Wiiiiieek!
Teenage Guinea Pig
- Joined
- Dec 12, 2010
- Messages
- 903
- Reaction score
- 17
- Points
- 325
- Location
- Greater south London with my husband
Hello all,
Sorry it's been a while since I posted and didn't update on Brandy-Snap, literally just got the mallethead internet to work again
>>>! As you may recall, I went to my mother's for a few weeks and OH was looking after the pigs while I was away - when I came back, we had a mite infestation and Brandy-Snap had two holes in the side of her neck. The others nails were too long for my liking and they hadn't been bathed with as much attention to detail as I'd have liked either.
Well, I bought A LOT of insecticidal Guinea Pig shampoo, bleach, a new cleaning rag and strong rubber gloves... then I kicked OH out for the evening to his parent's house while I got to work.
I read that to kill mites safely, use HOT 10% bleach solution - I added a few drops of the insecticidal shampoo in each new solution, I got through quite a few 8L stock-pots full of this and it took me 6 hours non-stop from start to finish.
1st of all, I washed my spare C+C grids, getting into every nook, cranny and corner, rinsed in another pot with clean hot water to get remaining bleach off and dried with a clean, freshly washed towel. Using these, I set up a temporary run in my bedroom which was mite free as no pigs live in there and none of their stuff is ever kept in there. I also made 2 smaller runs as we don't want un-neutered boys and sows mixing.
Then, using my piggy-bath, which is a large plastic washing up bowl, I washed all the pigs from the large cage carefully and thoroughly with the insecticidal shampoo, after washing my hands of course - bleach and piggies do not mix. One by one, I put the mite-free pigs in the bedroom into the large run. Then I washed Mocha and put her into one of the smaller runs - doesn't get on with the other sows. Then I washed Pancake and put him in the second small run.
Next, I blitzed the carriers in the same way I had with the grids and lined them with more fresh clean towels - all of which had been washed at over 60C to kill any mites, and put them in the bedroom. I then washed Rasher and Wiiiiieek and put them into a carrier each.
Whilst washing each pig, I did their nails, checked their nether regions, eyes, noses and teeth too.
That was the easy part even though a couple of bath-hating pigs gave me a shower too! I have 5 cages, the worst infested of which was Rasher's!
The first: a massive giant rabbit cage with C+C top floor expansion, this houses my neutered boy Coconut, Cinnamon and their daughters: Marble, Toffee and Biscuit... and now, Caramel and her daughter Jellybean as well as Brandy-Snap whose sister Sooty died while I was away... I can fit inside and stay in their quite comfortably - and I'm a big girl! Yes, when we got it, I did get inside to see if I could haha rolleyes
The second, is an extra-large rabbit cage also with C+C top floor expansion which houses Rasher, who we had been sold as an "infertile" boar. Pfft! Infertile my backside! Jellybean and Pancake are either his pups or they are here via divine conception! :... He is right up next to the 1st cage so he is not lonely but I can't house him with anyone until he's been neutered. He often talks to the sows and Coconut and popcorns away most of the day.
The 3rd, 4th and 5th cages are C+C cages completely made by myself and house Pancake, the un-neutered son of Rasher and Caramel, Mocha; the sow who doesn't get on with anyone except boars and Wiiiiieek the un-neutered Rex boar. These are made of mesh grids and kept right next to each other so they each have company and can talk to each other whenever they want.
...
Now with all cages free of piggy-feet, I chucked out all of their hay and wood-shavings (bedding), both soiled from the cages and new in the bags and got out the ones we had put in the freezer over night (a tip from my mum who had pigs when I was little and had a mite infestation too).
After chucking it all out, I completely blitzed every inch of each cage with the hot bleach and insecticide solution, every bar, every hinge, everything! even the bowls and houses! I threw away the wooden chews and anything that would still contain bleach after drying if I washed it.
After it was all dried, I moved the now mite-free stuff to the bedroom as well.
Under Rasher's cage, there was a mountain of mites! well... after seeing that, I gave everyone in the bedroom loads of dandelion and decided to blitz the living room as well. Once done, I moved the cages all back in one by one, I set them back up with new wood-shavings and hay bedding, new timothy hay, new wooden chews, their clean bowls, water bottles, houses and toys and then... moved the pigs back in!
But it didn't end there... of course after so long, there were poops and everything in the bedroom so I had to clean all that up too.
Then I collapsed into the sofa and told OH I had finished and he could come back and make me something to eat and drink!
Here's the news on Brandy-Snap... I took her to the vet. Turned out the holes on her neck were bites from Jellybean - who I had already moved into the large cage with her mum, Coconut and cinnamon and their daughters :x Seemed she was getting a bit big for her boots and bullying Brandy-Snap which has now stopped as her mum, Caramel has been disciplining her! Anyway, the vet gave her some injections and said apart from that she's fine. She is now in the large cage too and everyone is getting on fine Considering expanding the large cage again, there is enough room for everyone at the mo but I have a lot of C+C grids going spare at the moment and I'm sure they wouldn't mind yet more space to scurry around in and play chase around the super-pet chair :p.
I bathe, then clean out the pigs once a week and after that major deep clean, I cleaned them out again once using the bleach solution, the week after and so far, the mites have not returned!
VICTORY! Humans 1 Mites 0 -c
Sorry it's been a while since I posted and didn't update on Brandy-Snap, literally just got the mallethead internet to work again
>>>! As you may recall, I went to my mother's for a few weeks and OH was looking after the pigs while I was away - when I came back, we had a mite infestation and Brandy-Snap had two holes in the side of her neck. The others nails were too long for my liking and they hadn't been bathed with as much attention to detail as I'd have liked either.Well, I bought A LOT of insecticidal Guinea Pig shampoo, bleach, a new cleaning rag and strong rubber gloves... then I kicked OH out for the evening to his parent's house while I got to work.
I read that to kill mites safely, use HOT 10% bleach solution - I added a few drops of the insecticidal shampoo in each new solution, I got through quite a few 8L stock-pots full of this and it took me 6 hours non-stop from start to finish.
1st of all, I washed my spare C+C grids, getting into every nook, cranny and corner, rinsed in another pot with clean hot water to get remaining bleach off and dried with a clean, freshly washed towel. Using these, I set up a temporary run in my bedroom which was mite free as no pigs live in there and none of their stuff is ever kept in there. I also made 2 smaller runs as we don't want un-neutered boys and sows mixing.
Then, using my piggy-bath, which is a large plastic washing up bowl, I washed all the pigs from the large cage carefully and thoroughly with the insecticidal shampoo, after washing my hands of course - bleach and piggies do not mix. One by one, I put the mite-free pigs in the bedroom into the large run. Then I washed Mocha and put her into one of the smaller runs - doesn't get on with the other sows. Then I washed Pancake and put him in the second small run.
Next, I blitzed the carriers in the same way I had with the grids and lined them with more fresh clean towels - all of which had been washed at over 60C to kill any mites, and put them in the bedroom. I then washed Rasher and Wiiiiieek and put them into a carrier each.
Whilst washing each pig, I did their nails, checked their nether regions, eyes, noses and teeth too.
That was the easy part even though a couple of bath-hating pigs gave me a shower too! I have 5 cages, the worst infested of which was Rasher's!
The first: a massive giant rabbit cage with C+C top floor expansion, this houses my neutered boy Coconut, Cinnamon and their daughters: Marble, Toffee and Biscuit... and now, Caramel and her daughter Jellybean as well as Brandy-Snap whose sister Sooty died while I was away... I can fit inside and stay in their quite comfortably - and I'm a big girl! Yes, when we got it, I did get inside to see if I could haha rolleyes
The second, is an extra-large rabbit cage also with C+C top floor expansion which houses Rasher, who we had been sold as an "infertile" boar. Pfft! Infertile my backside! Jellybean and Pancake are either his pups or they are here via divine conception! :... He is right up next to the 1st cage so he is not lonely but I can't house him with anyone until he's been neutered. He often talks to the sows and Coconut and popcorns away most of the day.
The 3rd, 4th and 5th cages are C+C cages completely made by myself and house Pancake, the un-neutered son of Rasher and Caramel, Mocha; the sow who doesn't get on with anyone except boars and Wiiiiieek the un-neutered Rex boar. These are made of mesh grids and kept right next to each other so they each have company and can talk to each other whenever they want.
...
Now with all cages free of piggy-feet, I chucked out all of their hay and wood-shavings (bedding), both soiled from the cages and new in the bags and got out the ones we had put in the freezer over night (a tip from my mum who had pigs when I was little and had a mite infestation too).
After chucking it all out, I completely blitzed every inch of each cage with the hot bleach and insecticide solution, every bar, every hinge, everything! even the bowls and houses! I threw away the wooden chews and anything that would still contain bleach after drying if I washed it.
After it was all dried, I moved the now mite-free stuff to the bedroom as well.
Under Rasher's cage, there was a mountain of mites! well... after seeing that, I gave everyone in the bedroom loads of dandelion and decided to blitz the living room as well. Once done, I moved the cages all back in one by one, I set them back up with new wood-shavings and hay bedding, new timothy hay, new wooden chews, their clean bowls, water bottles, houses and toys and then... moved the pigs back in!
But it didn't end there... of course after so long, there were poops and everything in the bedroom so I had to clean all that up too.
Then I collapsed into the sofa and told OH I had finished and he could come back and make me something to eat and drink!
Here's the news on Brandy-Snap... I took her to the vet. Turned out the holes on her neck were bites from Jellybean - who I had already moved into the large cage with her mum, Coconut and cinnamon and their daughters :x Seemed she was getting a bit big for her boots and bullying Brandy-Snap which has now stopped as her mum, Caramel has been disciplining her! Anyway, the vet gave her some injections and said apart from that she's fine. She is now in the large cage too and everyone is getting on fine
Considering expanding the large cage again, there is enough room for everyone at the mo but I have a lot of C+C grids going spare at the moment and I'm sure they wouldn't mind yet more space to scurry around in and play chase around the super-pet chair :p. I bathe, then clean out the pigs once a week and after that major deep clean, I cleaned them out again once using the bleach solution, the week after and so far, the mites have not returned!
VICTORY! Humans 1 Mites 0 -c
