Worm in our hamsters' enclosure

dwarfhamstersmom

dwarfhamstersmom

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Hello!

Today we found a worm in a spray of the enclosure and we asked a friend of ours who is studying veterinary medicine. When she saw the photo of the worm she told us that it was a fly larva and that we shouldn't worry, our hamster is fine, she doesn't scratch, she eats, drinks and is fine. We have moved her to a small temporary cage and we have emptied all the bedding enclosure, we have cleaned the ceramic and plastic objects with soap and vinegar and the wooden ones we have put them in the oven at 100 degrees for 10 minutes. We have also cleaned the empty enclosure with a mixture of hot soapy water and white vinegar. We are waiting a few hours for it to dry and then we will put everything back as it was and hopefully we will have time for her to spend the night in her enclosure.

Our friend has told us that as it is a type of larva and fly that does not affect hamsters and she does not scratch, we have not thought about making an appointment at the vet.

Now that I see the empty enclosure I feel sorry for our hamster as we know how stressful it is for them to empty the whole enclosure, but we know that it was dangerous that there could be microscopic eggs and larvae. Did we do the right thing?

Thanks!
 
Hello. I'm sorry to hear that. It's best to freeze any sprays, hamster food or hay to kill any invisible bug eggs. With hamster food it almost always contains moth eggs (most pet foods do) - which can't be seen with the naked eye. Normally they stay dormant but if it gets particularly warm (eg in summer) they can hatch out and moths are not nice to have. They hatch out into larvae first so it's possible it was a moth larva.

As you've done a full cage clean, you won't have any issues now - but I would freeze any sprays or hamster food for a week. That kills any moth eggs or bug eggs. I freeze everything except things that can be baked or smooth wood items that can be wiped (or ceramic or plastic that can be washed).

It is upsetting for the hamster temporarily and it might take a week or more for the hammy to settle again. Just make sure you've rinsed any smells from the inside of the cage (and likewise with ceramic things) so the vinegar smell isn't too strong :-)
 
Maz said:
Hello. I'm sorry to hear that. It's best to freeze any sprays, hamster food or hay to kill any invisible bug eggs. With hamster food it almost always contains moth eggs (most pet foods do) - which can't be seen with the naked eye. Normally they stay dormant but if it gets particularly warm (eg in summer) they can hatch out and moths are not nice to have. They hatch out into larvae first so it's possible it was a moth larva.

As you've done a full cage clean, you won't have any issues now - but I would freeze any sprays or hamster food for a week. That kills any moth eggs or bug eggs. I freeze everything except things that can be baked or smooth wood items that can be wiped (or ceramic or plastic that can be washed).

It is upsetting for the hamster temporarily and it might take a week or more for the hammy to settle again. Just make sure you've rinsed any smells from the inside of the cage (and likewise with ceramic things) so the vinegar smell isn't too strong :-)
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It's so annoying cause we freezed sprays and heated substrates...
 
Did you freeze the hamster food?
 
We've been founding some moths in the hamsters room, we are concerned about them if they get inside the cage and start putting eggs, is there anything we can do to avoid them to be there?
 
It depends what kind of moths they are :-) If they're just normal house moths they won't be a problem. Just squish any you see. Fly papers can work as well.
 
Maz said:
It depends what kind of moths they are :-) If they're just normal house moths they won't be a problem. Just squish any you see. Fly papers can work as well.
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We believe the worm we saw in the cage its a larva from them :(
 
It is possible. Did you find anything else unusual in the cage when you cleaned it? If not then you've probably caught it in time. Now you've done the full cage clean I think it very unlikely a moth would lay more eggs in the cage. And I speak from experience! Having had a moth outbreak. They hatch out from the food in the cage, but once the cage is sorted they don't come back. However they can lay eggs on walls etc so squash any you see.

If it's only 2 or 3 moths in the room you should be fine :-) I would get new food and freeze it for a week and chuck the old food.

How many moths have you seen in the room? 1, 2, 3? were they on the wall near the enclosure? I actually hoovered the walls last time I had them lol - but I did have quite a lot and that shouldn't be necessary.
 
Maz said:
It is possible. Did you find anything else unusual in the cage when you cleaned it? If not then you've probably caught it in time. Now you've done the full cage clean I think it very unlikely a moth would lay more eggs in the cage. And I speak from experience! Having had a moth outbreak. They hatch out from the food in the cage, but once the cage is sorted they don't come back. However they can lay eggs on walls etc so squash any you see.

If it's only 2 or 3 moths in the room you should be fine :-) I would get new food and freeze it for a week and chuck the old food.

How many moths have you seen in the room? 1, 2, 3? were they on the wall near the enclosure? I actually hoovered the walls last time I had them lol - but I did have quite a lot and that shouldn't be necessary.
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I think we saw about 4 or 5 of them, we chased them out of the room and some more came out when we were cleaning and were hidden under a platform. But we cleaned everything well. We didn't see any eggs while we were cleaning, I don't know if it's because they are tiny.

What worries us a bit is that the hamster scratches her body (but she has no redness or bald patches) but since we cleaned her cage (Friday) we don't see her going out as much as usual (see her on the wheel, on the surface...) It's also true that we don't have a night camera and we don't see what she does at night, only during the day.
 
Do you mean they were under a platform in the cage? In which case yes, they have probably hatched out in the cage and you did well to do a full clean out. They won't do any harm to your hamster at all. I would kill any you see though so they don't lay eggs on walls etc and more hatch out. I am sure they won't go back to the cage but it can be a pain if you end up with quite a few moths.

Scratching is normal for hamsters :-) They do it a lot as part of grooming. She is bound to be a bit out of sorts if she had to be moved to another cage but I'm sure she'll settle down again. Did you wipe the platform down as well, all round?

No the eggs are not visible to the naked eye. You can sometimes find the odd brown chrysalis type thing (hasn't hatched yet but those can look a bit like food so hard to tell. The other thing you sometimes find is webby stuff - often in a corner or near where they hatched out. But I've had moths and no webby stuff before or sign of anything else.

I don't want to be alarmist, but if they are pantry moths from the food they can get in kitchen food cupboards and start laying eggs. Which is why I say kill any you see! That has only happened to me once. It sounds like you've nipped it in the bud.
 
Yes, it was under a platform, but for the moment we haven't seen any more, we are keeping an eye out for more in the next few days to kill them or throw them out of the flat. We also cleaned all the platforms and all the accessories of the cage, yes. We also removed all the food and all the bedding.

We haven't seen any more moths in the kitchen or in the rest of the flat. Our friend who is studying veterinary medicine has recommended us to put some ‘air fresheners’ that are used for wardrobes (lavender sachets that are hung up) in the cage room.
 
Sorry but can't agree that would be a good idea :-). Anything scented is very bad for hamsters and their sense of smell is hugely greater than ours. It can affect their sensitive respiratory system. I doubt it would help with moths as well. You could hang a sticky fly paper from the ceiling and set a couple of moth traps like these. I'd try both the clothes moths traps and the pantry moth traps. They contain pheromones that attract the female moths (the egg laying ones!). It's just like a cardboard pyramid and very sticky inside. I find they work best at floor level, so if you have any other pets you'll need to lift the traps if the other pets are around. Also if the hamster is out of the cage. You could try one or two at different heights though. The last time I had them they weren't actually pantry moths that hatched out but common brown moths (ie clothes/carpet moths). So trying two different types is a good idea.

Don't think anything deters them from the room unfortunately and it's better to keep the hamster's air healthy. Anything scented is bad for hamsters. Just trap them :-)

Best traps IMO

Pantry moth traps

They aren't cheap so maybe wait a day or so - they might just have gone by now. They won't go back to the cage I am sure. The main thing is you don't get them breeding in the house now.

It's so annoying! Freeze anything edible! (for hamsters that is).
 
OK! so I think we'll wait a few days keeping a close eye on the room and as a last resort we'll look for similar traps in supermarkets in our area (the UK amazon links don't always ship to Spain). Btw we found the worm in an spray, at the moment she doesn't have any in her cage, should we freezee them all again? or just that kind of spray? (they were all freezeed just we got them but we kept them all together in a plastic box but they were all in different plastic bags).
 
Oh sorry I didn't realise you were in Spain :). It could be coincidence that it was found on a spray - they usually come from hamster food/mix but I would freeze them all again to be on the safe side :-)

I'm sure it'll be fine :-) This happened to me last year and we only had the odd two or three turn up that got squashed once seen then it was all sorted. It was when the heating had been left on all night and day one day - I think it was just consistently warm enough for them to hatch out!

Freezing kills the moth eggs apparently, so they don't hatch if it gets too warm.
 
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