Does my rabbit have mites?

Why is my rabbit missing chunks of fur? Scratching her ears so much? Biting at her back, legs and sides? What kind of skin condition does my rabbit have??

I am a new rabbit owner myself. I got two rabbits, they are 4 months old (October 2011) and both female. I bought them thinking I had a boy and a girl, but nope. After the trip to the vet to find out what was wrong with one of them, I found out they are both indeed girls. Oh well!

The brown one is Coco, and the white one is MoCho (not very girly, but we named it think it was a boy!)

Ok so getting to the point!



I notice Coco had a chunk of fur missing from her back. She had a round bald spot... I thought maybe the rabbits had been fighting and that was the cause.



Later I looked at it again and notice a red ring around the edges and some small red bumps on the skin. I thought maybe it was ringworm because of the red ring edge.

(for this pic, I actually got water on my hands and rubbed her back gently back and forth, then the hair laid down easier and the skin patch was MUCH MORE noticeable!)

Later online I checked for ringworm, but it didn't seem to match Coco's case since it was on her back.

Then I looked some more and thought maybe it was mites... but I wasn't sure HOW she could have them.

Going to the vet the next day confirmed it must be mites because ringworm doesn't itch the rabbit, and Coco was scratching and biting at the patch of skin so much she cause an infection just overnight!

The vet put Revolution on both the rabbits necks (a place that's hard for them to lick) and said it would make the mites leave.

She also gave me medicine for the infection and some topical liquid to help the wound.

. . .

You can see a VIDEO showing what else Mites on Rabbits may look like.

If you would like to know more about my experience please read on...

We figured out the mites were coming from a plywood cupboard that was on the floor of their rabbit area. We let them dig into the back of the wood and make a hole there, thinking rabbits love to dig and we shouldn't deprive them of this! BUT, this was an OLD plywood cupboard that tended to soak up any water (from rain... their area is on our balcony of a condo... safe but sometimes a little rain gets in).

As soon as we got home we washed EVERYTHING and dried... and threw away the old plywood cupboard.

I'm writing this as it all just happened. So I will update later the success/ending of poor little Coco's back.

So far after coming home from the vet and everything settled down... both rabbits have been extremely calm and idle. I don't know if it was the traumatic experience to the vet (rabbits don't like car rides or being picked up) or the medication on their neck to get rid of the mites.
The Veterinarian herself was very good and informed. She handled them carefully and well. Still, they didn't like being examined, and I even heard MoCho thump for the first time in protest! after it was all done and they were in the box ready to go back.


As soon as I got them I was determined to look up as much info online as I could about proper care and feeding of rabbits. I learned a lot more from good websites than from the guy at the store who sold us the rabbits (it was not a pet shop, just a regular supermarket with a little pet section).

Coco is a Single main Lionhead and MoCho.. well I'm not 100% what breed she is, but I'm thinking a mix breed Hotot?

I strongly encourage any new rabbit owners to PLEASE read up on how to handle and care for your rabbits. You can also see lots of great VIDEOS about how to care for them on YouTube. Sometime its more helpful and fun to actually SEE how things are done than just reading.

Anyway, I hope this small page is helpful to anyone. Like me, I was frantically searching online for any info to determine what was wrong with Coco before I could take her to the Vet. Of course, taking your pet to the vet as soon as possible is best, but also being a little knowledgeable yourself is good too!