Info on ticks?

[Haley]

So you all know I took in that foster bunny that was living in the wild. Well I treated him/her with revolution two days ago and have since found some dead fleas on him/her.

Well today I was trying to sex the bunny and I found a live tick! Im so grossed out.

I wiped him/her down with listerine yesterday as a safeguard in addition to the revolution. Is there anything else I should try? Would invermectin do the trick?

Im so disgusted to think of those nasty things in my house.

 

[AngelnSnuffy]

Eww, I'm so sorry Haley. I wonder if Dawn dishsoap would do any good, they say it does for fleas...

 

[Ivory]

Oh ew ticks are nasty....

If there are any live ticks, they need to be removed. You can rub petroleum jelly on the tick to kill it, then pick it out with a tick picker. Yes, they're called "tick pickers". Or you can just use tweezers, but a picker is more specialized.

Revolution isn't a good tick killer. It kills them, but it takes about three or four days to do it. Ivermectin is better. I don't remember the best method of administering it, whether it's better to inject or to apply topically. Well, for injections, it's .1 ccs per five pounds of animal. I don't remember the dosage topically.

I'd check with a vet, too.

 

[Haley]

Thanks Ivory. I cant really see if there are any more bc bunny is an agouti color and its about impossible to see through the fur. I did wet him/her down yesterday when I washed with listerine but couldnt see any.

Ugh theyre so nasty!

 

[AngelnSnuffy]

Oooh, I wouldn't use tweezers, you have to get the "head" or it doesn't do much good to just take the "body" of the tick.

 

[Haley]

Its actually easy to get the whole thing if you know how to do it and can pull straight out. Unfortunately I had to do this for Tumnus when I first got him.

The vet even pulledsome out with his bare hands! Talk about creepy.

 

[Ivory]

Fine-tipped tweezers will work pretty well.

Haley, is there any way you can clip his fur down? Not down to the skin but to where it's more of a Rex length.

 

[AngelnSnuffy]

Eek, Haley, Good Luck!

 

[jam224]

Hey Haley, I don't know if you've already looked at this or not, but I found this article on ticks and rabbits:
http://www.peteducation.com/article.cfm?cls=18&cat=1803&articleid=3106
(It also has a link at the bottom about tick removal.)

Good luck with him/her!

 

[Haley]

Thanks Jennifer, I had read that one (thats why I was thinking of trying invermectin). I havent seen any other ones, so Im going to just keep checking and hope for no more of these nasty things.

 

[ChompersMom]

If she does have more than that one tick, there might be a chance they
got into your house. The nasty things tend to lay eggs in carpet and fabric and then reinfest your animals even after you have pulled every tick off of them. You might want to treat your house if you notice the problem isn't going away...

 

[Haley]

Well so far Ive only seen the one. So heres hoping :biggrin2:

The bunny was in the garage for about3 days and has been inside for 3. Bunny hasnt been out of its cage yet so hopefully nothing spreads. I do have some small animal flea and tick spray so I'm going to spray him down tomorrow. I also have some carpet treatment from a while ago when my kids had mites so I'll use that just in case.

Im not too worried since when Tumnus came here he had like 20 ticks on him and they never got on any of my other bunnies. But it does just give me the creeps!

 

[ChompersMom]

I know how you feel! I work around dogs all day and I've seen so many come in tick infested and it still makes me all creepy crawly feeling... Exp. when they are so infested that when I shave the dog all I see is *pop* and then some blood *shivers*. They have to be the MOST disgusting insect on this planet..:lipsrsealed::lipsrsealed: