Help Please! Is it mites?

[minuke99]

Ok, so it's 1am and I've been tossing and turning for hours. I couldn't figure it out until I realized my legs are covered in little mosquitoe type bites that I didn't have before I went to bed. My babes spend a lot of time on my bed, usually on a sheet but they got under it today. I've scoured my bed...I can't see a thing.

Could my babes AND me have mites?! :doh: :doh: :doh:

Are they invisible?! :gaah:

What do I do??????

 

[Maple]

Are the little ones scratching? You don't have to worry about yourself as mites are species specific. They will bite you but quickly leave when they find out you are the wrong host. Mites are in fact invisible to the human eye and do not always remain on their host therefore dropping off onto your bed is possible. The key thing is if your ratties are scratching and that you will notice right away. If they are scratching you can purchase ivermectin at a feed store. I believe sausage just got some so maybe she can post where. It is normally in a paste stored in a syringe and it may be under a "horse dewormer". You would give each one of your ratties a piece the size of a grain of rice, once a week for at least 3 weeks (best to do 4). The cost for this is somewhere between $10-$20. If they do have mites, my guess would be they got it from your bedding. It's always best to freeze it for 72 hours before using.
Good luck & keep us posted.

 

[StaceyM]

Those sound a lot like flea bites. Do you have any other pets in the house who might have brought them in? You may want to go over them for flea dirt to be sure.

I understand flea bites are normally on the lower legs, because they jump on to you from the carpets.....so they might not be in the bed.

 

[sausage4ever]

Sounds like fleas to me....I've had flea bites before and I react terribly to them.
Have you pet any dogs or cats recently?

 

[jorats]

I'd say fleas as well... when my dog would bring in fleas, the bottom of my legs were always covered in bites.

 

[blytherue]

i agree with the fleas! my kitties got fleas once and it was hell getting rid of them. they left me alone for the most part, but my (soon-to-be-ex) husband was covered in bites from ankle to knee. we didn't even let our kitties out at all! there was a lot of construction going on on our block and we had a lot of pest problems due to that i think (we also had cockroaches and there were mice while we were moving in, but i think our kitties scared the mice away once we were living there. we used vet-prescribed shoulder blade drop flea med stuff on the kitties and it didn't work! we had to flea bomb the house to get rid of them. (but as a bonus it killed the roaches...) ye gods that was a horrible renting experience.

 

[Moon]

If you got the bites in bed, you may need to keep an eye out for bed bugs. They've made a comeback in Canada in the last few years!

 

[minuke99]

I'm not sure how we could have gotten fleas. My landlady doesn't have pets, although she did babysit a dog a couple of weeks ago. My babes seem fine, I haven't seen them scratching at all. My welt are gone this morning...it might have been dust or something I ate...sorry for freaking out.

I vaccumed my room and my bed today.

Bedbugs....eeeewwwww yuck. I haven't seen anything, but thanks for the heads up.