update, not lice but fur mites

[Ryo_the_rat]

Hi everyone, its been a while since ive been on here but i dont get on the net much anymore :? tonight while combing Errols fur in the animal room the sun was shining really bright through the window and i noticed that the poor thing has lice-the others are harder to see because they are all dark coloured rabbits(brown, dark grey and black-not the easiest to spot lice on!) but Errol is white. im assuming they all have them as Errol lives with Timmy, and Molly and Stumpy share the same free range space etc. they are all house rabbits and i havent been in contact with any other rabbits so im wondering how on earth they got them-could they have came in on the hay?

my question is, how can i get rid of them? has anyone ever used the beapher anti parasite to get rid of lice in rabbits? i have used it with rescue ratties and it works fine as the main "ingrediant" is ivermectin so the same as what you would get from the vets. i could pick some of this up for them in the morning.

im also wondering how on earth i stop it from reocurring. much easier with the ratties, but the bunnies run all over the carpets etc and they have huge 48inch dog crates so not the easiest to stick in the shower and give a good scrub :shock: :lol: is there anything i could treat the cages and carpets and surrounding areas with?

oh and last question(i promise) i know lice are usually species specific but thought i should ask, could the guinea pigs get rabbit lice? again, they share the same floor space during free range. i have yet to check them to see but wondered if it best to treat them anyway as preventative.

just wondering if it is the hay, how on earth do i stop it from happening again :shock: hope someone can help with some of my questions, id really appreciate it.

 

[AlisonA]

My vet says she's never seen as many lice in rabbits as she has this year - so I wonder whether they are in the hay, due to the particularly wet summer we had last year.

Ivermectin is the usual treatment, same as if you were treating mites. Regular changes of bedding, along with using a pet safe insecticidal spray (I think sph supplies sell one) for carpeted/difficult to clean areas, with a jolly good wash and thorough drying of all other areas.

 

[Ben's mum]

Back in the days of Before I Knew Better, when my old nethie lived with a piggy, the piggy caught lice - vet said both would need to be treated, but I never saw any lice on bun, despite them being very visible on piggy (both piggy and bunny were jet black, lice were white - got to look at one under a microscope, apparently it was quite a rare type!), so looking back I'm not convinced that bun did have them.
Both were treated with Ivermectin so the spot on stuff should be fine.
Freezing hay should kill off any unwanted hitchhikers, just not really too convenient if you don't have the freezer space! I think heating does the same but not sure whether hay would be safe to heat like bedding/dry food or not :?
Sabby at TRW spoke to Beaphar once I believe, who said studies showed Ivermectin remained in the body for around 30 days, long enough to kill off any hatched larvae, removing the need to give the cage/house a thorough scrub down. Not sure if this was just in rats though :?

 

[Ryo_the_rat]

Thankyou both for your replies-the beapher one definately works for 3-4 weeks with rats. when i used to treat them with ivermec it would be once a week for three weeks treatment and then i tried the beapher one(after it being recommened on fancy rats incidently! lol) and i only need to give one treatment so hopefully that will be the case here. i do have a couple of pippettes in a box left over from when we got rescue ratties in a few months back but not enough for all four bunnies obviously. the box says one pippette per 750g so im going to have to weigh them. the problem is im not sure whether its per 750g upto a certain weight-as in would it be dangerous to use more then 2 or 3 pippettes on one animal. i shall weigh them first thing in the morning now and see if it would be better just getting from the vets.

i would still rather give the animal room a good clean after finding them-i had a quick look on sph but not sure what im looking for-dont suppose you know the name of the spray do you AlisonA?

and freezing hay definately not an option for me unfortunately. its a shame because id hate to find them reinfested with them in a month or twos time if it is indeed coming from the hay.

 

[Ryo_the_rat]

Just thought id update to say that i got the treatment today and also picked up a johnson cage and hutch insect spray so will do the cages with that and hopefully the little devils wont come back :roll: i did check all the bunnies this morning(was fun weighing them for the right dose lol) and i had a really good look through all their fur and although Errol has them pretty bad(im honestly wondering now ive seen them how on earth i didnt notice them sooner) none of the others had anything visable on them. i spent quite a while looking through their fur but didnt find anything so thats odd. i know sometimes when one animal gets something like this its because their immune system is low but Errol is the picture of health so it really does baffle me. they are all being treated anyway just incase any of them has something(im sure they must, just maybe not to the same degree as poor Errol) so hopefully wont see this again now-unless they are coming in on the hay :roll:

dont think the buns are going to like me much from now on because i will checking through their fur thoroughly during every grooming session! :lol:

thanks for the help guys!

 

[abbymarysmokey]

I must have missed this post before.

Just to let you know that I've had trouble with lice too. My vet says that most buns carry them in small numbers, but they only multiply on stressed or ill buns (same as mites).

I've found the best treatment to be spot-on ivermectin (Xeno 450 is particularly
good and can prevent re-infestation for up to 6 months!). I use household flea spray to treat the hutches, which you can buy from your vets for about £15 for a huge can.

 

[Ryo_the_rat]

Thankyou for that reply. i have gave Errol a good check today and he still has lice! im so frustrated, he is absolutely crawling in them still. my problem now is that the beapher spot on is ivermec and says it lasts for four weeks, so would it be safe to treat Errol with xeno 450 after already treating him with a different ivermec? obviously this one i gave hasnt worked so he needs treating but i dont want to overdose him.

i did a search for xeno 450 and found it online but it doesnt say how the dosage works-would it be just one pipette per bunny or is it based on weight again? would need to know how many boxes to order. i would bring him to the vets but all they will give him is ivermec anyway so i wonder if that would just be an unnecessary trip.

please if anyone can help with this with some advice id really appreciate it. poor lad, he doesnt seem to be itchy with it but its got to be bothering him still.

 

[abbymarysmokey]

I can't remember about dosage of Xeno 450, but I think it's one pippette per bun...although that will be for giants too, so you could probably get away with half a pippette if he's a small/medium sized bun :?

 

[Ryo_the_rat]

Thankyou for the reply about the xeno. i decided not to wait and got my partner to bring him to the vets. he has just rang me to say the vet done a skin scrape and looked at them under the microscope and it is actually fur mites he has rather then lice. she said there were dead ones aswell as live ones and the reason they havent all died straight away is because they live in the ends of the fur and dont go to the skin often. she has advised to use the same treatment again in two weeks and then again another two weeks after that. she said that should do the trick but has gave some seleen shampoo incase we feel he is still quite bad with them.

she told us not to worry and that all buns have them in small amounts and that they wont bother him at all so thats good to know. she also said that if we hadnt of noticed them chances are in a few weeks or so they probably would have reduced in numbers anyway. she just said every now and then they can have an outbreak and thats when you tend to notice them. she said definately wouldnt have come in on hay either.

so i suppose thats good news-i dont have to frantically clean the house now :lol: though did cost me £40 because of my worrying better to be safe then sorry though.

thanks again for replies, will keep you all updated!