Unknown Insects Found

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DeductionPig

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Not sure if this is the right forum but if anyone can help I’d be really appreciative !

My pigs have a play area indoors for them to have more space during the day, usually no issues at all. However, after them being down today when I went to clear up their waste etc I spotted four or five insects and have no idea what they are or where they came from.

They were incredibly small and either grey or beige. Got a video of one of them before they disappeared to somewhere? It looked like it had a bigger more rounded/oval body and a smaller darker head. Definitely not an ant. None of them were flying. They seemed attracted to either - or both - the sea grass strands my boys have broken off from their tunnel or the poo.

Anyone have any idea what these could be and if they could be harmful to my boys?
I’m now clearing up all their toys and going to chuck the wooden/seagrass tunnels etc.

We had an issue with similar insects earlier this week. Those had been in their cage in their kitchen area (above their main base cage/bedroom, there’s a ramp up to it). Throughly scrubbed everything then and had it under boiling water etc, disinfected everything there and then. Also bathed the pigs cause they had been scratching more often. I’ve not seen the insects reappear in their kitchen - and they hadn’t been in their base cage at any stage as far as I could see - so have no clue how they’ve ended up in their play area.
We had wondered if it was a bad bag of hay so we had replaced the hay with a new bag, too. So don’t understand what the source of these insects could be but really want to be rid of them!
Sorry for the rambling and hope this made sense. Any advice would be welcome.
 
Also to clarify : their play area is just rewashable puppy pads for the base and we put in their usual hay plus different toys and tunnels etc, so no sawdust or anything used there.
Their main cage and kitchen base is formed from fleeces.
We bathed them with Johnson’s anti mite/lice/flea shampoo.
 
I’m not sure we could really guess what they might be but thorough disinfection would be what we would suggest.

If you see them again and can get a picture, it may help somebody identify them

If you notice your piggies are scratching then please see a vet. Please don’t be tempted to use any mite treatment you can buy from a pet shop. They are not strong enough to deal with any mite or lice problem effectively, can lead to resistance
forming and can hide evidence a vet may need to make a diagnosis.
Guinea pigs don’t get fleas and any cat or dog flea treatment is is toxic to piggies.
 
Piggies&buns said:
I’m not sure we could really guess what they might be but thorough disinfection would be what we would suggest.

If you see them again and can get a picture, it may help somebody identify them

If you notice your piggies are scratching then please see a vet. Please don’t be tempted to use any mite treatment you can buy from a pet shop. They are not strong enough to deal with any mite or lice problem effectively, can lead to resistance
forming and can hide evidence a vet may need to make a diagnosis.
Guinea pigs don’t get fleas and any cat or dog flea treatment is is toxic to piggies.
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Thank you for your reply! I think my iCloud links have been approved now which should allow people to see the videos I got. If not then I suppose it doesn’t matter as as you say, disinfecting is the way to go.

I’ll get a vet appt sorted as soon as I can
 
Mmm I think you’re doing the right thing to get them checked by a vet. They could be a type of mite. Often these can be found in hay. The right treatment will come from your vet. Well done for spotting them ! Good luck
 
Roselina said:
Mmm I think you’re doing the right thing to get them checked by a vet. They could be a type of mite. Often these can be found in hay. The right treatment will come from your vet. Well done for spotting them ! Good luck
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Thank you!
 
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