My two new piggies have static mites!

[Romy whiteside]

Hi all, new to this website.
I’ve got three guinea pigs, we had two boars, Hector and Reggie. Hector recently passed on
We got two females, Nora and Mabel, for Reggie around 2 weeks ago and have noticed that they have static mites... I’ve used insecticidal spray, and just bathed them using the johnsons insecticidal shampoo.
Any advice on how long it takes to work?
What do I do next?
And what can static mites do to them?
Any advice is appreciated as this never happened with my two boars!

 

[Wiebke]

Hi all, new to this website.
I’ve got three guinea pigs, we had two boars, Hector and Reggie. Hector recently passed on
We got two females, Nora and Mabel, for Reggie around 2 weeks ago and have noticed that they have static mites... I’ve used insecticidal spray, and just bathed them using the johnsons insecticidal shampoo.
Any advice on how long it takes to work?
What do I do next?
And what can static mites do to them?
Any advice is appreciated as this never happened with my two boars!

Hi and welcome

Please have your piggies vet checked and do not waste any more money on ineffective low dosed broad spectrum pet shop products; you only prolong the suffering and in the end will have to pay more for treating an advanced case. Invisible hay mites are least harmful of the guinea pig specific skin parasites as they fix the egg cases to hairs (and do not burrow them in the skin like potentially fatal mange mites). They live mainly off skin debris but they are still a real pest, especially in advanced cases, and can depending on the strain be not quite easy to get rid of. You really want to treat them with proper products that do more than at the best temporarily suppress them!

Hay mites (in the UK also known as static lice), i.e. chirodiscoides caviae come usually with hay, hence their name. We have seen a noticeable rise in cases since the introduction of mass produced imported hay and a change in harvesting methods.

I would strongly recommend that you throw your current batch of hay away and consider resourcing it from another place with less intensive harvesting methods. Once seen by a vet (who rather wants to see evidence pf the parasites and their spread for diagnosis and appropriate treatment depending on the severity), I would also recommend that you cut off any hairs you find tiny egg case beads on. The hairs will grow back even in short haired piggies, but by cutting off the eggs there will a lot less emerging mites to fight.

These links here should help you:
What to check and look out for in new guinea pigs (vet checks, sexing, parasites&illness)
A Comprehensive Hay Guide for Guinea Pigs (incl. providers in several countries)
Recommended Guinea Pig Vets

 

[Romy whiteside]

Thankyou very much! I’ll get them to the vets ASAP

 

[sport_billy]

Welcome to the forum, hope all goes well. Great advice from Wiebke above

 

[Wiebke]

Thankyou very much! I’ll get them to the vets ASAP ☺

All the best! If you are within 2-3 weeks of purchase of the piggies, you can reclaim the vet cost from your pet shop.

A good quality ivermectin product is best against all skin parasites.