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Small white lice? Parasites? Help!

  • Thread starter Thread starter Poco&FiggysMummy
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Poco&FiggysMummy

Hi, I'm new here :o
My guinea pigs have got really small white insects living on them. Very very small, about 1/2 mm.
Do you have any idea what they are? Or how to treat them?

xRomy
 
Hi Romy, welcome to the forum.

It sounds like your guinea pigs have lice, very common at this time of year as the weather is warming up. Lice tend to look like tiny grains of rice, most commonly white, cream or brown in colour.

Treatment is usually by bathing in an anti-parasitic shampoo, such as Lice 'n' Easy from www.gorgeousguineas.com, or by a topical "spot-on" treatment (such as Advantage (containing imidacloprid) or Xenex Ultra). Once the topical treatment has killed the lice, it helps to wash them off, and follow-up with a conditioner and comb through with a nit comb to ensure all the lice have been removed.

It's also worth considering where they may have got the lice from, what infected them. Hay and bedding are both common hosts to lice - worth checking these. :)
 
Thanks! We've heard that you can use normal head lice treatment for humans on guineas, so now I know they're lice, we'll try that!
Thank you! x:)p
 
Here is more information. Please be careful in what treatment you are using, as some can very VERY harmful to guinea pigs! Do not rely on hearsay - there is so much misinformation out there. If in doubt, see the vet.

http://www.guinealynx.info/lice.html
 
Oh, well we did try using stronghold, but the pipette backfired all over my face.
I'll try and find a very mild headlice treatment, or ask my vet for a guinea specific one. Thanks!
 
I think mine may have lice they keep itching but I cant see it the white things are lice or just hay particles so gonna give them a wash just in case x
 
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