gerbil wounds

Question
hi.recently i found a wound on my gerbil sparky  with "dots"(i think are mites)
eating it. i shooed them away and looked at it. it's red .is it fatal? or a mere
scratch?

Answer
Hello Liz,
awww poor gerbil he must be irritated by it. It does sound like mites. The best thing to do is to buy some flea and tick spray for small animals and keep the cage as clean as possible. Also apply some mild antibiotic ointment like neosporin on the wound. I'd apply the neosporin before you spray the gerbil. That way the wound won't get irritated by the spray. Keep the wound clean. I don't think it's fatal at all, if your gerbil is eating and drinking normally otherwise he should be fine, you just have to get rid of those pesky bugs on him.
Good luck. :-)