5littlepigs
Junior Guinea Pig
I am currently in the progress of treating my pigs for static lice (the dusty mite things in the hair). But I was wondering if they can transfer to humans, or survive on carpets/in clothing/anything really, and if they can survive a washing machine or if they will infect it? I was holding Peep and she had quite bad static lice, and I didn't realise but her cheek was on my top and when I took her away quite a lot had crawled out onto my top. Would they have survived? And how do I make sure there are definitely no lice anywhere not on the guinea pigs? Can they cause any damage to humans?
Static lice feed on hair debris, like dandruff. It is probably just scurf that you found on your clothing as static lice don't move much- if at all. They are completely harmless to piggies and humans. Eggs are laid on the hair shaft and look like small dust particles. They will not survive anywhere but on your pigs. Washing your clothes will get rid of them. Dogproductsdirect.co.uk do a laundry liquid that kills all external parasites; fleas, ticks and lice. "Gorgeous Guineas" do shampoos which will get rid of the lice on your piggies. Static lice can come from hay and are sometimes called Hay Mites.
I think they must have got on there though because they were right on the tips of Peep's hair and she was touching my shirt for quite a while. But thank you so much for the info, I was really starting to worry my whole house would become contaminated with them... I am currently treating them with gorgeous guineas but it goes out of date tomorrow so I'll need to buy some more!