Questions about mites

Where do they come from?
How do bunnies get them?
Is it possible to have only one of a pair with them?

Reason I ask is that housebunny Gabe has dry skin in his ears, not much but wondered about mites - Daisy doesn't have them and he's not scratching? He's always had crustyish rims to his ears and a cyst like thing in one ear - but my vet says its just that - a cyst and dry skin...

I'll get pics tomorrow if it helps?

Julia123 said:

Where do they come from?
How do bunnies get them?
Is it possible to have only one of a pair with them?

Reason I ask is that housebunny Gabe has dry skin in his ears, not much but wondered about mites - Daisy doesn't have them and he's not scratching? He's always had crustyish rims to his ears and a cyst like thing in one ear - but my vet says its just that - a cyst and dry skin...

I'll get pics tomorrow if it helps?

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I have wondered about this because I suspect Oscar has mites. I am going to make an appointment for him at the vets this evening. In the meantime, I found this information: "Scratchy, flaky skin with bald patches is usually a symptom of skin mites or an allergic reaction to fleas. Fleas tend to cluster around the neck and head where you may find the black specks that are their excreta. The rabbit fur mite causes a very scurfy, itchy skin complaint with accompanying loss of fur. The mites are white and just visible to the naked eve. On a black surface, they look like "walking dandruff". In each instance, consult your vet".

:wave: yes sometimes mites can be aquired through bedding like sawdust/woodshavings/hay and straw.
however it is now known that all buns have the odd mite and nothing occurs..BUT as soon as the bunny becomes ill or out of sorts then their immune system drops and allows the mites to suddenly breed and go crazy.

Sometimes you can see them if you use a cheap plastic nit comb form the chemist etc...they look like weeny specks half dark half light..its their camouflage! but these specks wiggle:shock:

another thing is you may not se any mites but your poor bun is going nuts scratching away at itself and losing fur.....and getting quite irritable if the itching is severe.
you may find at the shoulders or the base of the tial and surrounding rump area that you can see powder almsot not skin flakes...and its really quite thick...or you may find dustly looking stuff with a couple of realy big flakes nothing else or the skin is reddened and theres a lot of fur loss.

id ask for a skin scrape to be done to rule out mites if the vets insisting its dry skin....they did that with bif that year....she had it terirble and no treatments were working...until i got some ivermectin drops online..cured her in three weeks good job too she was almost bald everywhere..even aorund her lady bits.

Yes - bedding that hasn't been stored correctly is the main way they catch them (and birds and mice get access to the bedding from what I understand)
Or they catch them from other buns

Any red/bloody spots/scabs in the ears or mainly along the spine area (no matter how small) is what I look for. Along with dandruffy fur, adn scratching. :wave:

Thanks :wave:

I did wonder about the hay - but its very easy to think house bunnies are imune to these things. I'll have a closer look today in the daylight. He's not scratching, no bald spots and no blood. Its also just on the tips of his ears.

Possible mites?

Hi guys, I'm a newbie both to the forums and the world of rabbits!

Are mites usually quite hard? I cant work out if my bun has them or not as not too sure what I'm looking for. He scratches alot, especially around his ears. We have only had him for two weeks, he is 10 weeks old tomorrow and I am taking him to the vets for his first injection, so will ask about them then as am a bit concerned. I have seen the odd white fleck in his fir, near his neck but it seems to be hard and stuck to his fir. He doesnt seem to be in any pain and is still happy enough, doesnt mind me touching him anywhere, including his ears etc.

Thanks in advance for any advice,

Kim and Widget! x

purplebumble said:

Sometimes you can see them if you use a cheap plastic nit comb form the chemist etc...they look like weeny specks half dark half light..its their camouflage! but these specks wiggle:shock:

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I *think* that sounds like lice from your description rather than mites.

kimishorty said:

Hi guys, I'm a newbie both to the forums and the world of rabbits!

Are mites usually quite hard? I cant work out if my bun has them or not as not too sure what I'm looking for. He scratches alot, especially around his ears. We have only had him for two weeks, he is 10 weeks old tomorrow and I am taking him to the vets for his first injection, so will ask about them then as am a bit concerned. I have seen the odd white fleck in his fir, near his neck but it seems to be hard and stuck to his fir. He doesnt seem to be in any pain and is still happy enough, doesnt mind me touching him anywhere, including his ears etc.

Thanks in advance for any advice,

Kim and Widget! x

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Hi, welcome to the wonderful world of rabbits!

Is it possible that your bunny is just grooming his ears rather than scratching them? It was a mistake I made with my first bunny believing something was 'bothering her' when in fact it was just her grooming ritual.

Mites at first will appear as dandruff, usually in the harder to reach places, my Esme had flakes around the nape of her neck when she was about ten weeks old also but when vets put the 'dandruff' under the microscope it wasn't mites and cleared up on its own. If mites are left for longer without being treated it can present as bald patches and big clumps of fur coming out.

Your vet should give a health check prior to injection anyway so they can look at the possibility of it being mites, but hopefully it will be nothing to worry about.

Thankyou

I don't think it's grooming. I mean he does lick and clean, and pull his ears etc to groom and then goes mad scratching, then other times he just scratches and stops, but he does it very frequently. His ears arent bald or anything, but I am quite suprised as he does seem to scratch hard! I hope the vet will tell me its dandruff, thinking about it being mites or lice is making me itchy too! Thankyou for the replies. Will let you know tomorrow I guess! Hope his first trip to the vets goes well! x

There is a specific mite which I can't spell that is mainly found around he ears in dogs, not sure if rabbits get it though.