Urgh! Mites? - Page 2

jesselle · 10-25-2012, 01:29 AM

i was going to say, they sound like fleas as they're quite shiny. if their movements were jumpy, they could be fleas.

they're not bedbugs are they?!

jesselle · 10-25-2012, 01:32 AM

can you take some pics of the dead ones?

frecklypeach · 10-25-2012, 05:06 AM

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do you have other animals in your house? cats? dogs?
yeah and keep eye on his weight and eating , water and sleeping habits. Good that you have a friend who is a vet, curious to know what these things are though, could have come in off food ,bedding . Keep us posted and hope Dexter is rid of them soon !!

I live in a block of flats and it's quite possible someone somewhere could have cats or dogs... or any of our friends who have pets that have visited could have brought it. The most rational idea unfortunately is that they probably came from my regular petshop on the food I brought or in bedding. The owner's good though, she's withdrawn stock until she can be certain herself and wants updates on his condition

I'll keep you posted, thank you!

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Hmmmm. Were those little black shiny bugs oval in shape? And did they jump around a lot?

If they are, then your hamster might have had fleas. It could have come from anywhere, and from any place Dexter could have been before he came home to live with you. I will do some research and try to come up with an answer as best I can (I have a bit of free time )

They did move very quickly so that is possible. I'm currently looking into it too, thanks for helping, that is very kind of you

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can you take some pics of the dead ones?

I have taken some for you! Haha. I'll post them shortly!

frecklypeach · 10-25-2012, 05:13 AM

Picture time, yaaaay!

Dexter's doing good this morning, if you look closely you can see the little purple/red spot on the left ear where he was bitten by at least 4 of the nasties. It seems to be healing well though, but will keep an eye.

This floor is normally blue and clean with no black spots or debris whatsoever.

Again, should be clean. Lots of little dead buggy babies and a few big nasty ones which were dying, as they were moving very slowly.

I hope these help someone who might not encounter or have encountered something like this before - I definitely haven't. From now on I'm going to freeze any new bedding I get and be wary, even if I trust the source.

jesselle · 10-25-2012, 05:49 AM

goood lord! i've never seen anything like it. so many of them.

Nush · 10-25-2012, 06:02 AM

O God there are plenty of them. Poor Dexter (he looks very cute in the photo). Glad he's doing better now.

If they were fleas they would have jumped away really quickly when you touch them. Fleas are erratic and don't really sit still. They are also very hard to kill and you have to pinch really hard to catch one. If that's how they were then I'd say it's likely to be fleas. I've never seen red ones though but there are a few types of fleas out there.

If you're likely to get fleas in the future you could get the STV020. It's a non-toxic flea trap. It has a lamp that mimics the heat of a warm blooded animal and the fleas are attracted to it. There is a sticker at the bottom of the lamp, once the fleas stick to it, they die. But I'd only get it, if you're likely to have fleas, in your case I think it was a bad batch of substrate.

The flea trap might not stop an outbreak (like the one in the photo) but it'll alert you if you start having a flea problem. Here's the amazon link: http://www.amazon.co.uk/STV-Internat...sr=1-1-catcorr

frecklypeach · 10-25-2012, 09:03 AM

He got me really worried when I saw how much blood there was in the cage, smears and spots all over one corner... but he's still his cheerful self.

That's funny then, because they moved quickly but they weren't too hard to catch, and they squashed quite easily. The plot thickens!

I think we might look into outbreak prevention. Whatever these little creatures are, they're not ideal. So your links and suggestions are really helpful. Thank you!

souffle · 10-25-2012, 10:26 AM

They may be from the food - flour beetles or weevils. They don't bite hams but I'd check the food bags and see if they are in there. Also the bedding. They do crawl onthe hamster but don't bite it. Maybe he scratched himself coz they itched him?

frecklypeach · 10-25-2012, 01:14 PM

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Originally Posted by souffle

They may be from the food - flour beetles or weevils. They don't bite hams but I'd check the food bags and see if they are in there. Also the bedding. They do crawl onthe hamster but don't bite it. Maybe he scratched himself coz they itched him?

I hoped they would be this! But unfortunately whatever it is has definitely bit him, as he has a red spot on his ear that bled a little when I pulled the bugs off it yesterday morning(there were 4 fat ones sitting on his ear, close together) and when I squished the bugs to kill them, they splattered blood.

I think I managed to get to him and sort him out in time though, as the red spot is fading quickly and he is otherwise doing well tonight. His cage is clean again, no new bugs appearing. Back on his wheel, drinking and eating normally, meerkatting all over the place and bright-eyed and bushytailed.

I've checked everything over again, food bags and bedding and all, and no bugs to be seen in his new batch. Thank you for the reminder and help souffle! Still wary though

I hope even if we don't find out what they were, this might help someone else.

Flamestriker · 10-25-2012, 01:38 PM

I would give him another dose of spot on in four weeks time just to be sure they are all dead and no eggs have hatched. Dexter is a cute, brave hammy