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Post by annie on May 17, 2005 13:24:00 GMT -8
I read the messages pertaining to fleas. I have found little bugs of various sizes, many very hard to see on myself. The only thing i could think of was about a month ago I did some heavy duty yardwork etc. Never had a problem like this before. Seemed it was mostly when i was sitting on "my" couch".
Today my daughter and I were playing with some of our gerbils on a big piece of paper on the counter and one on those pests was left behind on the paper. I crushed it with the back of my fingernail and it left bright red blood on the paper. We have 5 so i began one by one checking them on the paper. I found 5 of these mite pests on just one gerbil. I can tell you that they bite hard on me, just think of how it feels for these little gerbies.
Has anyone had a problem with these and if so what did you do to get rid of them and just as important, what caused these bugs to take up with gerbils? I actually stopped putting bedding in and just gave them cardboard to chew on as there are five of them and they fill the 30 gallon tank up quite quickly.
Thanks for any advice any of you have!
Annie
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Post by Ritzie/Admin on May 18, 2005 1:17:51 GMT -8
Blood Lice. Symptoms: Bald spots by scratching itself. Causes: Blood lice (also known as bird lice or blood mites) are common with other animals. Especially with people who keep also birds can find blood lice on their gerbils. Blood lice are visible, it are minuscule small spider-like parasites. Often people discover them only when their gerbils scratch a lot and get bald spots from scratching. Especially during hot summers can these creatures be a real plague. Blood lice are as big as a grain of salt. They are greyish-white and red when absorbed with blood. They are especially visible on the ears, because the blood lice have there no hindrance of the think fur to suck blood at their host (your gerbil). When you have more gerbil groups or other pets, than you need to be careful that you won't spread them. You can bring them easily over by your cloths from one tank to another, because they are so small. They can also bite humans, which result in a small red itchy spot, but they cannot maintain themselves on humans, so you will lose them unlike your gerbils. Treatment: Combating blood lice is very well possible. In pet shops you will be able to find enough medicines against blood lice. Read the instructions for use always very good! Always check if the medicine will be suitable for gerbils and what the dose need to be. With blood lice you need to repeat the treatment twice or three times. This has to be done each time after 6 days, because the live cycle of blood lice is 7 days. Prevention: Make sure that your gerbils (or their tanks) cannot come in the neighbourhood of other pets, like birds. And make sure that you won't bring over any blood lice from one tank to another or from your birds to your gerbils. Good hygiene is helpful too of course. Do they look like this (only much smaller of course)? Or not?  |
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Post by annie on May 18, 2005 3:49:24 GMT -8
Thank you for your advice. My daughter and i were up last night bleaching everything and ended up putting the 30 gallon aq. in the garage. I pulled out a 20 gallon tank, we cleaned that and moved them from the family room to her room. We were both scratching last night. I will stop and get something from the pet store for them today and will change their bedding every couple days I guess.
The birds do not seem to be affected, that is good; didn't see any signs anyways. I'll keep you p osted. thanks again!
Annie
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Post by Meganb on May 18, 2005 4:52:54 GMT -8
Pet store remedies aren't always enought sometimes to kill all the bugs. They'll kill most of them, but one or two will survive and multiply and you'll have the same problem all over again. you may want to see your vet to get some oral or injectible medication (usually a drug called ivermectin) that will kill the mites as well. and since you and your daughter are scratching, it wouldn't hurt to consult a doctor for their opinion on getting the mites of of the humans in teh household.
-Megan
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Post by meganb on May 18, 2005 4:54:46 GMT -8
Yeah, so I forgot to log in, I'm a member of the forum and a vet student, and I had a problem with mites on my mouse once and over-the-counter mite drugs didn't work and they came back, that's why I caution you. Hope you all stop itching soon!
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Post by lizzy on May 21, 2005 10:51:06 GMT -8
My Juliet got mites last summer. She had two treatments at the vet where the vet put liquid on the back of her neck [spot on?] and that cleared it up  |
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