Vet couldnt find any mites or fleas, but Im being bit.

Question

little grey bug  

2nd pic of bug   Hello,
I have ha my bunny for 3 years now, but as of the last few months every time I enter my bedroom, which is where I keep her, I get bit. The bites typically happen in groupings. The worst of which involved 5 bites going along my lower back and upper buttocks as well as legs and arms. I have also seen some mites that looked small and red, but I don't have any pictures. I took her in to the vet, but he wasn't very experienced with bunnies and he said he couldn't see any on her or the bedding I had brought in. Ellie doesn't seem to be infected, but if I spend time in the same room I come out with bites. I use pine wood chips as bedding and she has to have hay, but I don't know if those could have brought the pests in my home. What could they be and what can I do?

Answer
Hi, Kaila

It sounds as if you have a mite problem.  That's miserable!  We've had it, too.

Believe it or not, I have seen packages of pine shavings *teeming* with mites!  The chips are supposed to "repel" them, but they do no such thing.  Weird!

Pine shavings aren't good bedding, anyway.  I'd switch to pelleted pine sawdust (e.g., AllPet Pine or horse bedding from a feed store) and cover it with a layer of soft hay.  That's the best, safest bedding, and we've never had a mite problem with that.

To get rid of the mites you have, I'd recommend throwing out all the pine shavings, then washing all your bedding, throwing all pillows, blankets, etc. in the dryer on HOT for a couple of cycles, and vacuuming the heck out of any carpets or rugs.  Mites hide in fabric and crevices, so you'll need to clean those out.

In case Ellie is harboring any mites, find a good rabbit vet here:

http://www.rabbit.org/vet

and ask for some Revolution (selamectin) to apply to the back of her shoulders.  DO NOT USE FRONTLINE, which is deadly to rabbits!  The Revolution will act for 2-3 weeks to kill any mites that bite Ellie, and so the population will decline and die off.  And don't worry if you can't see any mites on her.  They can be wicked hard to locate.   But they are there, and don't let anyone tell you they're not, just because they can't find them on the bunny.  If there aren't many on her, it would be like looking for a needle in a haystack.

Revolution also works on fleas, so you'll be covered.

I hope this helps.

Dana