Guinea Pig Skin Care

Question
I have two guinea pigs at my house and both of them have had this condition. My youngest guinea pig had a sore tipe thing on his back and he was losing his hair in the area and then he had gotten a scab and it has gotten better. My guinea pig Peanut has the same thing and she is a few months older than Pee Wee and it is dried blood. It isnt big but I can tell that she keeps scratching or biting at it becasue of its looks. She is also losing her hair in the area. Please  help me diagnose the problem for my guinea pigs.

Answer
Hello Jess,
it sounds like your guinea pigs may have mange mites if you are not using cedar or pine bedding. Since they are showing the exact same symptoms I would say that they have mange mites. Mange Mites are tiny mites that you can't see with the naked eye that live under the skin and cause irritation, hairloss, blistering, bleeding and wounds if not treated immediently. The only thing that's known to get rid of them is Ivermectin, which you can find in the Equine aka Horse section of a Pet Store but you need to consult a vet on how much to give and personally I'd prefer for people to go to a vet so that the vet can administer the ivermectin exactly, because too much can kill a guinea pig and too little won't get rid of the mange mites. You will have to keep changing the bedding every two days or so and treat both piggies. You need to keep everything super clean during the treatment so they won't get reinfected.