Mites on hay-any recommendations?

[prettylupin]

I didn't say they were hay mites :? and i've never seen book lice here either. Whatever they were, they came from the hay and subsequently migrated into every room in the house. I'll dig the photos out when I get back from work.
40% humidity in the UK is almost impossible to achieve without constantly running a dehumidifier and we've never had problems with the Western Timothy Hay from hayexperts which also comes in a box (admittedley a bag in a box ).

https://www.thehayexperts.co.uk/Hay...b).120.html?osCsid=teq5vfdemf2cobnhml16587ev4

Yes i'm afraid they sound like book lice, which is why they are able to live in other rooms in the house, they have quite a varied diet I believe and hide in nooks and crannies in wood etc so very difficult to eradicate completely. Sorry, you said they were mites - so I was just saying that no they are not mites they are lice.

The Western Timothy hay that comes in boxes from the hayexperts is a commercially grown hay in the US which uses herbicides and possibly insecticides too and then strong commercial drying processes which eradicates all insect populations in the hay before it is packed. This is why you have never had any problems with it. It is the difference between a commercially grown hay and a locally grown organic product. There is always going to be differences here and the occurence of naturally occuring lifeforms in organically grown hay, such is the nature of these things.

In winter quite a few of our rooms are below 40% humidity with the central heating on, it's not impossible. However, humidity naturally increases in summer due to warmer air being able to hold more water, and just the climate. Like I said, as long as you keep the hay somewhere dry and not too humid and don't let it sit around too long it shouldn't be an issue.
I've been using WWW hay for 4 years now and although I see the odd book lice in the hay from time to time (not every box mind you!) or around the house or in the hutch sometimes - and really it is just the odd one, I have never had any problems, and they certainly don't cause any harm to us or the rabbits. For the quality of the hay and it's natural state it is totally worth it in my mind.

 

[leong]

Thanks for the info PL I can't find the photos though . Anyway how long ago was it when you spoke to the farmer? The order I made was early 2008, did they make any changes to their processing since then? Our two loved the WW hay but the mite/lice issue put me off ordering from them again. I guess it's worth another go though as we're fast running out of the Oxbow stuff and we know our girl likes it :wave:

 

[Hanlou]

Hello Belinda! :wave:

Well I've had grain / flour mites loads of times now and am never sure where they're from.... last case was the gerbils' tank - I went upstairs and they were all over the tank as the dormant population had obviously given birth! :roll:

They look like moving dust as they are so small and are definitely nothing like lice which are significantly bigger. I have had lice in hay but that was years ago - long before I had rabbits! Lice are long whereas these mite-things are teensy.

No idea where they came from as I haven't had them anywhere else in the house!

We've had Indian Meal Moths too and have a moth trap set up for that. Again; no idea where they came from as no evidence of them originating from any of my current feeds! :?

Hope you find some lovely mite-free hay anyway! Have had hay from both Animal Magic and Hay Experts and would happily recommend either xx

 

[prettylupin]

Thanks for the info PL I can't find the photos though . Anyway how long ago was it when you spoke to the farmer? The order I made was early 2008, did they make any changes to their processing since then? Our two loved the WW hay but the mite/lice issue put me off ordering from them again. I guess it's worth another go though as we're fast running out of the Oxbow stuff and we know our girl likes it :wave:

I spoke to him early this year about this issue as was noticing a few of the lice again after some damp weather - and that is when he told me about the infestation he had a few years ago - perhaps you ordered your hay at the same time they had the infestation? :? I think he would be mortified if he knew it had caused so many probs for you. He is certain his storage etc is all decontaminated now, I think they've been doing the freezing for a couple of years - ever since it happened and they had to do a big clean up.
I have not had ANY more in boxes for well over a year, so we think the problem for us is that we have some residual lice still here at our house, as he explained once you have them it is hard to get rid of them. Our hutch is all painted and varnished and the lino floor is sealed with silicon sealant so not too many nooks and crannies for us, but no doubt there are some in our living room carpet and skirting boards (but as we are doing up the house completely we should get those soon too!) We just put all the bunny toys (natural willow toys/baskets etc) in the freezer and then in the airing cupboard to dry out and since we did all of that and as long as we keep the hutch hoovered and cleaned regularly, we seem to have very few left now. I see one a week rather than daily. Especially in winter, the central heating really knocks the numbers down.

Perhaps you just got unlucky and ordered at the time they had the problem before they realised they had it? If you rang them and chatted to him about it i'm sure he'd explain everything to you and put your mind at rest. Like I say, for ages all boxes have been fine, esp if we store indoors and use them quickly. :wave:

 

[Ryo_the_rat]

Hi Belinda, haven't seen you for ages, hope you are OK

I know someone who bought some bags of hay from Wilkinsons and ended invaded by silverfish, it took her ages to get rid of them apparently they can live for up to 8 years and have about 10,000 babies in that time

I won't buy anything like that from Wilkinsons for that very reason because when she complained about they said that it was funny because other people had complained too, but they weren't prepared to do anything about it

I can strongly recommend Holiday Hutch for hay, I have had some sample bags from her and they were brilliant because I was able to try them out and then choose which was the best

Is it bedding hay you are looking for or eating hay?

Hello Theo!:wave: Yes i dont come online very often anymore, only when im in peril with the animals:lol: I have been put right off wilkos even more now! you should have seen James' face when i told him about the silverfish story:lol: thankyou for the recommendations-the pigs have the hay purely for feeding but the bunnies use it in the litter tray and out. we have tried countless times to get the bunnies to use just a hay rack and have different stuff in the litter tray but they are stubborn buns! so we do end up with alot of wastage with hay from having to clean out the soiled stuff so often, hence why we try to go for the cheaper meadow hay. saying that, i have tried them in the past with the oxbox timothy hay and they actually preferred the meadow cheap stuff:shock:would love to try them on some better quality stuff though. how are things with you anyway? hope you and bunnies are well?

Hello Belinda!

Well I've had grain / flour mites loads of times now and am never sure where they're from.... last case was the gerbils' tank - I went upstairs and they were all over the tank as the dormant population had obviously given birth!

They look like moving dust as they are so small and are definitely nothing like lice which are significantly bigger. I have had lice in hay but that was years ago - long before I had rabbits! Lice are long whereas these mite-things are teensy.

No idea where they came from as I haven't had them anywhere else in the house!

We've had Indian Meal Moths too and have a moth trap set up for that. Again; no idea where they came from as no evidence of them originating from any of my current feeds!

Hope you find some lovely mite-free hay anyway! Have had hay from both Animal Magic and Hay Experts and would happily recommend either xx

And hello Han!:wave: Those bugs are such a pain in the bum arent they? we were battling getting rid of them for months, we bought a dehumidifier, completely de cluttered the house and was cleaning it with Zoflora all the time and even though it reduced the numbers drastically it never completely got rid of them. that is until we got our first two kitties 3 and half years ago, who decided to bring some visiters in the form of fleas:lol:which meant we sprayed the whole house down with flea spray, and guess what? no more bugs!! i have alot to thank my kitties for so if you are still having problems with them i would highly recommend Acclaim-its safe to use around cages etc but obviously you would need to remove any food stuffs and the animals from anywhere you planned on spraying, and then air the room out for a while before putting the fur babies back. its a pain doing it but totally worth it. i actually still give the house a spray down every 6-12 months despite my cats being indoor, purely because i want to make sure i never get infested with those things again! It might even help with the moths as it literally seems to kill any insect that enters the house, which i admit is a bit of a bummer because i dont have something against every insect, just mainly those mites :lol: So James is constantly having to put any "normal" insects we see out the back, but by the time we see them they are usually half dead or dead :? the stuff certainly works well!

Which part of Brum are you in? We get our hay from a Farm just up the road in Shenstone. If you are in this part of the world, I can give you the address if you want. I get a large black bag full for £1 and it's gorgeous!

Im in Erdington and we dont have transport, but the OH's Dad might be persuaded to take a little drive if we get desperate :lol: id appreciate the address if you dont mind?


We did manage to get some haycakes yesterday, and even a bag of burgess fresh forage!:shock: :lol: we checked over in the hay section and they still had flour mites crawling on the bags :roll: but luckily the aisle that had the hay cakes seemed completely fine. i must look so odd when im checking for bugs standing in the middle of shops looking so closely at packaging but its for the sake of my sanity(or insanity?:lol. anyway, as luck would have it it seems they ran out of room on the shelves by the hay for all the stock of fresh forage and had put a few bags where the hay cakes were so they were bug free too! only a short term solution, but im planning on paying a visit to the farm we used to use at some point over the next week and keeping my fingers crossed that we can get it from there. if not i will certainly try one of the online stores everyone has recommended.

Thankyou all for the replies, i shall let you all know how i get on and where ever i manage to get some bug free hay from :lol: