# I found lice! Help?! :(



## fayefleetwood (May 28, 2013)

Hi,

So I posted recently about the sudden death of a 3 week old mice. The other day we noticed one of our Mums was acting strangely and we thought she was being bullied as her litter were pulling the fur behind her ears out. I checked her over and all seemed fine, but I separated her anyway and she seemed to improve. 
Today, I went to pick her up, but she was reluctant to get in my hand. When she did, I stroked her and all these little reddish/brown things came up wriggling about, and then went back into her fur, which I immediately recognized as lice - adult lice.

This means that all of our babies (we had 2 litters at the same time, totally 16 babies) and both mums are probably infected, and probably the Dad who is in a cage close-by.

Just wondering what steps people have taken when there has been an outbreak among litters. We are lucky in that the litters are very nearly 4 weeks so they are just about old enough to be treated, but how would I go about QTing? :S

I am in the process of checking each individual baby to see how many are currently infected. I have to go back to work soon, so I will not have time to bleach cages until the weekend. Once I know numbers, I'll be calling the vet to see what the best course of action will be.

I'm just rooting for some advice really.

Our first litter was going so well, with no deaths or still borns. We adore our mice and do everything we can to ensure they are all healthy, and then something like this happens. 
Its a bit disheartening as we feel like we've done something wrong and now they are suffering for it


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## SarahC (Oct 3, 2008)

there's no need for a vet,lots of over the counter pyrethrum based products are fine to use.If you want a quick fix then spray the mice and cages with Johnsons anti mite available from most petshops for birds.Ivermectin for small pets branded as spot on is suitable to.


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## PPVallhunds (Jul 26, 2010)

I use ivermectin for parasites. I have a little bottle of it from someone and just put a drop on each mouse.
You can get spot on for small rodents, I've used zeno with no problems on adults and babies, depending on the mouse weight depends on how many drops they recommend. I've used the Bob Martin one befor and wouldn't recommend it have allways had problems, used it twice on mice and each time some died, my rabbits neck swelled up after using the rabbit one and a friend's g pig died after using it.


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## fayefleetwood (May 28, 2013)

OK. We got some drops from the vet and we are going to get some Johnson's spray. Our local pet store doesn't sell the anti mite spray but they do sell 2 others by Johnson's - one for small animals such as mice and rats and one for cages so we are going to get both of those


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## smallcritters (Feb 25, 2015)

Hey there... read your post and want to help.... I have 8 2 week old mice ill with lice too... I havent lost any yet but its important to get them seen to asap or they can totally kill of your litter due to blood loss... I went to the vet and was given ivermectin... topical drops to put on my mother mouse to passively treat the babies... bit annoying however id prefer to treat them all but the young babaies could get poisoned.


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## WoodWitch (Oct 18, 2009)

Smallcritters, Hi, this thread is very old but I have approved your post as it is informative for others


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## moustress (Sep 25, 2009)

I put post-its on the cages with the dates of treatment to be sure that I follow through with all the mousies and do all three applications at weekly intervals to complete the treatment, as eggs may still hatch. It doesn't pay to


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## raisin (Sep 22, 2014)

you don't need any sort of chemical bug sprays or trips to the vet to treat parasites. When my mice got mites, I ordered a bag of FOOD GRADE diatomateace earth. I had a litter of babies at the time, so I looked into alternatives to ivermectin. It is not a chemical and is entirely safe for you, you mice, and their little babies. in fact you can eat it- has a ton of health benefits for humans! to treat mice, You simply sprinkle the white powder into their bedding, in and around the cage, and maybe on some of their backs. Do this whenever you clean the cage for 4 weeks. I also sprinkled it everywhere around my house and mouse room just to make sure.

It works by cutting the exoskeletons of buggy things and parasites (can kill internal parasites too if you mix into their water) and they just die. It can kill an ant in about 30 minutes. I don't know the time frame for killing lice, but the reason it takes 4 weeks is to kill the next batch of nits from eggs lain prior to treatment.

I highly recommend looking into it. I bought 10 lbs for $20, so look around a bit for the best deals. Do not ever buy nonfood grade like they might sell in pet stores for parasites. The little mice will be breathing it in from their bedding and you really want food grade.


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