# Mites in Walnut Litter?



## susb8383 (Feb 24, 2007)

I know any bedding made out of paper products should be freezed to kill mites that might be lurking, but do they hang out in walnut shell litter? I use Naturally Fresh pellets and have been freezing it just to be safe, but do you think that's necessary for something not made out of wood or paper?

Thanks.


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## Rat Daddy (Sep 25, 2011)

Mites come from contact between rats or from rats to humans and back to rats.. They don't magically occur in litter or find their way into liter to hang out and wait for you to put them into a rat cage.

Paper is typically made through a toxic chemical process, and wood products are usually dried in a kiln. If you buy your bedding in a sealed package, it's hard to imagine that there could be mites in it, how they got in there or why they would hang out there. And that's assuming that mites can even survive in litter with nothing to eat...

Mites are microscopic, it's easy to bring them home from a pet shop, from being around other animals or with new rats. It can take a long time for mites to show on your rats once the first ones get into your home, so sometimes its hard to know where they came from.... 

I suppose it does no harm to deep freeze your litter, but seriously how many people here have a deep freezer that might actually kill off mites if they were there? 

Honestly... I tend to think that mites in litter are more of a myth than a reality,


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## Gribouilli (Dec 25, 2015)

It is very unlikely that bedding has mites, even hay! I had rabbits for over 10 years and none of the hay came with mites. All rats have mites on them to some degree, but it is only when their immune system is weakened that they take over and cause excessive scratching and scabs. Unless your freezer is subzero, freezing won't work to get rid of potential mites anyway.


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## Leraine (Feb 21, 2014)

I've heard that if you get mites in litter, it can come from the warehouse that the litter is stored in before it's shipped out to your house or to the pet store. If you can do it, I'd err on the safe side and freeze anything for 24-48 hours before you use it: litter, toys, and anything else. 


Sometimes a rat can have mites and not really show any outward symptoms: no scabs, etc, but they'll be itchy and uncomfortable. I'd just play it safe and freeze stuff if it's not too inconvenient. You don't want to be in the position where you have to shell out money for Revolution or a vet visit!


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## Gribouilli (Dec 25, 2015)

Set your freezer to - 1 degree Fahrenheit or it won't kill any mites.


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## Rat Daddy (Sep 25, 2011)

A friend managed a costco, where they sold bulk parrot and bird seeds, they used a commercial deep freeze to kill moths and moth eggs and other bugs in the feed... -1F might be about right, but I'm thinking his freezers got a lot colder than that.

Still... why would mites be in sealed bedding bags in the first place? It's not like mites would be drawn to wood chips or paper products... I mean they eat rat blood from living rats... and there aren't any rats living in sealed bedding bags... You are way more likely to find rats in your basement than in a bag of wood shavings. We all get mites sooner or later... and sometimes it's hard to figure out where they came from, so it's easy to assume it was from the bedding... But so far, we've only gotten mites from new rats, from handling infected animals and bringing them home on our clothes... And yes, sometimes it takes a while to figure it out, but so far it's never been the bedding.

But yes, to be on the safest side, I don't buy litter with holes in the package, especially rodent size holes.


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## CourteesRatties (Feb 23, 2016)

Im in the same boat as rat daddy. If you find mites 1 they came from the pet store you bought the litter from or 2 they were already on the rat to begin with.


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