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Fleas!

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RubyReckless

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We adopted out three baby girls from a rescue in Feb. They are gorgeous, funny and friendly and are a great addition to our family life. As it was winter, they were so young (8 weeks) and we wanted to ensure they were settling in well, we set up their home in our bedroom.
However...
They did not come alone. They brought some unwelcome hijackers. Now I am utterly covered in flea bites, the guineas scratch constantly, we've tried drops on their coats and spray in the carpet and I'm still being eaten alive. I currently have 26 bites on my legs and stomach and get new ones every night.
Anyway, we bought an insecticide guinea pig shampoo and washed the girls, moved them to a hutch in the shed with brand new bedding, boil washed all our bedding, sent the duvet off to be dry cleaned, used one of those smoke bomb things in our bedroom (and dossed in the living room overnight), soaked the old fleece bedding and towels in pet disinfectant and sprayed our mattress with upholstery flea spray.
Has anyone else had a similar problem? Have we done all we need to or have we missed something. I still feel like I'm getting new bites but there are so many I might just be getting muddled.
 
Guinea pigs dont get fleas, but they can get mites. What drops did you use on them? have you seen a vet at all? Or even contacted the rescue? Also do you have any other pets? Cats and dogs obviously get fleas, so all animals in the household need to be treated. Until the pets are treated then there is no point in treating the house etc if they are still living on the host.

x.
 
P'raps it's mites then? Do they bite?
We have 2 pet rats who live in my son's room (wood floor, no soft furnishings and they aren't scratching) and no other pets. The baby guinea were scratching a lot when they came to us but they'd had a skin infection so initially we assumed that was the cause of the scratching. Until anyone sleeping in our bed (next to the guinea pig house) woke up with bites: me, my bloke, our daughter and our son when they'd spent a night in our bed when not well.
The drops were 'Beaphar Anti-Parasite Drops" that said safe for guinea pigs over 12 weeks. We waited until they were 16 weeks to be on the safe side.
On Friday I bathed the three of them in Johnson's Insecticidal Shampoo for Small Animals, then treated the house as i mentioned above. We've not been to the vets, just to the local independent pet shop and P@H, both of whom gave the same advice.

I'm grateful for your reply - what else should we do?
 
We had a flea outbreak a few months ago. We treated the dog and cats with Advantics and flea bombed the house (after evacuating all the animals ). Our pigs didn't have fleas, and I have no idea if they could get them or not, but if yours have mites they'll need Ivermectin injections to cure them. Best bet, get to a vet, and good luck.
 
Imnot sure if they bite. Beapher drops are not as strong as some of the ivermectin treatments you can get and in a bad infestation you need to treat with a good product 3 times at about 10/14 days apart from each dose. Please call the vet even for advice not the pet shop. I hope you get it all sorted soon.

x.
 
I'm alergic to mites... And I come out in a horrible lumpy rash if I come in to contact with a piggy with mites... Is it like this...?
Just a thought... But could it be bed bugs...?
They are vile little creatures and when I moved in to my new house it was infested with them... And they are really hard to kill... But touch wood this week is the first week me and my son haven't been eaten alive it's taken alot of work and 4 months to get them sorted...
x
 
Good news! Whatever they were, they're gone now. The guineas are living in a house in the shed at the moment, all bedding (both ours and theirs) has been hot washed, the room was smoke-bombed and sprayed (we slept on the couch for a couple of nights) and the biting beasties have vanished. The guineas aren't scratching either, phew!
 
you might need to treat again in a weeks time, if it is fleas most treatments will only kill the live ones, the eggs will hatch and you have to kill them all again before they lay any more eggs. I think you have to treat again in 7-10 days.
 
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