Hay mites in hay!

[Lucy1991]

Hi everyone.

So I was just cleaning out Leroy’s hay tray., and saw a really tiny bug in there.

I got rid of that hay and replaced it with fresh.. then saw another one! I’ve looked in the box of hay.. and it’s crawling with them at the bottom .

I’ve changed all his bedding, toys etc and disinfected the cage. And of course got rid of the contaminated hay.

I’ve given him the anti- parasite spot on..

I do it every month or so anyway.

He doesn’t seem to be scratching.. and I can’t see anything on him.

He’s fuming now but that’s probably as I’ve disturbed his nap time.

He did seem a bit off when I got back this evening but he was his normal self earlier this afternoon..

Of course I’m panicking..

What else should I do?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks so much.

 

[Ramia]

As hay mites are invisible except the black egg casing, I suspect it was something else.

 

[Lucy1991]

Oh blimey! Okay thank you. I shall get him checked in the vets.

 

[Piggies&buns]

I agree with Ramia.

Hay mites are not visible to the human eye so it is not hay mites that you have seen.
Whatever it was it probably not likely to infest your piggies. Just throw the hay away and give everything a clean

Please be advised that you should not routinely treat your piggies every month for mites, and we never recommend treating on spec anyway. You should only ever treat with a vet prescribed product if there is a diagnosed reason to.
Routine treatments and using low dosed pet shop parasite products can lead to resistance forming and thus make it considerably harder to treat if you do ever have a diagnosed case of mites.

 

[Lucy1991]

Oh thank you! My vet advised me to use mite treatment from the pet shop every month! Yes doing it unnecessary will build resistance. Makes sense. As you can imagine I just panicked!

I will keep an eye out for anything else.

Thanks both.

 

[Piggies&buns]

I'm sorry to hear your vet has said that.
I would certainly stop doing routine treatments - there is absolutely no need to do it (you won’t find any long term forum owners who do it) and it must be costing you a fortune unnecessarily!

 

[Lucy1991]

I'm sorry to hear your vet has said that.
I would certainly stop doing routine treatments - there is absolutely no need to do it (you won’t find any long term forum owners who do it) and it must be costing you a fortune unnecessarily!

It’s not cheap over time. And if it’s not benificial.. and possibly even harmful in the long run.. then I certainly won’t be doing it!

Thanks again for all your help.

This forum is an absolute saviour!

 

[flowerfairy]

I quite agree Lucy, a really really good source of guinea pig advice.

 

[Lucy1991]

I quite agree Lucy, a really really good source of guinea pig advice.

Absolutely!

 

[Lucy1991]

we trust our vets to know what’s best. But unfortunately it seems like Guinea pigs aren’t studied very much by general vets. It’s just hard to find an exotic vet that’s not miles away and we all know our piggies aren’t too fond of car rides We’re lucky to have the forum