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Mouse with sore nose?

SnakeAround

SnakeAround

Formerly Blutengel
This female is 'supporting' another female which got babies 8 days ago. She does a good job keeping them together and providing them warmth and maintaining the nest. From the day I own her (about a month) she had a small pink/reddish spot on her nose, like a little gnaw from another mouse or so or just a small patch of irritated skin. It got better, was hardly visible anymore and I deciced she would be the suppporting 'aunt' for the new babies because of her silky fur (I don't want to feed her to my snakes). After 2 or 3 days she started to show some skin around her eyes, but I wasn't concerned because there was no fluid anywhere in or around her eyes. The last 2 days her snout is showing more and more seemingly irritated skin through her fur. Could it be from the fuzzie babies crawling around now? She's sitting over and amongst the litter quite a lot. Or should I worry about a contagious disease or bacterial matter? There's no fluid or any sign of infection of her resparatory system as far as I can see or hear. She's helping the mother a lot and I don't like taking her out... She only seems to 'shiver' a lot when I take her out.

I now the pic isn't too good, but I think it's enough to get an idea if it's something you've seen before, which I expect and hope.
 

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i remeber one of my male breeder mice having a problem like this... it was from mites i got hm some flea and mite spray for mice and it did the trick ^_^
 
Seems like a possiblity..... anyone knows if such spray would hurt the babies if sprayed on her nose?
 
i dont think so i kept my males with the babies and i never had any problems with it sorry but i cant rememebr what kind of spray i used i'll look into it for you tho ^_^
 
oh and i just remembered don't feed them if they've been treated but i guess that goes without saying lol
 
I think you mean; don't feed them to your snake, I think the mouse should get food when treated... ;-p tnx for looking up the pictue, I'm in Holland but I guess here a similar spray will be available....
 
I have seen this MANY times in my mice (I have around 1400 ATM =D) Its one of 2 things, and diagnosed by treatment usually.
1) a simple allergy to dust, dust mites, or dye in the hovel (<~word for a mouse viv) cured easily by hydrocortizone creams.
2) a parasitic infection, usually amoeba based, can be transferred to other mice, but not usually (depends on the amoebic strain, in some cases it is also transferrable to humans) this can be treated with polysporin quite easily =)

There is a 3rd, much less common cause, rhinitis, this is MUCH easier to diagnose, but has NO cure ~,~ Rhinitis is easily diagnosed by a bloody looking discharge from the nostrils, your will usually see it as small brown dots over everything in the hovel that the little was has touched with her nose. Its a VERY common upper respiratory disease, and while it is uncurable, it is also non transferrable, and doesn't usually affect the life span of the rodents displaying it! My rat lived to 5, and she had rhinits =)


With the balding around the eyes and the scabby nose, my tendancy is to lean toward allergies, its the most common, and usually the only one to cause the balding. Is the area around the eyes also swollen? And is it tender? Usually in the case of allergies, I apply an over the counter phamacy brand hydrocortizone cream (0.5% w/w hydrocortizone acetate with a hydrophillic cream base is safe)

It COULD be mites, but generally these are visible =) Little harder to see them on a light coloured mouse, but you can generally see small yellowish flecks (these are the mites). In the case of mites, you would see them on the pinkies VERY easily, and the pinkies would, in most cases, die from a mite infestation. Same with fleas, VERY easy to spot on mice, and the pinks would be VERY pale (as the fleas drain the blood from pinks quickly)

It you could get a super close up of the nose area, I can likely diagnose it properly for you =)
 
Tnx for your answer, I appreciate it very much! I'll try to make an up close sharp picture a.s.a.p., but it ain't easy... I think the area aroudn her eyes is swollen indeed, but I cannnot check it at the moment.... Do you use just the regular medicine for people or special pet medicine? I'm glad it propably is nothing contageous... the baby mice are doing very well! No mites or fleas around... I guess the mouse is allergic to aspen, she was on wood chips before I put her with the pregnant mouse on aspen and her nose was fine then.
 
By the way, my rats always had Rhinitis going on I think now, it looked like little stains of dried blood on every surface in the cage. I was told then by someone that it's just the normal nasal fluid for rats... but it's not you say?
 
Well.. many consider it normal. It IS Rhinitis, its also found in around 76% of captive rats, never been able to find a decent explaination as to why tho. I've never worried about it too much.

As for the medication for the mice, topical creams such and polysporin and hydrocortizone acetate are fine, apply them sparingly (like you would to your own skin) just need enough to penetrate into the skin and not restrict air flow to the affected area =)

More than likely its not an allergy to aspen, but to something on or in the aspen. Dust, dust mites, or mold spores are very commonly found in wood based substrates. Mine all turned out to be dust mite infestations.. which are nearly impossible to get rid of, so I had hydrocortizone slathered mice hehe. They are on carefresh now and the dust mites seem to hate it, but the mice eat it sometimes and it REALLY constipates them. I'd keep them on aspen, as its the best overall for their respiratory systems, and just use a regular human type hydrocortizone cream (try for the 0.5% w/w hydrocortizone acetate one, its one of the mildest available) whenever its needed. i would probably do one application or hydrocortizone in the morning, a polysporin application in the afternoon (until the sores close over at least) and one application of hydrocortizone before bed. Keep on that schedule until the swelling and redness disipate greatly, then reduce to applicating once a day, once it looks clear I would reduce application to once every 2 or 3 days to keep it clear =)

Let me know how its going =)
 
Tnx for the advice! I didn't manage to take a pic or buy the medicine yet unfortunately... boyfriend needed car all day..... :shrugs: But I moved the litter with mom and 'aunt' to a bigger cage today, with 2 other females, because I noticed these are probably pregnant and wanted to separate tem from the men. Her nose seemed better this morning but if needed i'll buy some medicine tomorrow.
 
Good to hear! Sounds a lot like its just a common allergic reaction, like hives on a person, can clear up by themselves quite rapidly if the allergen is removed from the area. I know my exes bunnies all got nasty hives, and it turned out to be from him smoking in the room with them! He moved to a different room and they cleared up =) Was a case where I wanted the affliction to be permanent mind you, with the rash they were just bunnies, once they cleared up... they were dinner for his boa! =(
 
Up date; gets better every day! She still is on aspen but in a different cage and not in a small plastic box with a litter all the time, maybe it was a little too moist in that nest to be in all the time. The mommy mouse got out of it more then the sore nosed aunt did!
 
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