# i think my hedgie has mites!



## HodgepodgeHedgehog (Apr 3, 2011)

Hi,
I got my hedgehog a few days ago, and i just yesterday noticed that he had mites  . we're going to take him to the vet tomorrow, but i wanted to know if he's in any pain, or whether we can do anything in the meantime. any help would be greatly appreciated!


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## CoOwner-HappyHedgies (Apr 3, 2011)

Where and who did you get him from? take him to the vet asap. I have delt with mites before and they arent fun


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## HodgepodgeHedgehog (Apr 3, 2011)

yeah, we would've taken him today, but, for obvious reasons (it's sunday), we couldn't...


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## Hedgehog Grove (Jul 21, 2010)

While mites are not fun they are relative easy to treat, just ask the vet for Revolution that they use on kittens. Dosage is .01cc behind the shoulder blades once every 2 weeks for 3 doses. You can go up to .03cc for active heavy infestations. Some vets choose to go 3 doses 3 weeks apart and this is okay as well.

Do not use Ivermectin under any circumstances as it has killed hedgehogs before and is quite dangerous. Read about it here http://hedgehogcentral.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=6

Is your hedgehog scratching a lot? Do you see the mites crawling all over him?

For now you can give him a warm oatmeal bath to soothe the skin with a flax seed oil rinse, this will coat him helping his skin and suffocate the mites.

Mites are never fun but very treatable with revolution/.


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## HodgepodgeHedgehog (Apr 3, 2011)

yes, they were crawling on his face, and when i got some flaky skin off of him, it was crawling w/ white specks, which, i assume, were the mites...he is also scratching a lot. is it hard to put on the revolution?


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## SnufflePuff (Apr 16, 2009)

HodgepodgeHedgehog said:


> yes, they were crawling on his face, and when i got some flaky skin off of him, it was crawling w/ white specks, which, i assume, were the mites...he is also scratching a lot. is it hard to put on the revolution?


I'm PRETTY SURE you can't see mites... If they were "crawling on his face" I would bet you're talking about FLEAS not mites.

Revolution would still be the drug of choice but the dosage is now actually more than 0.01 cc.

The dose is now 2 drops from the original vial (or 3 drops for a bigger hedgehog since you can't overdose revolution) - this dosage is from Nancy's vet but if you can get an exact dosage from your vet (assuming they know hedgehogs and aren't pushing ivermectin :roll: you can use that)


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## habs_chick (Jan 23, 2011)

When Bobo got mites the vet gave him Invermectin. I was pretty pissed about this when I read about it after....thank god he was ok though and it worked!


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## HodgepodgeHedgehog (Apr 3, 2011)

well, the internet said they might look like white specks, moving around. i may very well be wrong, and they may very well be fleas, but i didn't see any on his underbelly.


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## SnufflePuff (Apr 16, 2009)

habs_chick said:


> When Bobo got mites the vet gave him Invermectin. I was pretty pissed about this when I read about it after....thank god he was ok though and it worked!


Thank goodness he was all right! I hope you gave your vet a stern talking to, or found a new one!


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## SnufflePuff (Apr 16, 2009)

HodgepodgeHedgehog said:


> well, the internet said they might look like white specks, moving around. i may very well be wrong, and they may very well be fleas, but i didn't see any on his underbelly.


Sorry, my bad, I didn't read the "white" part. Fleas are dark brown, but appear black to the eye.

If it's white, it's probably mites. He just must have them pretty bad if you could see them crawling on his face. Definitely see a vet ASAP and get some revolution (NOT ivermection) and make sure the vet gives you a large enough dose and make sure you REPEAT it 3 times.

Also you're going to have to do a major de-miting of EVERYTHING. You may want to switch to liners if you use shavings, THROW OUT anything that's wood (and don't use wood again if you did) and scrub everything else down good.

Good Luck!


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## HodgepodgeHedgehog (Apr 3, 2011)

thanks SnufflePuff. i actually have no wood in my set up. i have a plastic cage, a baby blanket for a liner, ceramic dishes, and a plastic burrow...


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## Hedgehog Grove (Jul 21, 2010)

Since your baby is only 6 weeks old I would stick to the recommended dose of .01cc or a couple of drops on the back of the shoulder blades for him, 1 dose every 2 weeks for 3 treatments.

I hope he gets to feeling better soon, the revolution shouldnt take more than a couple of days to kick in.

Also give his cage a complete clean every day for the first few days after giving him the revolution.


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## SnufflePuff (Apr 16, 2009)

Hedgehog Grove said:


> Since your baby is only 6 weeks old I would stick to the recommended dose of .01cc or a couple of drops on the back of the shoulder blades for him, 1 dose every 2 weeks for 3 treatments.
> 
> I hope he gets to feeling better soon, the revolution shouldnt take more than a couple of days to kick in.
> 
> Also give his cage a complete clean every day for the first few days after giving him the revolution.


I did not realize he was so young :? I'm glad you're on the ball Hedgehog Grove! Age is definitely a good thing to mention in posts in case less frequent posters like myself aren't up to date on your situation and give you crazy recommendations :roll: silly me. definitely stick with the smaller dose in that case! Thank goodness revolution cannot be overdosed though!

Hedgehog Grove - What do you recommend for cleaning the cage when there's mites? I'm dealing with them myself at the moment and have just been using my regular cleaner (chlorhexidine with a vinegar rinse) - should something stronger be used for mites?


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## Hedgehog Grove (Jul 21, 2010)

SnufflePuff said:


> Hedgehog Grove said:
> 
> 
> > Since your baby is only 6 weeks old I would stick to the recommended dose of .01cc or a couple of drops on the back of the shoulder blades for him, 1 dose every 2 weeks for 3 treatments.
> ...


Yes it is just lucky that I had read the other posts also.

For Cleaning:

This is what we do for our full weekly cleaning of cages/igloos etc:

We use a solution of 1 part bleach to 100 parts water, and a little bit of Dawn dish washing liquid (they use Dawn on wildlife in oil spills so it is safe) all mixed up in a spray bottle.

Spray everything down and scrub after the scrub we let it sit for about 5 mins and then we scrub it again and then rinse really well.

After this we have another solution of 50% pure white vinegar and 50% water, again we spray everything let it sit for a few more minutes and then rinse everything with hot water 2-3 times. Then we let them all air dry completely before putting everything back into the cages.

During the week when we are replacing liners we use the 50/50 vinegar solution and wipe everything down with it, let dry and place in fresh clean liners.


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