Real Life Case: Mites
Sufferer: Biscuit, 6 months, buck
My buck Biscuit lived with his son in a large glass tank with several shelves, wooden and PVC toys and wood shavings for bedding. One night I noticed that all of a sudden his ears were red as if he has been scratching them a lot. The next morning he had scratched them so much that they were sore and bleeding (behind the ear, rather than the ear itself). I used warm water and a cotton bud to clean his ears and applied some mild cream used to treat skin conditions like eczema.
As soon as I saw it was possible that it was mites, I cleaned the tank with boiling water and washing up liquid, leaving it to soak for a while. I threw away disposable toys like cardboard tubes and removed and scrubbed all wooden toys (although I didn’t give them back to the mice in case they helped harbour mites). I used boiling water on the PVC tubing and scrubbed it thoroughly, allowing the mice to have it back afterwards. Basically everything was sterilised as much as possible: I was a one-woman whirlwind!
I suspected mites but I knew I wouldn’t be able to see them, despite trying. I went to a pet shop that day and bought ear drops to kill mites made for cats and a spray for rodents to discourage mites in the coat in general. Using one drop per ear rather than the three or more suggested for cats, I treated Biscuit daily for a week as directed. I also used the mite spray for both Biscuit and his son, who didn’t seem affected.
However, the ears did not seem to improve greatly in the first few days. I was unsure whether it was mites because Biscuit was the only mouse affected, and only behind his ears. It was then that the buck in the tank next to Biscuit started to show similar symptoms, convincing me that it was indeed mites. The second buck got the treatment along with Biscuit and son and all three were taken to the vet.
The vet prescribed Ivomectin for both tanks at one drop per day in 50ml of fresh water. This did help to clear up Biscuit’s case of mites – but didn’t restore him completely to his former self. He had scratched one ear through when on the Ivomectin so that the top part died and eventually he lost the top part of that ear. The vet said that she believed that without my mite treatment as soon as I saw his ears, Biscuit would be far worse off and may not even have recovered. As it was afterwards, he still lived happily with his son. The part of the ear that he lost didn't seem to make a difference to him and everything was completely healed with no repeat infestation.
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