Mites?!

[wyvernrider18]

For the past two or three days, I have been noticing really teeny tiny white bugs crawling all over her food an water dish. Could this be mites? I know they sometimes come in wood bedding, which I don't use for her, but I did use it for my rats and they were constantly kicking all their bedding into her cage. If its not mites, then I'm suspecting its ant larva. I'll be attempting to get her an appointment to have it looked at officially if I feel her health is compromised in any way. She hasn't been scratching very much that I can tell, and I don't see any of the bugs on her, but a lot of her quills have white on them and the bugs are white, so they might just be hard to see. anybody have any insight? Help!

[hedgehog69]

let us know what they are when you find out, it's a good possiblity that it is mites but the only real way to tell is to bring her in.when I was breeding mealworms I think I got the same little white bugs all over the conainer that I was breeding them in so I dumped it out to the birds and started all over.

[wyvernrider18]

Well, the new exotics vet that I'm planning on taking Hotaru to isn't open yet, but will be on the 1st. I'm sure she can hold out til then, and if not, then I will take her to the other vet an hour or so away. I haven't seen any more of the little bugs since I throughly cleaned her cage and disinfected her food and water dishes, so perhaps I've already solved the problem. I'll let you know what happens.

[hedgehog69]

I did the same with my meal worms and they did came back the problem is that you can hardly see them till there are millions of em so I would still plan a visit to have mites ruled out or maybe capture some of them on a piece of clear tape and bring them in and have them looked at.

[wyvernrider18]

If I find anymore, I will do that, but like I said, the vet that i want to see her is closed til the first. I'll keep an eye on her to make sure the problem isn't getting any worse. I won't let her suffer at any rate.

[wyvernrider18]

Well, I finally figured out what all the little bugs all over Hotaru's dishes was, and I didn't even have to take her to the vet. A few days after dumping her buggy water dish down the kitchen sink, we got dozens of tiny little flies buzzing all around the sink. It was fly larva, not mites. I'm pretty relived that I no longer have toworry about the mites, at least not yet. Thanks for all the help.