Hamsters with demodectic mites

Question
I have 2 Roborovski's dwarf hamsters and I believe that they have mites. I would like to know how to treat them and if humans can get them. Thanks.

Answer
Hi Amanda.

You'll need to take your Robs to a veterinarian to confirm the presence of demodectic mange through a skin scraping.  There really isn't much OTC (over the counter) that you can buy for it, and I would suggest you take them to a vet even if there was because demodectic mange is rarely a problem presenting by itself.  There are usually other severe, often chronic health problems going on with the animal presenting mange, and the mange appears when the animal's immune system is too worn down to fight it off.

Demodectic mange is like the herpes virus in that once an animal has it, they never truly get rid of it, and often have outbreaks of it as their immune system tries to battle other things.  Demodectic mange is often passed from parents to offspring and for this reason, animals (even dogs and cats) with demodectic mange should never be bred.  It is for this reason that I suggest you separate your two Robs if they are an opposite sex pair.  It is fairly hard to breed Robs in captivity, but the fluke litter has been known to occur, and with the possibility of yours having demodectic mange, you wouldn't want it to.

Also for this reason, you should contact whoever you bought your Robs from and let them know that yours have demodectic mange and therefore, the rest of the litter also has demodectic mange and the parents and any immediate relatives of the parents should be retired from the breeding program.

Demodectic mange is not contaigous to people, only to other animals (but if you have other animals in your house, such as dogs or cats, they CAN get it if they have had contact with the hamsters).  Sarcoptic mange, on the other hand, IS transferrable to humans which is why you'll want a vet to tell you exactly what is going on.