out, freeze items in the cage or bake them. Because my cage is so massive, it's very hard for me to actually freeze or bake all the items because there's so many of them. Plus, I'm worried that if I do go through the hassle of throwing out the bedding, cleaning everything, etc, the bugs will still come back because I've also noticed them outside the cage - on the couch, bookshelf etc. I don't think I can clean everything to the point where there would be no bugs left because they're incredibly small.
Our local petshop recommended we get "predatory bugs" and set them in the cage, they supposedly eat other bugs and would get rid of the book lice. We got them and waited two weeks, but nothing changed.
I'm wondering if anyone has experienced a similar issue and what helped you. I would be ready to clean everything out, I'm just worried that the bugs will find their way back from a random crease where I can't see them and start living in the cage again.

10-07-2022, 04:17 AM
kattsy Newborn Pup Join Date: Mar 2017 Location: Switzerland Posts: 33	Book lice problem in hamsters cage. Any help? Hello, everyone! I've recently discovered small bugs in my hamster's cage. They're mostly around dried flowers/leaves, the water bowl, but they can be found all around the cage. From reading online, I think they're book lice. My cage is quite big - 160x60x80 cm Most solutions I've read online say to throw the bedding out, freeze items in the cage or bake them. Because my cage is so massive, it's very hard for me to actually freeze or bake all the items because there's so many of them. Plus, I'm worried that if I do go through the hassle of throwing out the bedding, cleaning everything, etc, the bugs will still come back because I've also noticed them outside the cage - on the couch, bookshelf etc. I don't think I can clean everything to the point where there would be no bugs left because they're incredibly small. Our local petshop recommended we get "predatory bugs" and set them in the cage, they supposedly eat other bugs and would get rid of the book lice. We got them and waited two weeks, but nothing changed. I'm wondering if anyone has experienced a similar issue and what helped you. I would be ready to clean everything out, I'm just worried that the bugs will find their way back from a random crease where I can't see them and start living in the cage again.