This is what deb rebel said before about what to do if you have mites:
"Pyrenthin Spray, in 0.66 % concentration. Bird mite spray
is half that strong and won't do the job.
The spray will be cold, but. If the room is warm they can stand
being misted.
You need to spray EVERYTHING. Inside and outside of cage.
Old bedding coming out of cage that goes into a garbage
bag which gets sealed and the outside sprayed. Everything
around the cage. The path from cage to the door after/as
you take the bag outside. Yourself. The new bedding going
in. All the gerbils in the tank, dorsal and ventral. Everything
IN the tank.
Freeze your feed for a week at 0F. This will kill mites in it.
Bring in a clean container of bedding, sealed until you are
ready to put it in the cage. Bring in a clean container of food,
sealed until you're ready to feed the first time. And dump
some of both feed and bedding onto a white paper towel
and examine for a minute to see if you find anything crawling
OUT of it. If you do, it's contaminated and either take it back
for a refund or throw it...I suggest you throw it rather than
infest anything with mites.
You spray everything around that cage too.
Yes, you must be spray happy. If you miss ONE mite, you're
back to full infestation in a week.
I do a thorough clean and spray for three straight days, then
check the animals for a week. Loosely swaddle one with
a white paper towel or some tissue, leaving the head stick
out, and watch around the edge of the white paper for about
a minute. If there are any mites, they will be seen jumping
off the host and show up on the paper. If you find any
crawling on the cage or on the animals, you have to start
over on the clean and spray.
I have sprayed just furred pups, with the mother there she
will dry them and keep them warm.
Don't spray non-furred pups as they can't take the shock
of being hit with cold spray. And the adults, literally soak
them. Make the fur wet. Avoid the eyes, but get some
on your hand (mindful of being bitten) and get the head too.
You can have one ride home with you on your clothes if
you get near a contaminated cage or handle a contaminated
animal; they can come in in feed or bedding. I always
freeze my feed for a week at 0F to kill anything in it, and
examine my bedding as I open a new package. If you
put the feed in large baggies, it's easy to handle. "
-----Original Message-----
From: "Sarah Conte"<[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Date: Sun May 20 09:44:58 PDT 2001
Subject: Re: Mites
>Hi all. I'm still fighting the bugs. I now have noticed bugs (though they
>seem different from those I found on the first pair) on a litter of 5-day old
>pups. These seem to be just beneath the skin, and there seem to be no bugs
>crawling around on their toys like with the other pair. The only spray I
>could find (and I did look in almost every pet store in the city) was the
>bird mite spray. I dipped a q-tip in the spray and dabbed it on the red
>spots on the babies. I also managed to get bitten by the mother for my
>troubles (She's never liked me, no matter how hard I try, she beats up on
>other gerbils too). Anyhow, last night I cleaned out the affected pair of
>gerbils' cages, showered myself and bathed both of my cats (Much to their
>dismay). I hope that I've gotten rid of these obnoxious pests :)
>Sarah
>
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