Bunny scratching ear- Ants???

[bob]

Hello everybody! as you might have read in one of my earlier posts, my bunny has not been coming out very much lately. She is eating and pooping pretty normally, but she seems to be scratching her ear and shaking her head around a lot. there is a lot of ants in the room that she lives in, and i was wondering if it would have been possible for one of those little buggers to crawl in her ear?! if that is a possibility, how serious is it? could it kill her? i’m starting to get a bit concerned about the fact that she doesn’t really want to come out anymore, and i was wondering if an ant did come into her ear, and that is what’s making her a bit lethargic?

[kurottabun]

Hmm I thought the not coming out was due to you misting her, which you have since stopped doing and she’s back to coming out as usual.

Typically excessive scratching of ears and head shaking are signs of mites, which requires her to be brought to a vet for treatment. It may be bothering her so she seems more lethargic.

About the ants, I’m not sure if they would actually bother the bunny herself. Not too long ago I had a lot of ants in my bunny room, but they didn’t seem to bother my bun much and just go on their ways. Ants are normally attracted to food (especially sweet stuff), unlike other insects like flies which are attracted to poop/pee etc too. Your bun sounds like she has mites in her ears, not ants. I read that she stays in a garage so it’s quite possible for mites to get to her.

[Sirius&Luna]

I agree, I don’t think it’s the ants, but it could be ear mites or an ear infection.

Combined with the recent lethargic behaviour, it’s definitely time for her to see a vet.

[bob]

Okay, thanks guys. i reasearched ear mites i . rabbits a bit, and she doesn’t have any crust in her ear or hair loss around the ear, which seem to be big symptoms. her being lethargic seems to go on and off, for example yeaterday she was happy as can be and doing binkys all over the place. honestly, i think she just gets grumpy, scince she isn’t very much of a “sweet and social” bunny, but i will definently keep an eye on her. i think another possibility is the dust, because it’s very dusty where she lives (or all the rabbit hair, which i do my best to keep under control ) i looked inside her ear, and there doesn’t seem to be anything abnormal, although she is a lop, so it’s hard to tell. she does have a history of dry skin, so it might just be that to. i will for sure keep an eye on her

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