Do mites spread?

[who00knows]

I was wondering if mites can spread to dogs/cats in the house? What about people. I noticed ernie is missing a good bit of quills behind her left ear. Im assuming this is from mites. Any home tests that you can do to check and see if they have mites? how big are they? Are they active? Ernie just had babies...anything I can do to try and ensure that they do not get them.

[Nancy]

Are you sure she is missing quills? They naturally have a bald area around their ears. This is more noticable on some than others.

Since she just gave birth how are you even noticing this bald area? You should be leaving her totally alone except for giving her food and water. :)

[who00knows]

I noticed it before the babies...she is also very active at night still with the babies. She built a whole new nest for them last night it was awesome. I watched her from 2:30am until around 3:30am. It was so fun to watch!

[who00knows]

Can it spread to other animals and people?

[Ododad]

Yes, mites can spread to other animals.
But, missing quills are not an automatic sign of mites.
Ernie is two months old, the time for quilling.
Stress can cause loss of quills also. Think about it, Ernie is in a new home, she has been there, what? two weeks? If that wasn't stressful enough, she now has two babies when she shouldn't have had babies until at least six months old. She is a baby herself. Ernie is under a GREAT deal of stress right now. If she is moving the babies around, building new nests then she is not comfortable with her surroundings and that will create even more stress.
To examine her or do any kind of testing on her would mean that you would be handling her. She should not be handled at this time. Nor should the babies.

[who00knows]

Im not handling them. She just added more bedding to her nest. I dont touch her or the babies. I just didnt know if as soon as the babies are old enough for me to handle if I should sterlize the cage or what I should.....I wasnt talking about doing anything now. :confused: I just have a dog who has REALLY REALLY bad skin allergies already. I didnt want to cause her anymore problems.
Yes, mites can spread to other animals.
But, missing quills are not an automatic sign of mites.
Ernie is two months old, the time for quilling.
Stress can cause loss of quills also. Think about it, Ernie is in a new home, she has been there, what? two weeks? If that wasn't stressful enough, she now has two babies when she shouldn't have had babies until at least six months old. She is a baby herself. Ernie is under a GREAT deal of stress right now. If she is moving the babies around, building new nests then she is not comfortable with her surroundings and that will create even more stress.
To examine her or do any kind of testing on her would mean that you would be handling her. She should not be handled at this time. Nor should the babies.

[Ododad]

Im not handling them. She just added more bedding to her nest. I dont touch her or the babies. I just didnt know if as soon as the babies are old enough for me to handle if I should sterlize the cage or what I should.....I wasnt talking about doing anything now. :confused: I just have a dog who has REALLY REALLY bad skin allergies already. I didnt want to cause her anymore problems.
For mites to spread anyway, there must be direct contact between two animals or contact with a contaminted area.
Sorry, I misunderstood you earlier, you said that she had built a whole new nest and I assumed that meant she was moving the babies around to different areas of her home.
I know this is stressful to you too, and I didn't mean anything negative in my last reply.

[who00knows]

no no. Not a brand new. The babies stayed put and she built up around them...She had kinda flattened out the old one.

[Nancy]

Give her some pieces of toilet paper for her nest. They love it and it won't hurt them or the babies.

[who00knows]

I gave her some toilet paper last night....she used them! Thanks Nancy!