Sores/Scabs on rear of head between ears

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sommrluv

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One of my 11 week kits has scabs on her head. I have a lot of cage space, so I have two buns each in 36 x 36 hanging cages. I've been shuffling them around last weekend as it's getting more obvious for me to sex them.

The one with the scabs is a pretty blue color, so I've been debating keeping him. I wasn't sure about sex with him for a while, and the other bun in with him is a doe.

I'm kind of mad because we don't have a ton of rabbits and I've been handling them all once a day. I'm in the barn at least twice, usually three or four times. Monday or Tuesday I noticed a slight thinning of the hair on the back of the blue kit's head. I showed my husband and asked his opinion and we both thought it was nothing. This morning, there's a LOT more hair missing and it's scabbed a bit. :( :cry:

I checked everyone else over very well and there's no marks on anyone else. I'm more inclined to think it was the other rabbit but I wanted to make sure. I will get some pics, we have a new camera and it doesn't like talking to the computer. :?

I separated out the other possible offending rabbit and put her in with the two girls on the end. They are mean little buns so they can all be meat to each other in that cage and go to freezer camp this week.

I have a pomade-consistency ointment for dogs that is for wounds, cuts, etc. Should I use that? I don't think he/she would be able to lick it off. Could it be mites or something if no one else has any?

Also, we haven't had rodents or anything until around Christmas. I think it's from when my housesitter spilled a bunch of food in there...which he didn't TELL ME ABOUT...he swept it under the stairs and it molded and we found it cleaning. He had spilled a ton in the chicken coop as well. We're pretty anal retentive about stuff like that so I'm pissed.

We have traps and rat poison out (not where it could be reached by rabbits or even fall into their cages).

Any thoughts on my book there? LOL
 
I'm inclined to think mites- any hair loss or scratches on the head on the side of his face? I'd put the ointment on it- shouldn't hurt him, even if he licks a bit from his paws.

Try to watch him and see if there is any head shaking or scratching.

Miss M had particularly vengeful rats who carried poison into one of her doe's cages, so be super careful with that and make certain it is secured somehow.
 
How can I tell for sure and how to I eliminate them? I have good quality food grade DE...put that in their water? I'm not sure they'd eat it as a powder.

Wouldn't everyone have mites? Not one other rabbit has a mark...I got quite a few scratches flipping everyone all over the place, lol
 
The DE kills bugs by scratching the waxy coating on the bug's exoskeleton (thereby causing them to dehydrate), so you would have to put it in the ears (I've never tried doing that.) The others may have them, just not as severely so aren't showing discomfort yet. I would spray the DE into cracks, and maybe even on the cages themselves, so any migrating mites will coat themselves.

Some people treat mites with plain oil in the ear. I'd go with olive oil myself, since it will get all over their fur, and they will end up ingesting some while grooming themselves. The oil will coat the mites and suffocate them. I think mite eggs take a couple weeks to hatch, so you may need to treat again.

You can check for mites by removing some wax from the ears and putting it on a dark surface, and watching for any light specks to crawl away. Don't worry how deep you go into the ear canal- rabbit's are "L" shaped, so you can't hit the ear drum.

I add a cup of DE to 50lbs of pellets and mix well to coat the pellets, and the rabbits eat it just fine.
 
Diatamaceous earth-- Plant fossils! FOOD grade must be used on the animals-- commercial grade has added stuff that is harmful...
 
Either the ointment made it obvious where the other patches are, or he's doing it to himself. He's significantly looking worse, and obsessively licking himself (which could be because of the stuff)

I added DE to the food for everyone.
 
sommrluv":3fnkftcb said:
We have traps and rat poison out (not where it could be reached by rabbits or even fall into their cages).
Click to expand...
MamaSheepDog's right... I'm currently treating a doe for rat poison. I put poison blocks on the ends of the frame of the rabbitry (not even the rack that supports the cages, but the frame that surrounds the rabbitry), on the far top corner which has unused cages right now, and on top of some window screens being stored horizontally in the top of the rabbitry. Nowhere close to this doe, who is in the middle, on the bottom. A rat had to pick up the block and carry it, either pulling it into her cage, or dropping it in from on top of her cage.

I'll be looking into the bait boxes they were talking about, that make the rat eat the poison inside them, and they can't take it out.

I have to treat her for months, because the poison works that long. I'm successful so far, but you don't want to have to find a way to get Vitamin K into a rabbit every day. I'm just stressing this, because I thought I was using the poison in a safe manner.

I agree that the bun sounds like he has fur mites. Scabs in the ears = ear mites, treatable by dripping a little oil into the ears and then massaging the ears to spread the oil. Missing fur and scabs behind the head, between the ears is probably fur mites. DE does work, you apply it to the whole rabbit, and I don't recall how often and for how long. I ended up switching to Ivermectin, because I suspected the doe was pregnant, and I didn't want the babies breathing DE.

The Ivermectin I got was oral horse paste. It takes about a pea-size portion per rabbit, every 10 days, for three doses. I used a popsicle stick to quickly smear it onto their lips, and they licked it off.

If it is fur mites, then it could already be spreading, and you just can't tell yet.
 
If it is fur mites applying DE to their fur will take care of them too. I don't worry much about inhaling the dust- when I was researching DE I read that the miners didn't wear dust masks, and didn't have any problems. They probably are required to these days with all the safety regs though.

This site has lots of good info: wolfcreekranch1.tripod.com/defaq.html

I bought 200 lbs from them, as well as a "DustinMizer" for the garden, and a "Pest Pistol" for the house when we had bedbugs. The pistol tends to squirt out clumps of it- I much prefer the DM which blows out a fine powder. The DM would work well if you were trying to treat your carpeting for fleas, and I used it to kill flies in the bunnybarn rafters, as well as dust the bunny droppings for odor control.
 
I'm reading HORROR STORIES about fur mites and feeling rather dejected at the moment. Blue bunny is worse, but only one other bun is possibly thinning. Poor blue boy is just so sad.

There's nothing in the ears whatsoever so I guess it's fur mites. So I need to treat, clean the cages in bleach, and do it all over again in fourteen days?

I'm assuming I shouldn't eat an animal that has been injected with ivermectin?

There's no poison above the cages at all, because I also thought a mouse would drag it around, it's on the ground and behind the wall behind the hay. We'll be getting sticky traps and more boxes today. All of our bait boxes are in the chicken coop at the moment, and I am assuming I'll have to treat them as well because I wear the same clothing when I do them both.

I'm so pissed. Where do they come from? Mice? Hay?


About the DE...I personally always wear a mask. I only gave them a little bit because I don't want them breathing it either. It was not coating the pellets. I might figure out something with a banana where I can work it into the nanner. We give it to our chickens, and I make a flea/tick spray for our dogs with some herbs, and it really really works. I also use it in the garden but not a ton because it can kill ladybugs and spiders. DE can harm our lungs if it is breathed so be careful.
 
Oh, no... it's rarely that big of a problem. Actually, I'll tell you a secret. When I had to deal with fur mites, the hutch was wooden, so instead of bleaching it, I puffed DE all over it.

After treating a rabbit with ivermectin, you should not butcher it for 30 days. After that, you can indeed butcher and eat the rabbit.

I think the rabbit who got them originally and then passed them on got it when he was living outside. Someone had "set him free", and we rescued him finally after about a week of trying to catch him.
 
I'm taking a break from our scouring of the bunny barn. Rabbits are all outside in clean cages, and we're de'ing everything, including the hay. Than the bunnies will get dusted.

The ones due for camp are all eating some sprouted wheat/oat grass in what was our 'rooster' coop outside and seem really happy. LOL
 
sommrluv":1jnkwoxh said:
I'm so pissed. Where do they come from? Mice? Hay?
Click to expand...

Most parasites are pretty species specific, with the exception of dog and cat fleas which seem pretty happy on a dog or a cat- probably because people often have both. The ground squirrels here are absolutely crawling with fleas, and even though the cats kill and eat them, and my JRT gets one occasionally, they never have fleas... actually, I have seen a couple of fleas on the barn cats, but that was a 3 or 4 years ago and they never multiplied and took over. Sometimes they get what we call "stick-tight fleas" which I believe are avian in origin- they don't crawl around like other fleas, they bury their heads in the skin, usually around the eyes and ears. Easy to "catch" anyway! :) Again, very isolated incidents.

They could be from other rodents running around the barn, but-and this is pure speculation here- it could be that all rabbits have a small population of them, and they only cause problems when the animal's immune system is stressed in some way. Supposedly all dogs have demodectic mange mites in their hair follicles, but only a few dogs are seen with the classic symptoms of baldness, etc.- it is believed that certain dogs are genetically predisposed to suffering from it.

In any case, the DE should take care of the little buggers. At least you have a sparkling clean, sanitized BunnyBarn now! :p It sounds like you caught the problem early and have done all you can to keep it from spreading. I hope the little guy feels better soon.
 
Thank you so much. I feel pretty bad about the whole thing. I try to pick everyone up once a day, or at least pet them. Yesterday transporting the young ones to the 'play' coop there was a perfectly healthy, shiny furred all black bun..no missing fur...with HORRID scabs on his back. Now, he is also in the same cage as the bun I moved out of the blue boys cage. Now I'm wondering if it's aggresive bunny & mites. We were too exhausted to butcher yesterday so I hope we can do it today.

I sent the hubby out to pick up 55 cases of half-gallon canning jars. Craigslist find! LOL
 
I certainly hope it's nothing worse than ear or fur mites (bad enough as they are), but keep in mind that the dreaded ringworm usually starts on or near the head of rabbits...as crusty skin and thinning hair. Eradication of it in a rabbitry reads like a horror story!

Our first case of fur mites was brought home from a show. Being new to the hobby, I had borrowed carrier space from another breeder, whose entry - housed in the next compartment - was loaded with dandruff and loose hair tufts. I didn't know better, but I do now. (Shame on the judges for not disqualifying him. The breeder was as ignorant as I. Who knows how many other rabbits were infested as a result.) Anyway, it took three treatments of Ivermectin to the entire herd, spaced by 10-14 days and a thorough scouring and flaming of cages, feeders and crocks as mites can survive on wire for days!
 

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