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Mites!
Sept 7, 2023 13:51:03 GMT -8
Post by LilyandDaisy on Sept 7, 2023 13:51:03 GMT -8
I made an unwelcome discovery this evening! I'd been being bitten by something for a while but I didn't know by what. I couldn't see any bugs or anything anywhere. Then this evening I spent some time with my arm in the gerbil cage and noticed afterwards that my arm had little brown dots crawling on it. Then a close inspection of the bedding and the gerbils themselves revealed more moving brown dots, which I assume are mites. I found a big red one on Astra which left a red spot when squashed. I'm assuming that was a mite engorged with blood. My poor girls have obviously been bitten quite a bit and Twiglet has some swollen bumps on her back. So the tank will need to be thoroughly cleaned. For tonight I've put them in a small tank with new bedding, and they've both been treated with ivermectin. Here they are looking sorry for themselves after their ivermectin treatment. However, knowing how itchy I've been, they must have been quite uncomfortable too, so I'm glad I finally spotted the issue.
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Post by TJ's Rodent Ranch on Sept 7, 2023 17:52:43 GMT -8
I'm sorry to hear that! Mites are a pain... Good little guide for someone who doesn't know what to do, however. Good luck with the girls and the mites! I hope they heal up well
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Post by icecontroller2529 on Sept 8, 2023 4:41:34 GMT -8
Sounds horrible! I hope you'll be free from those mites soon.
Good thing you had medication for the gerbils. Poor darlings, they look miserable.
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Post by LilyandDaisy on Sept 8, 2023 12:56:06 GMT -8
I haven't found any mites on them today so hopefully the ivermectin is working. It kills the mites but not the eggs so I'll need to give them another couple of doses (spaced a week apart) to allow time for any eggs to hatch. I've also been researching and discovered that mites can live the environment (e.g in bedding) for about 9 weeks without a blood meal, so within that time, gerbils can potentially be reinfected if the environment isn't sufficiently cleaned. I'm obviously going to clean their tank very thoroughly but I might also continue to treat the gerbils weekly for several weeks to reduce the risk of reinfection.
I always keep ivermectin drops in just in case. You never know when you might need them.
I was surprised that the gerbils aren't really scratching much as I thought they would with mites. That's mainly why I never suspected the mites might be coming from their cage, because I've been so terribly itchy and the gerbils didn't seem to be scratching. I did notice Twiglet grooming for a very long time earlier yesterday, before I spotted the mites. So don't assume gerbils will always scratch a lot with mites. They have some scabs and bumps mainly on the back and around the base of tail, probably because these are the hardest areas for them to reach when grooming.
The mites in their unfed state are just a dot to the naked eye and black or brown in colour. When they have fed on blood they are several times larger (perhaps the size of a flax seed) and bright red, and when squashed will leave a blood stain.
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Post by mygerbilprince on Sept 9, 2023 17:29:17 GMT -8
My skin is crawling. New fear unlocked. So sorry to hear about your girls! (and of course your case of mites as well) Hopefully you all will be feeling better soon. Thanks for sharing this! Its very informational!
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Post by LilyandDaisy on Sept 14, 2023 13:21:41 GMT -8
Update: it's been a week now. I haven't seen any mites on the gerbils since the day they were first treated. Their bites have all healed. I changed the bedding in the quarantine tank a couple of days after they were treated and I haven't seen any mites on the bedding since then.
I've thrown away all the bedding that was in their main tank and washed all their things. The porous things (cork logs etc) are still outside until I'm sure they're free of mites.
The gerbils have had a second dose of ivermectin tonight and I'm hoping to move them back to their main tank in a few days.
I also have a hamster but fortunately the mites didn't spread to him. I checked him and his cage and found no sign of them, but I gave him a preventative dose of ivermectin anyway.
Also, I'm no longer itchy myself which is a great relief!
Hopefully the mites are indeed eradicated.
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Mites!
Sept 17, 2023 8:07:32 GMT -8
Post by Markpd on Sept 17, 2023 8:07:32 GMT -8
Oh nightmare! Glad it seems to be sorted now anyway . Any idea where they came from?
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Mites!
Sept 17, 2023 16:32:00 GMT -8
Post by LilyandDaisy on Sept 17, 2023 16:32:00 GMT -8
Oh nightmare! Glad it seems to be sorted now anyway . Any idea where they came from? I'm not sure where they came from. The gerbils still seem mite-free. I did notice Twiglet had a bit of fur loss where she was bitten but I expect it will grow back. I don't know if that's some of delayed kind of reaction to the bite. I was bitten on the arm by a mosquito in Cyprus and the hair over the vein leading away from the bite all fell out, which was weird. I'm hoping to get them back into their main enclosure this week as Astra is going crazy in the small tank.
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