Mites! :( :(

So I noticed a bit of hair loss on one of my bucks about a week ago and consulted his breeder about the issue. I purchased topical Ivermectin and have treated twice now- spraying each individual mouse and the cage as a whole. I've also been changing bedding more frequently.

Some of my mice are starting to lose their fur though. This girl is the small baby from the litter I had the sickly beige girl in.



Does she look completely awful or is it just mite hair loss that will grow back after I've done the treatment?

Are they scratching? Mites usually do not cause hair loss unless the,mice are scratching. It could be lice.

Just continue treating all the mice and bedding. Also put your bag of bedding in the freezer. Most likely this came from the petstore bedding. Freezing will help kill whatever is in it.

I've never used topical ivermetin, so I can't vouch for it effectiveness, but the 1.87% horse dewormer ivermectin paste seems to cure whatever parasitical problems I have- itching, hair-loss, redness, scabs, crustiness. Itching generally stops within two days, noticable hair re-growth in about a week.

Topical Ivermectin is really common use, it'll almost always clear up mites in 6 weeks, using it once or twice a week.

I would not personally deal with the paste, I hope you are not giving it orally because that has been known to be toxic.

As far as the hair loss, it's possibly either mites or ringworm, you can treat ringworm with a tea tree oil spray.

tinyhartmouseries wrote: I hope you are not giving it orally because that has been known to be toxic.

I do use it orally, and yes, I have heard it can be toxic. But when I was a teenager helping out at a mom & pop pet shop, they used the paste orally on all rodents (rats, mice, guinea pigs, rabbits [I know they're lagomorphs lol]. I've never had a problem with it, and have even in severe cases [where the infestation is causing major health problems] used it on pregnant and nursing mothers (whose pups are approaching weaning) without illness or loss of life. I give one dose (about a mouthful size dallop depending on the creature) then sterilize all cages and toys. Two weeks later I repeat the process. It's always worked well for me. I only recently heard of the topical type; can someone give instructions for its use? It would be so much less stressful than forcefeeding paste to the poor little guys.

ps: The only reason I have experience treating preggo mice with ivermectin is the shop I worked with was the town dumping ground for small unwanted animals, many of whom had long-neglected health problems.

Part of your issue may be the length of the fur. After spraying the mice, are you ruffling the fur to get the dampness to the skin? With really long fur, their bodies will be insulated from the chemical, and skin-level parasites may not be treated.

If you get pour on cattle Ivermectin from a feed store, you can dilute it 5 parts water, one part Ivermectin. Spray on. Or, use one or two drops pure. Repeat once or twice a week for 6 weeks, even if it looks like it's cleared up.

I would just hesitate to use that paste. There are oral dewormers that work for mice but I would not 100% trust the oral Ivermectin.

Thank you so much for the advice guys!

They are scratching- I don't actually see any bugs on them though. I'll check again with a magnifying glass a little later.

I have them being treated with pour on cattle Ivermectin- diluted 5 parts water, 1 part Ivermectin as recommended by Tinyhart. If I don't see anything clearing up within the next few weeks should I try the paste? Or maybe the pour on undiluted?

Hey tinyhart! Thanks for the topical directions! I'll give it a try next time I need it. No sense in taking a risk with the oral stuff if I don't have to.

you are welcome madmouse!
And doganddisc, I don't remember which is which, but I do not think that mites can be seen well with the human eye.

Hi I keep recommending this to everyone lol but diamatcous earth wks for mites better than ivermectin from my experience and its super safe If you have any questions feel free to im me, I'm not on here alot. Hope it all works out!

I use bird or reptile mite and lice spray. Plus I use cat revolution off label.

I stay away from ivermectin because of the possible (but rare in mice) side effects. It is however the leading choice of most breeders.

I have also used diamatcous earth in the past.

Thank you for the input everyone

I went out and bought diatomaceous earth today. I'll be using that with the ivermectin- hopefully between the two things, it will get rid of the problem!

How did the diatomaceous earth work? How did you apply it? Our mouse has hair loss from itching and scratching as well. He won't hold still long enough for me to see any mites, even when I gave him a bath, I couldn't see anything. I'd appreciate any info.