Quote:
|
This mite is large enough to be seen with the unaided eye, though they are often covered with debris. Round to oval in shape, the females have two front leg pairs tipped by "bell-shaped " suckers . In rabbits, the psoroptes cuniculi are found almost exclusively in the ear (outer ear typical, middle and inner ear extremely rare if at all). These non burrowing mites chew and pierce the skin causing inflammation and multiple layers of "thin, tan, flaky crust" . Under neath the crusts, the skin is "hairless, moist and raw." On rare occasion there may be bacterial infections that could move into the inner ear or brain, causing torticollis or other signs. "The egg-to-egg life cycle of P. cuniculi requires approximately 21 days (Sweatman, l958)." (Harkness and Wagner).
|
This came from the Guinea Lynx site I provided earlier.
Mange mites in the skin are microscopic, but the ear mites are not.