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Flour Mites

B

Beapig

Mama Doe
I think that Maple might have flour mites. The rabbits are all having a second moult at the moment and when I brushed her, there were little white bits like dandruff in the fur. I've never seen this before but when I googled it, this is the closest thing that I could see. The other two had normal, clear fur when I brushed them.

Has anyone used 'Beaphar Anti-Parasite Spot On' to help tackle this? I was reading some reviews on Amazon and a few people said it successfully cleared them up on their rabbits. Thanks in advance :)
 
Flour mites? They live in grain, not fur. :?

You can get hay mites/lice, which are a huge problem in guinea pigs, as they come in via the hay (particularly at this time of year) and then move to the pigs. Not sure whether they go for bunnies or not, but I don't see why they wouldn't.

If you want to see whether the specks are something more than dandruff or not, the best way I have found is to get a human hair lice comb, then put the bits on to a tissue, and then use a magnifier (or phone camera, if it has a lot of zoom). If it's lice, you'll see some legs etc.
 
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Hay mites would make a lot more sense! Maybe they're similar because flour is a grain/hay is also a grain? That's a good idea about checking with a magnifier, I will do that. How do you deal with them if your guinea pigs get them?
 
It may be that it's just dandruff. The specks have been brown when I've seen hay lice, but they aren't easy to see - they are really tiny things.

With guinea pigs, supposedly they aren't supposed to respond to ivermectin spot on treatment (only baths), because they don't burrow into the skin and live off the fur instead, but I've had some decent results with it - once a week for 4 weeks.
 
I just checked with my phone zoomed in on a piece of tissue paper with the fur on as you suggested, and I could see one crawling :shock: I'm going to order the spot-on and hopefully that will get rid of them. I've never had this issue before but I am using a different hay this month so that might be why. Strange that the other 2 bunnies aren't affected.
 
I wouldn’t use a beaphar product tbh. I have used xeno 450 from the vets before and that was effective.
 
I've used Beaphar ivermectin spot on. You've got to get the dosage right though. And I do think all bunnies would need to be treated.
 
I've always wondered why guinea pigs are so prone to hay lice and rabbits not, and that surely they are as attracted to the fur of a rabbit as a guinea pig!
 
Injection from the vets clears it up the quickest ime and no worry of ingesting it! It's super common can mean there's an underlying health issue tho

Sent from my Pixel 6 Pro using Tapatalk
 
Graciee said:
Injection from the vets clears it up the quickest ime and no worry of ingesting it! It's super common can mean there's an underlying health issue tho

Sent from my Pixel 6 Pro using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

You don't normally inject for non-burrowing mites though.
 
It's common for only one of a group to be affected by mites. They are usually present in the environment, but only take hold when an animal is run down or unable to groom properly. Rabbits and Gpigs would usually manage to keep themselves clear of an infestation. Things like arthritis and dental issues can affect their ability to groom, and therefore to remove the beasties. Other underlying health conditions will also contribute to the indivdual being more susceptible to infestation.

Guinea pigs could be bathed to reduce the number of mites, prior to using eg ivermectin spot-on treatment over the recommended number of weeks.
 
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