> I work in the zoo lab at school and we have a mouse who has mites.
>He's not looking all that good and has had them for a week or two as far I
>know. They have gotten progressively worse and we can't find anything to
do
>for him. My professor is going to put him down. My question is they came
>out of nowhere and no one else has them. Where could he have gotten them
>them from? What are the chances of it spreading? There are 8 mice and 5
>gerbils. This particular mouse was in a cage with 2 others and they don't
>have it but they have been seperated for a while. I have bleached his cage
>and the communial cage they use pine for bedding and eat seeds. Any
>suggestions would be a big help as always!!
> Thanks
> Meg
> Seal Clan
If one animal has them, they all probably do.
Get pyrenthin based spray, 0.66% active ingredients. It is
usually sold as flea and mite spray for small animals. Bird
mite spray is only 0.33% strength, and is not as effective.
The animal could have come in with them, or another animal...
someone at home has an infected animal, handled it
before coming to work, and a few got a ride with them...it
came in in bedding or feed....
There are a lot of ways they can appear.
You need to clean ALL the cages at once. Use bleach.
Spray the old bedding coming out, bag it, and spray
the outside of the bags after sealing them. All the animals
need to go into temporary holding, as you clean everything,
and spray the area around where the cages are. Spray
everything in the cages, and the cages inside and out.
Spray the animals, both ventral and dorsal and make
sure they get wet. For dwarf campbells I often spray
my hand then rub the animal to get the fur saturated.
While you're working, keep your sleeves rolled up. If you
see or feel them on you, spray yourself.
The spray kills them on contact, and if they are in the animal's
fur, soaking the animal causes the mites to die quickly.
Before you start, put the food in baggies. Freeze it for a
week at 0F. Mites can infest feed.
The bedding you use for the change, should be from a
previously sealed container, open it after the spraying and
refill the cages. And spray the new bedding.
Yes...be spray happy. Be diligent, be thorough. Warn everyone
that has small animals at home they may be infested and to
check carefully...one mite in a week will lead to major infestation!
And that there is an infection at the lab, so beware they're not
dragging any home.
Keep the spray handy when working on cages or feeding.
If you see any, spray them. And do the whole clean bit over.
Plus. You will have to do the thorough cage clean and spray
for three consecutive days. After that, check the animals daily
for a week. I take unscented undyed toilet tissue or white
paper toweling and loosely swaddle an animal, keeping the
head out. Look at the toweling by the head. In a minute, if
there are mites on the animal, you will see them leaving and
crawling on the white. If so, do the three day clean.
The food will be ok after freezing.
Check new food before feeding, I tend to freeze mine for a
week no matter what as a precaution.
Good luck
Deb
Rebel's Rodent Ranch
