Lice on Mice and ASF Questions

I suddenly had an explosion of what I believe are lice on my mice and ASF. They can be seen with the naked eye so from researching and asking around I believe they are lice. I believe they came in on my wood chips. I don't have a big enough freezer to freeze the large amount I go through so haven't been doing that although now am trying to figure out how I could manage it. I also have regular rats but I can't seem to find any on them. I have lots of pinks and fuzzies and haven't found any on them or the weaned babies or adults. None even on the wooden parts of the racks the regular rats are in. I am wondering if there is a way to get rid of the lice without euthanizing everything sanitizing all the bins and just starting over? I thought about Sevin dust mixed in the bedding? Obviously I wouldn't feed off anything that I was using that with but not sure it's safe? I know Ivermectin works if you have a couple as pets and can get them to eat it but I have a few too many for that. Has anyone mixed the ivermectin with water and used in their water bottles? Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. I am going crazy and feel itchy all the time since I can see them on the rodents and it's driving me nuts! I had read that the lice that like mice only like mice and the ones that like rats only like rats so possibly that's why they are only on the mice and ASF? Sorry for the long message but thanks to anyone who takes the time to read it and offer any help :)

Are they white/gray and long oval shapes? Or black/brown/red dots? Long white/gray shapes that don't move much are lice, they tend to like to latch on and not move too much, and they are species specific. Black/brown/red moving dots are mites, and they are not species specific and will bite you (and it sucks!!)!


What I have found to be the BEST most effective, reliable, fast acting treatment method is as follows:

Buy lice bedding spray from walgreens / cvs, it comes in a little spray can, you'll need a few.

Clean all of your cages, and replace only a minimum layer of bedding back into all of the cages, spray the bins, and the litter lightly with the spray, it goes a long way (1 can prays my 20 lab bins 2 times if that helps you estimate how many you will need)

The next day, change out the litter again, and replace with the normal amount of bedding, spray the bedding and cages again (and the racks, and anything else you might want to spray for good measure!) toss the bedding around after it's been sprayed and put in your rodents.

The lice realistically should be nearly eradicated at this point, or in the next few days. I would repeat treatment again in 1-2 weeks depending on how often you clean.

Using this method, the mice should not need to be treated directly. If you have some that are especially infested, wash them in the sink with dish soap and water, and dry them off really well.

The previous times I have tried using things like ivermectin and frontline dirtectly on my rodents, it has been an absolute farce. This method of treating the bedding with the human bedding lice spray works great, and i have had no problems using it aorund 4 different species of mice, and even babies.

Sadly they are what you described as mites :( They are very tiny black/red dots that move about a lot. I thought that's what they were but everything I read and people I talked to said you can't see mites only the lice. I think I have already been bit by them as I have had a couple bites. But it's hard to tell as it's mosquito and black fly season here in MI and I have bites all over from those. If they are mites will the lice powder also work on them or am I not so lucky? Thank you very much for your help and response I really appreciate it! These things are driving me nuts!

The lice spray works just fine on mites also! :)
Just spray the cages and bedding like I advised, and you'll be fine. They'll jump onto you when you're cleaning, so you're gonna want to shower right after (their bites suck!) but they can't live on you for more than a few hours, so they'll die off, and you won't have to worry about spraying yourself down or anything. :P

Since they are mites, you need to treat ALL of your rodents, and not just the ones effected, because the mites can live on all species of rodents.

One thing I've heard about using this spray is that it is important to use it in a well ventilated area (probably says that part on the can) and also to let it dry COMPLETELY before putting your animals back in the cage. I don't think it says that part since it isn't labeled for use with animals.

Other than that, I think Rhasputin's got you covered. You can also get it at walmart if that is more convenient for you.

Yes! I spray the bedding very lightly on the top (wood shavings, just sort of spray over them with one 'coat') then toss them around so it's not just concentrated right under their bodies. :gj:



Edit: Also, hi Casey from Virginia! I'm Casey, from Virginia! ;)

Thanks for all the help! I live in a very small town and couldn't find any yesterday but my mom and dad went to walmart today in another town and picked up a few cans for me. So treating them all today. Thanks again for the suggestions and I will do an update on how it goes :)

Sounds good! Just makre sure you change the bedding 2 days in a row, that really helps get rid of them!

Since it's mites, you may wanna give the carpet around your cages a light spritzing too. I hate mites, lol.

It's been a few days, how's the mite problem? :)

Other treatment options are Horse Dewormer paste(Ivermectin) from feed stores. Feed a rice grain size dose to each rat once week for 3 weeks.
I seriously tried this once and all mites were gone after a day. But I still treated the full course.

You can also get Diatomaceous Earth (food grade) from health stores/garden centers/feed stores and sprinkle your bedding and powder your animals (just keep away from eyes and nose). Diatomaceous earth is all natural and non-toxic. Its harmless to mammals and birds. But it shreds anything with an exoskelleton and dehydrates them to death.

Other people have had success with iver-on, but it never worked for me. It might have just been the strain of mites I ended up with were immune to it or something. :confuzd:

Sorry I haven't been on here. It worked great! Thank you sooooo much for all the help! I used it with pinks and hoped it didn't kill them as I wasn't sure and not a one died. Will be keeping some of this on hand just in case I ever have an issue again. I did pick up some Ivermectin but trying to get each rat to take some orally and getting the right amount really didn't sound easy so I gave up on that. Spraying the bedding worked perfect and for a larger number of animals seems like the best and easiest way to go.

Since this thread was started, I read something about ivermectin not being ok for use in reptiles, as it can be fatal. That would make me want to keep it far away from my feeder colony, too. If anyone wants the link to read more details, I could try to find it again.

The bedding spray, on the other hand, uses the same type of active ingredients as Provent-a-Mite, which is formulated specifically for use with reptiles. Glad it worked for you!

Vets use ivermectin to treat reptiles for mites. Like any other animal, dosage makes a difference in how safe the product is.

Even PAM can kill reptiles if used incorrectly.

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I was thinking in terms of how pesticides and other pollutants build up in predators because they get the dose each one of their prey items has had. There are too many factors for me to know if it really is a danger or not, but it just seemed safer to stay away from the ivermectin.

Of course, on further reflection, I realized that the same potential exists with the permethrin in provent-a-mite and the bedding spray, and I don't really know any more about whether or not it has the potential to build up to dangerous levels in a predator eating prey which has been exposed to it.