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what do fleas look like?

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wheek

what exactly am i looking for? down the bridge of munchkins nose, the hairs have little black dots all the way down the shaft, like when people get head lice.... is this flea eggs? ive checked them all over and theres nothign moving.....
 
OoOoh could be just her colour maybe ? If there not moving then i dont no to be honest none of mine had fleas :-\
 
Fleas are brown in colour, they have a hard shell, which you would really no unless you tried to kill them. They are different from lice and head lice. There are to different types of flea, off the top of my head i can't remember to 2 names. However, they both look the same unless you are looking under a microscope. One type is a dogs type and other cats type, but this doesn't mean the only live on cats and dogs. The cat type is the most popular. They don't live on humans but may suck your blood. They are about 1-2mm in size. The best way of checking for fleas is looking under the fur if you see lots of little black bits then rub the fur with a damp white cloth, flea dirty is dried blood so if it gets wet it will go back to a red colour on the cloth. I don't think, but may be wrong that fleas will live on guinea pigs, i think they are you thing to feed off and as soon as they have done that they will jump off and find a better host. However, it is the fleas that carry tapeworm and when injected cause tapeworm so if your piggies have fleas they may have tape worm.

Hope that helps.
 
This could be parasite debris. are there any other signs of hair loss/breakage etc? Guineas don't seem to get fleas, more lice or mites. Check around the ears :) Can you get a pigture? If so then I would suggest sending it to Gorgeous Guineas who will be able to help. You need to be careful what products you use because its on the head but Chrissie @ GG will help you.
 
ive noticed the same wee dots on the other pigs.... theres no other signs, no hair loss or breakage... its like little black dandruff.... ?
 
If they were mine I would give them a Gorgeous Guineas Melt (CocoNeem) and and a Manuka and Neem bath and take it from there. It won't hurt them if its not parasitic, and will even condition their skin :)
 
I'd try the GG stuff and if that doesn't help take to th vets. Did you try the damp cloth?
 
Out of curiosity, is this a piggy that is both dark and light coloured. Naturally, darker coloured skin sheds flakes that are dark, light skin flakes that are light. The black flakes are very noticable on piggies that have white on them, as one of mine does.

If not, I agree with contacting GG as she will give you super advice.
 
its on all the pigs but u can only see it on their white bits, but munchkin is pretty much all white, so i dont think it would be flakes from the dark areas....

i cant do the cloth cos i bathed them all this morning in their insecticide shampoo, it really does look like lice eggs look on human hair....
 
>:( >:( >:( revolting things, ooo hope the bath gets rid of them, if not you perhaps should speak to your vets and they might all need to be treated.
 
Would you say it resembles ash from a cigarette, if it does it sounds like static mite. It's not harmful to you or the pigs but it does need getting rid of. The best way is to bath them in Johnsons small animal mite shampoo or GG lice 'n' easy then the next day give them a good spray with Johnson's anti mite spray and that should be it done.
 
I don't agree with using Johnson's or any other insecticidal product containing pyrethins. This pesticide has been found to cause skin irritation in guinea pigs along with seizures in rats resulting in death. Not something I would want to put on my guinea pigs.

As said above, contact GG for advice.
 
ive ordered a whole load of stuff off GG... I'm gonna have the most gorgeous guineas when I'm done ;D

after reading the site i think it is the static monster, ill blitz them when my shampoos arrived..

thanx for the note about the johnson, will stop using it now! >:(
 
wheek said:
ive ordered a whole load of stuff off GG... I'm gonna have the most gorgeous guineas when I'm done ;D

after reading the site i think it is the static monster, ill blitz them when my shampoos arrived..

thanx for the note about the johnson, will stop using it now! >:(
Click to expand...

Lice n Easy is super duper for clearing them up. It also makes your whites whiter!
 
Lice n Easy is super duper for clearing them up. It also makes your whites whiter!
[/quote]

I have brought some of this for Honkey but can not use it until he is a little older.
Chrissie gives great advice and she is so nice.
 
There is no such thing as static mites,I think you mean static lice?.

Please never,ev er spray your pigs with anything bought from a petshop,such as johnsons.They are potentially toxic to gps.I too recommend GG products.
 
thought i would wrap this up by saying that i used the lice and easy shampoo this evening... the majority of the wee buggers washed away , thank goodness... i bought the 4 oil conditioner too and the piggies smell lovely, ive never seen their coats so shiney! thanx everyone for your advice, really appreciated it!
 
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