Possible mites

[saggy]

Hey guys

I finally got round to clearing out the old cage today and saw some mites maybe?? All I can really describe them as is black or dark grey dust that moved - even with my good eyesight,  they're too small to identify past that lol!! The first lot I saw was when I was brushing the dropped food/dust from on top of the wheel at the base and when the dust fell on the floor - some of it moved! I squished those and brushed more vigourously and squished a few more and did see another one a little further up in the bottom nest area but then stopped looking as a little impossible in the nest area as lots of stuff/dust and just cleared it out and sprayed with disenfectant. I didn't see anything further up in the cage and I'm normally good at noticing small things move but I had done this before the rest and wasn't looking out for them at this point. I cleared everything including the log house and furniture as thought not worth the risk re-using and threw it all outside. I then dustpanned and brushed everything and then hoovered.

I hadn't cleared out the nest area for some time as you all know they were fighting and was trying at first to keep the smells and wasn't sure where to do reintro etc so didn't kick off fighting. Then I moved fatsy into new cage with other two anyway and it's just been sat there for some time (just haven't had the time with everything going on to do it). Anyway do you think this could be a further problem or do you think I've done enough to deal with it?? I just checked over fatsy who was the last one to use the cage and there's nothing on her fur around her neck, chest or back or seemingly in her ears although they would be harder to see in there, they're not scratching, over grooming or balding so I imagine they're prob mites that live off plant material rather than blood but are there any mites like this that don't live on body but do go onto them to bite when needed like bed bugs Anyone have any ideas???

I will clear and check some of the areas in the new cage over the next few days to see if prblem has transferred but again, don't want to clean everything at once as only been back together a week. I did clean the bottom section just before putting them back together last week apart from nest area and did most of fatsy's a little before that so not too unclean at the mo but just a couple of possible areas I can check.

[saggy]

And I meant I first saw them when brushing off the top of the wheel that moves the cage not the wheel they run in to avoid confusion lol

[moletteuk]

Hmm tricky one. There are plenty of plant based mites out there, and I don't think it is likely that they would also eat degu, check all the food and forage and see if you can find a hotspot for them that tells you what kind of mite they are. I don't know of any carnivore bugs that don't actually live on the animal. I think you are right to be concerned about too much cleaning disturbing your re-united group. I would keep a close eye out for any on the degus or skin irritation. Have you got a magnifying glass you could get a better look at one with?

I think regular cleaning and hoovering is unlikely to get rid of them permanently, they tend to hide out in all the cracks and crevices, so you usually need to eradicate all the cracks and/or steam treat.

[saggy]

Okay thanks molette, hopefully they are just in the old cage and I've poured liquids through any cracks to ensure ran down through places I couldn't quite get to at the mo. They were in or the near the area that was mostly full of hemp and timothy hay, not really any food on that level apart from a few stashed items - I will keep an eye out for more and maybe take the whole cage down and scrub on Wednesday when I have a day off. Will keep an eye out on the new cage and check all the bags of stuff to see if can see anything but the stuff that was still in that cage would have been used up already. Maybe fortune would have it that I actually needed a brand new bag of hemp and hay to do the new cage anyway so if came in old stuff, wouldn't have put in new cage anyway???

I could do without more degu related problems lmao

[moletteuk]

You could try blasting the crevices with a hairdryer on the hottest setting, I think that is more likely to kill them than water & scrubbing, and probably easier.

[deguconvert]

That's an excellent idea!! I would have the air blowing on the most gentle setting, heat at the hottest setting, and then stick the mouth of the dryer right on the crevices so as to expose the nasty critters to as much heat as possible.

[saggy]

Okay cool - will try that thanks lol :-)