Reptile & Amphibian Forums

i work at a petstore that shall remain nameless for proprieties sake.. and recently.. maybe the last two months.. a horrible infestation of mites has erupted among the small animals... the dont seem to affect the rabbits.. but guinea pigs, hamsters, gerbils and mice are all crawling with bugs.. they are tiny.. the size of a small piece of sand.. but you can see them crawling around on the animals..they are grayish sometimes but after eating you can see them better.. red and full of blood .. they dont seem to be picky about who they bite and after working in the infirmary.. i have found them .. or felt them.. in my clothes.. they itch like you would not believe.. our stores vet told us to treat them all with advantix for kittens and disinfect all the cages.. we have done so twice and the lice/mites show no sign of slowing down.. we have also used frontline, with no change.. since our vet doesnt seem to have any useful suggestions, can someone please point me in a different direction? due to carelessness amongst the employees (putting overstock animals in the same room with the infested ones and then moving them back on the floor) we now have these bugs on all of our small animals.. i am going nuts trying to keep my coworkers from spreading it further and keeping the animals from getting worse.. i finally convinced my boss to stop selling all of the small animals until we get it solved but im stuck and have no idea what to do next.. i have read about demodex mites but from what i can tell, they are supposed to be invisible.. any advice would be appreciated..

i have since left that petstore.. i did a LOT of research and think that they are most likely tropical rat mites (Ornithonyssus bacoti) .. although without a microscope its hard to say for sure... but from thier behaviour and affects on humans.. thats what i think... i told the store manager and asked that he pass that info on to the store vet (he still hasnt actually come to look at the mites or affected animals).. who basically ignored me and continued to treat them, without results, with advantage... the bedding was dusted with mite killer which got rid of the ones in the bedding.. but the poor animals still have them and the ones crawling around on the outside of the cages were unaffected... the animals are being sold now, despite still having mites and lots of scabs from scratching relentlessly.... i brought a slide of the mites to my personal vet and am still awaiting a verdict on what they are...

i put in my two weeks and am starting a job at another pet store.. i cant continue to work at a place that disregards the health of thier animals.. especially one that claims that the well being of the animals is thier number one concern.. the downside of the pet industry is that the majority of these businesses is more concerned with money and profit than keeping the animals healthy and happy... not to mention the risk of spreading this sort of thing to other pets the customers might have.. the companies corporate office is definitely going to recieve a letter from me concerning this particular stores horrifying animal care practices...