If you raise a colony, you will know that rabbit ear mites come with the territory. Here are 5 effective treatments for rabbit ear mites, using items from your home.
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How to treat rabbit ear mites
If you want to raise a rabbit, you will eventually encounter ear mites. This is easy to diagnose. Quite simply, there is more and more rubbish in their ears.
If the rabbit ear mites are not treated, your rabbit will become more and more drowsy, stop eating, and… I don’t know what else, because I never let it go that far. But I think it will eventually lead to a tragic death.
Rabbit Ear Mite Treatment #1: Campho-Phenique
Bill is an old friend of mine, and he asked me to start raising rabbits. He gave me his skills in treating ear mites.Bill uses drops Campho-Phenique In the ears of the rabbit. (Campho-Phenique is an over-the-counter medicine for cold sores.)
Bill told me not to worry about getting rid of the scum. As long as the water drops to a deep enough place, the rabbit will scrape all the rubbish. This is because when the mites die of Campo-Phenique, they scratch the rabbit’s ears.
Sure enough, the rabbits shook their heads and scraped off all the garbage. it works.
Rabbit Ear Mite Treatment #2: Honey
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But what if one day I cannot contact Campo-Phenique? Yes, yes-this fear stems from the old “closed shop” worry. But I also like the idea of being truly self-reliant.
So I checked a bunch of home remedies on the Internet using medicines that I can grow or find myself.
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I decided to try Honey Method of treating rabbit ear mites. I want to report that it is working well.
Unlike Bill’s method, the honey method requires the use of tweezers to first remove the largest piece of rubbish from the rabbit ears. It may work without cleaning, but…I can’t bear to see it there.
The mixture I made is about 1 teaspoon. Honey to 2 teaspoons. Warm water. I put about 2 or 3 drops of the honey mixture into each ear and massaged the ear so that the solution will get there.
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I applied it twice a day for the first few days and then changed to once a day.
It has been almost a week now, and it can be seen that this method is very effective. The ears are almost completely clean, and the rabbit is much more happy.
I plan to switch to the honey mixture every two days soon.
FYI: Yes, when the honey mixture gets under the rabbit ears, its fur will become a little sticky. It dries and hardens there, but this is not a problem and it will not harm the rabbit. Every few days, I clean the area with a cloth and some warm water.
If this treatment does not work in the end, I will tell you, but from what I have seen so far, this is an excellent home remedy for rabbit ear mites. Next time there is a problem, I might try another home remedy to test a different technique.
Reader advice on how to treat rabbit ear mites
Since I first published this article in 2014, members of the TGN community have left some good comments on other home remedies that are useful for them to treat rabbit ear mites. I have listed three suggestions below, but be sure to check the comments section of this article to learn more!
Rabbit Ear Mite Treatment #3: Olive Oil
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Stephanie uses olive oil Success-one drop per day in each affected ear for several days. When she did this, she said it could remove ear mites in less than a week.
“Once, a doe’s mites were so severe that I was sure that the rabbit would die. She turned around aimlessly. After using olive oil for a day, she could stand up straight again. By the third day, She can jump around normally.”
Rabbit ear mite treatment #4: triple antibiotic ointment
Debbie recommends Triple antibiotic ointment. Press most of the tube down into the affected ear, and then cover the rest of the ear with the rest of the tube. After that, ignore the ears. She said that most of the debris will fall out of the ear within a few hours, and the ear will begin to heal.
“Usually within three days, the ears look better. One doesn’t have to make a fuss about it, which means the rabbit has less pain. Yes, it’s a bit messy, but it’s worth it. The rabbit bathes itself and all within a week It’s cleaned!”
Rabbit Ear Mite Treatment #5: Mineral Oil
Karen recommends applying mineral oil Every day for 5 days, and then again in a week.
“Unless we can’t put the oil in, we won’t take the garbage out. They shake it loose in a few days and scrape the ears with tweezers. This works for us every time!”
How often should you treat ear mites?
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Obviously, rabbit ear mites have a 21-day life cycle. Why is this important?
Well, this means you have to ensure that the treatment is so long to ensure that you have eliminated all possible eggs or reproductive adults.
click here A handy PDF file describing ear mites as well as skin and hair mites. I will warn you that the treatment they recommend is chemically oriented. But the rest of the information is good, the photos of these microscopic creatures are fascinating.
What do you think?
If you know another successful trick on how to treat rabbit ear mites, please share it in the comments below!
This is an updated version of the article originally published on January 7, 2014. The author may not be able to respond to comments at this time; however, we encourage our community members to join in, share their experiences and answer questions!
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Marjory Wildcraft is the founder of The Grow Network, a community focused on modern self-sufficient living. She was once rated as an off-grid life expert by National Geographic. She hosted the Mother Earth News Online Home Construction Summit and was included in the Who’s Who in the United States for inspiring hundreds of thousands of backyard gardens. Marjory was the focus of an article that won the Reuters Food Sustainability Media Award. She recently wrote The Growth System: The Basic Guide to Modern Self-Sufficiency-From Growing Food to Manufacturing Medicine.
