# Can you shed any light? (warning dead mice pictures)



## Velvet_Meece (Apr 20, 2009)

I've just had to cull 3 mice, bringing it to 4 now as culled one couple months ago fro same reason.

The one i culled before was a fuzzy hairless adult doe who got to the point where she had no ears and was obviously very painful.

Basically they started of with what looked like scratched ears, then it gradually gets worse, bleeds, wounds become larger, parts of the ear go missing and get almost eaten away it seems.

Strange things, the mice don't appear to scratch the ears at all, they don't appear itchy, the other mice take no notice either. 
No matter how many mice share the tub, only the one individual gets it, no others become affected in any way.

All my mice are treated weekly for ecto-parasites. 
These mice i treated with a stronger substance too, as precaution, it made no difference.

These mice are not related in any way whatsoever, nor have they come into physical contact at any point.

All mice eat the same food, have the same bedding, kept and cleaned in same way, kept in the same room.

These mice have been this way for a couple months, i have tried alsorts but with no difference, and so it has come to culling.

This is two adult doe's and 1 adult buck. All less than 6 months old.

Does anyone have any ideas as to whats gone on? :|


----------



## Serena (Dec 29, 2011)

I'm sorry for your mice. Sadly I have no clue what it could be.
But could you post a few close ups of the lesions? The pictures are great, but the important part is kind of small.


----------



## Velvet_Meece (Apr 20, 2009)

Closest my cam will let me get.


----------



## Jack Garcia (Oct 9, 2009)

Are the ears the only part of the body affected?

What kind of treatments for ectoparasites have you used?

There are a lot of different bugs which can infest mice, and some are resistant to all medications except ivermectin (sold as Iver-On cattle spray in tack shops in the US...unsure about British versions). However, even with ivermectin, if you miss a treatment or don't also treat porous surfaces, the eggs can survive and re-infest the animals weeks down the road. This is one reason why proper quarantine is so important (not saying you didn't quarantine, btw).

My best guess with the information at-hand would be acariasis and I'd recommend using ivermectin once weekly for six weeks if that's not what you're already doing, but be sure to also spray the bedding, toys, and the surrounding area in your house pretty thoroughly as well.

Some people prefer to treat only monthly but I've never had any problem doing it weekly so long as you don't drench them.


----------



## SarahC (Oct 3, 2008)

I've had mice like that.I treated for parasites and fungal infection.Got rid of it but I don't know which it was,quite a few mice ended up with no ear flaps, they looked like cropped dogs.When I kept them in glass tanks in a shed that wasn't insulated I also had some lose ears,I'm pretty sure to frost bite but obviously not at this time of year.If you treat for those things first and it doesn't work you can buy some antibiotic eye drops over the counter and put a few drops on incase it's a bacterial infection.I do that for some of Bandits wrinkles because he is prone to nasty skin eruptions in his cracks and crevices.


----------



## tinyhartmouseries (Dec 30, 2010)

Are these mice related? 
I am currently getting rid of a genetic OCD problem that I can actually trace back to one pair of bucks. Seems to affect them in the exact same patterns and not every mouse gets it. It seems more to skip a generation and then affect one or two mice per gen.


----------



## Jack Garcia (Oct 9, 2009)

Velvet_Meece said:


> These mice are not related in any way whatsoever, nor have they come into physical contact at any point.


----------



## Wight Isle Stud (May 19, 2010)

Havent a clue but my initial thoughts are that its very unusual that a bacterial condition is in exactly the same place on each Mouse, I would initially look for an enviromental cause, I.E physical damage with a secondary infection. After that look at a streptocci infection.


----------



## Shadowrunner (Sep 26, 2011)

That looks a awful lot like a burn.
Some fungi do it, some allergies and even some bacteria will too.
Is there..If it was me I would try to test it. 
I've done it a few times and then if anything grows from the sample you can try to identify it.
I'm like half asleep here, so I'm sorry if that doesn't make sense.


----------



## MojoMouse (Apr 20, 2012)

Shadowrunner said:


> If it was me I would try to test it.
> I've done it a few times and then if anything grows from the sample you can try to identify it.


Do you mean growing it in a dish in agar?


----------



## MiceGalaxyDK (May 26, 2009)

Could it be some kind of flesh eating bacteria?
I'm not an expert, but, that was my thought


----------



## tomash (Oct 31, 2010)

Hi, I've had the same problem and since I often attend to cavy shows, I was terrified I had got ringworms into my household (I have cat, dogs, mice and hamsters...). I applied "Lamisil once" on the affected area - the ears. Lamisil will not cure ringworm but (on cavies at least) you will notice a rapid healing of the affected area - then you know it is a fungal infection and can start to treat it. BUT, in my case, nothing happened and I tried Lamisil twice. Now I had people saying it could be scabies mites and nowadays Ivermektin wont kill it (in Sweden at least) but since I had some Ivomec at home I tried it but I could not see any improvement in a week. Now the ears started to look really bad and on one mouse it had spread to the nose. At the end I got some Selamectin (Stronghold) from a friend and in 2 days the wounds began to heal and after a week you could not see a scab! I treated all animals again after 4 weeks.
Some mice - those that were most affected - lost alot of their coat after the treatment but it grow back nicely.


----------



## Velvet_Meece (Apr 20, 2009)

Hmm it is stated though [Pets in generally poor health or who have cracked or broken skin should not receive applications of selamectin.]


----------



## LUX (Mar 10, 2011)

I have absolutly no idea what it is called in english, but it looks like my buck Pelle.
He had a parasite under his skin. It started on the ears and moved to the area around his eyes.
He was treated with Stronghold and after 14 days, it was all gone.

The parasite causes små wounds and they itch themselves a lot.
Guinea pigs, rats, gerbils and so on can also get it, but it is normally species-specific.
Does it make sence? :lol: 
If anybody know what I'm talking about pleeeaaase tell my what it is called in english.
It's frustrating not knowing the english word for it :lol:


----------



## Jack Garcia (Oct 9, 2009)

Do you mean a type of mange? It affects the species you listed in the manner you listed, but I already mentioned it (acariasis)...


----------



## Laigaie (Mar 7, 2011)

LUX is not a native English speaker, and noted in the post that they aren't sure what it's called in English.


----------



## Jack Garcia (Oct 9, 2009)

As also noted in the post, Sofie's asking what it's called in English. 

Do you have any suggestions?


----------



## LUX (Mar 10, 2011)

Sorry - I'm danish so there is a couple of words missing in my vocabulary :lol: 
I'll have to ask my vet what it's called in english.
Rats typically get it around the mouth, neck and shoulders before it spreads to the rest of the body and tails.
Small wounds that itch alot!


----------



## tomash (Oct 31, 2010)

Velvet_Meece said:


> Hmm it is stated though [Pets in generally poor health or who have cracked or broken skin should not receive applications of selamectin.]


Never heard of that! My mice had broken skin and healed rapidly. Better that than not healing at all... :?


----------

