Tiny winged insects in Topaç's cage

[Pastacat]

Today when I was spot cleaning, I saw some bugs in Topaç's cage. I took a picture of one of them. What is this? I saw booklice in his cage before, but these dont look like booklice. Two of them were dead in his water bowl too. I'm suspecting they are from old wooden platforms I bought around the time I got Topaç, but they could be from the bedding, too. I'm asking so that I can know what to replace.

 

[Maz]

I can't really see what they are unfortunately - could they be winged ants? They look a bit long for fruit flies. Are there many of them? If there are just a few you could squish them and see if that sorts it, but if they keep recurring you'll need to do a full cage clean unfortunately and freeze some items.

 

[Pastacat]

I can't really see what they are unfortunately - could they be winged ants? They look a bit long for fruit flies. Are there many of them? If there are just a few you could squish them and see if that sorts it, but if they keep recurring you'll need to do a full cage clean unfortunately and freeze some items.

I dont think they are ants. They are really tiny. Only slightly larger than a dot. I saw four of them today: two in the water, one on the ladder, and one on the food bowl. Thinking of it, I think I saw an insect like that on the sand bath platform as well before. Unfortunately, it looks like an infestation. My sister told me to replace all the bedding, I am not sure on how many bags to buy. I'm thinking of buying some 60L Chipsi classic bags and one 72L Oxbow pure comfort bag to mix, but I dont know how many would be needed to fill up to 25cm. Also, I'm worried that Topaç could get a heart attack from the stress. I know that sort of thing happens with hamsters.

 

[Socks' Mum]

Oh dear, they are a nuisance. If they have nothing to eat they should leave. Perhaps try taking the wooden items out to see if the bugs leave. It might be worth contacting an insect specialist with a close up to ID the bugs. It might not be necessary to replace the bedding if they eat only wood. A furniture restoration forum might help. Or a university zoology department. I hope you can find out about them

 

[Pastacat]

Oh dear, they are a nuisance. If they have nothing to eat they should leave. Perhaps try taking the wooden items out to see if the bugs leave. It might be worth contacting an insect specialist with a close up to ID the bugs. It might not be necessary to replace the bedding if they eat only wood. A furniture restoration forum might help. Or a university zoology department. I hope you can find out about them

I could take out the wooden items, but Im not sure what to put his sand bath, ceramic cooling plate and dig box on. I still have one of the plastic platforms that came with his cage, but the connector things are lost. I posted it on an insect identification community on Tumblr as well. I think it's too blurry to post on iNaturalist.

 

[Maz]

Are there many? It does sound like they hatched out from something - it could be from a wood item or it could be food. It can be very hard to get things identified by anyone official sometimes. Topac won't have a heart attack - he probably will be stressed after a full clean out but he should settle again in a few days to a week. I find it helps to hide lots of treats in the cage after a clean out and an extra special chew or treat to help distract them.

If there are only one or two you could just squish them and see if that's it. If you keep finding them still over the next week then yes you'll need to do a full cage clean. That will be more than just replacing the bedding. It will mean freezing certain items, ideally baking wood items (but not if they have glue or metal - just freeze them), Cleaning out the cage with white vinegar or pet-safe disinfectant - ie spraying the bars and base. Spraying bars is fiddly as they are round! I used to give them a good spray inside and out, with the bars in the bath, wait 15 minutes or so and then wash them with a soapy sponge - eg washing up liquid on a wet sponge, so the soap gets round all bars and into crevices.

Likewise with the base but that is easier to spray. Any plastic or ceramic items can just be washing in washing up liquid or go in the dishwasher..

Hopefully the little critters will be gone in a few days if there were just a few and you get them

 

[Pastacat]

Are there many? It does sound like they hatched out from something - it could be from a wood item or it could be food. It can be very hard to get things identified by anyone official sometimes. Topac won't have a heart attack - he probably will be stressed after a full clean out but he should settle again in a few days to a week. I find it helps to hide lots of treats in the cage after a clean out and an extra special chew or treat to help distract them.

If there are only one or two you could just squish them and see if that's it. If you keep finding them still over the next week then yes you'll need to do a full cage clean. That will be more than just replacing the bedding. It will mean freezing certain items, ideally baking wood items (but not if they have glue or metal - just freeze them), Cleaning out the cage with white vinegar or pet-safe disinfectant - ie spraying the bars and base. Spraying bars is fiddly as they are round! I used to give them a good spray inside and out, with the bars in the bath, wait 15 minutes or so and then wash them with a soapy sponge - eg washing up liquid on a wet sponge, so the soap gets round all bars and into crevices.

Likewise with the base but that is easier to spray. Any plastic or ceramic items can just be washing in washing up liquid or go in the dishwasher..

Hopefully the little critters will be gone in a few days if there were just a few and you get them

I see. Does cardboard need to be freezed as well if they dont leave? Almost all of Topaç's hides are cardboard, though I never saw any bugs on the cardboard hides. Also, I thought wooden items and bedding needed to be frozen for a week. What would I use in the meantime?

 

[Maz]

I would freeze the cardboard items as well, or replace them if it's not too difficult. My concern, if you just changed the bedding, is they might come back and then you've wasted all that new bedding if you then had to do a full cage clean.

What to do in the meantime is the difficult bit. How many items could be baked? Out of the wood ones? Baking is quick - it only takes 40 minutes at 100 degrees centigrade and an hour or so to cool down! Ceramic can be washed. When I had to do something like this previously, I got the cage done and new bedding in the same day (the hamster spent the day in a pet carrier, asleep, in the bedroom - ie a quiet place and not the same room). Then re-added anything that had been washed but put different items in temporarily and it was a little bit sparse at first.

If the cardboard items are mainly boxes/hides could you make some new ones? The problem with bugs is not the bugs themselves as the microscopic eggs they hatch out from, which could be from food or could be from little crevices in wood, if the wood hasn't been baked previously.

 

[Pastacat]

I would freeze the cardboard items as well, or replace them if it's not too difficult. My concern, if you just changed the bedding, is they might come back and then you've wasted all that new bedding if you then had to do a full cage clean.

What to do in the meantime is the difficult bit. How many items could be baked? Out of the wood ones? Baking is quick - it only takes 40 minutes at 100 degrees centigrade and an hour or so to cool down! Ceramic can be washed. When I had to do something like this previously, I got the cage done and new bedding in the same day (the hamster spent the day in a pet carrier, asleep, in the bedroom - ie a quiet place and not the same room). Then re-added anything that had been washed but put different items in temporarily and it was a little bit sparse at first.

If the cardboard items are mainly boxes/hides could you make some new ones? The problem with bugs is not the bugs themselves as the microscopic eggs they hatch out from, which could be from food or could be from little crevices in wood, if the wood hasn't been baked previously.

Wooden platforms all have steel and plastic and metal bolts to attach to the cage, so wouldnt they melt in the oven? I baked something with metal parts before but it was on low settings.

Would he really fall asleep in the pet carrier? Everytime I put him into the carrier, all he did was try to frantically escape the whole time.

About boxes, I have some other cardboard boxes laying around, so I can make new ones.

 

[Socks' Mum]

Wooden platforms all have steel and plastic and metal bolts to attach to the cage, so wouldnt they melt in the oven? I baked something with metal parts before but it was on low settings.

Would he really fall asleep in the pet carrier? Everytime I put him into the carrier, all he did was try to frantically escape the whole time.

About boxes, I have some other cardboard boxes laying around, so I can make new ones.

If you take the bedding from his nest that has his scent on it it should help him to settle. Also putting a thin pet blanket or similar over the carrier should help him settle