Fur mites

[Izzybella]

Hi, I have just adopted a rescue rabbit and noticed, within an hour of bringing her home, that she had fur mites. I have treated her with Xeno 450 (Ivermectin) drops onto her skin. She was in a separate playpen to my rabbit (the floor was covered) and I have now put her playpen in the conservatory away from my rabbit.

Does anyone know how long I should keep her away from my rabbit? Does it take long for the Ivermectin to work? I have used it before, but she seemed to have quite a lot of mites all over her body, not just around her neck/ears. I haven't treated my own rabbit yet as only had enough for the new rabbit. I have ordered some more, so will treat him next week when it arrives.

Thanks.

 

[Cloverhouse]

I would treat her again in ten days to catch any newly hatched mites, then wait another five days and look her over with a magnifier to see if there are any dead mites. Maybe even wait a week. When you see the fur growing back and the scaly skin healing well, that's a good sign that the infestation is passed and they are safe to be around others.

Maybe look up mites online and see how long their egg incubation period is, that will help you determine when it would be most efficacious to do the second treatment to get the newly hatched ones.

 

[Izzybella]

Thank you, Cloverhouse. I'll retreat her and also treat my rabbit as a precautionary measure.

I actually ended up taking her to the vet as I saw a much larger black insect crawling on her head and managed to catch it. The vet confirmed that it was a flea and what I thought was mites was probably the fleas. Nightmare!

They've both now been been treated with Advantage, and I've treated the house/conservatory. A lot of hard work, but she's such a sweet rabbit that it's been worth the little hiccup.

 

[Cloverhouse]

Fleas are hard...ugh. I had a friend move in with me for a while a few years ago and he brought fleas in. They were a pain to get rid of. Advantage was a huge help, and I treated the house with diatomaceous earth. Costly and messy but luckily they haven't come back.

 

[Izzybella]

I'm hoping it'll be ok. I chucked out anything that she came in contact with in the conservatory. We've only just had the conservatory replaced so it was empty apart from her stuff. Luckily, it's a vinyl floor so was easy to clean. I did the house as a precautionary measure and will keep treating it until I know there's nothing there. Fingers crossed...