Really mites?!?

[HansenHomestead]

When I first got my Blue FG, Thunder I noticed that he would shake his head a lot more than my other rabbits. Upon inspection I did see that he had some wax in his ear, but that was about it. I went ahead, and dropped vegetable oil in both his ears, and the head shaking had stopped.... Until a few days ago. :evil: While my neighbors youngest daughter was visiting the rabbits she said. "Why is Thunder bleeding?" Unsure of what she meant I asked her to show me where it looked like he was bleeding. She pointed to his neck, just behind his ears. I pulled his ears forward so I could see the area she pointed out, and weelllll guess what I found?! Yeap, a bald spot, slightly red, with a few scabs! :x So that got me to thinking about his ears again. I looked them over, and yet again I find redness, and a build up of scabs.. verreaction: I am SO NOT happy right now. I quickly got me dropper, vegetable oil, and my tube of Ivermectin paste. I treated both of ears with the oil, and the spot on his neck with the paste. I covered the affected area, and a decent sized area around it. So that is my first question. Did I do everything right, and how often do I treat both areas?

After discovering that I thoroughly checked the rest of my herd, and saw no signs of fur mites, or ear mites. :wr_sweat:

That being said, I have seen a few of my rabbits have dandruff on their fur, but have never seen anything more than that. Should I be worried?

 

[alforddm]

I had ear mites in my herd for a while, but last summer, when the last of my grow-outs had gone to freezer camp and I wasn't breeding due to the heat. I treated all the breeders with Ivermectin orally. I gave a pea sized amount inside a type of leaf they really liked. Then I treated everyone again in three weeks. I haven't seen any re-occurrence.

That was alot easier than trying to do the topical ear treatments IMO and worked great. Withdrawal time wasn't a concern since I wasn't breeding at the time.

 

[HansenHomestead]

Thank you alforddm!

I will watch him through this week, and if nothing is getting better I treat him orally for the whole thing. It'll be a while before I can treat the whole herd. I have a litter of 6 that are 11 weeks old. A litter of 9 that are 6 weeks old, and 2 litters due to be born Friday, lol.

 

[alforddm]

Oh and I used the horse paste in a tube. You can get a tube for around $5 at tractor supply or any feed store. It's supposed to be "apple favored", but I haven't tried it.

 

[HansenHomestead]

I got a huge chunk of scabs/wax out of Thunders ear. I also checked the other buns again, and a few of them did have a little build up in their ears, but it truly looked just like some ear wax. Should I be worried?

 

[Zass]

Anytime I've seen or suspected mites, I've treated the entire herd with oil, and again in about 10 days just to make sure they are all dead. It's worked so far.

 

[FourRingCircus]

My guess is the "wax" you are seeing is actually from mites... won't hurt to treat with oil just in case.