Bugs for Birdies

[Colt]

Laughing at the live food comments. Although I too usually forgo the creepy crawlies. My birds get fresh egg food every day. Yay for protein and other goodies. They might fling it out of the cage, but I don't have to worry about it crawling out.

I mix Quiko's Goldy eggfood, a commercial dry egg food for insectivores, into their egg food when I make the batch up. I also include freeze dried blood worms. They love the eggs food. My societies and zebras will even eat the egg food dry in a cup.

They've had live meal worms. Usually I mix them into the eggfood so they can "gut load" and the birds eat them as they find them. Some species really like them (the societies of all things) others won't touch them, namely the gouldians.

I think that's the only live food I feed them personally. Now there are a few ants about and the sugar gliders (and their nightly fruit) live in the bird room so fruit flies are out there now that it is warmer. Not sure if they munch on them or not.

I too would be worried about what the maggots ate before they were fed to your birds. But if you collected them and then put them on a bird safe prepared diet for a day or two (long enough to clean them out, but short enough they don't pupate) then I think you'd probably be safe.

No to roaches. Alive or dead, they gross me out real bad. Wouldn't mind growing my own mealworms, but that's something else I have to remember to feed and maintain. So probably not going to happen. I've wondered about the frozen bloodworms thawed and added to their egg food.

[Corkysgirl]

MiaCarter I just saw your comment about ants. We don't have a very serious problem, not like other places I've lived, but if them come back this year I will try that. Mostly we get these little black ants. They're between the size of the small brown and the carpenter ants. They hang out by the sink and don't eat anything. They're just annoying more than anything. Thanks! MiaCarter....I just edited this post adding this..... Colt It's not what the maggots ate that bothers me, it's what their body is touching...all the garbage. If they are in E-coli meat, can the birds contract it from them. I don't know...just wondering.

[CommaHolly]

omgosh, shudder on the cockroaches and the BIG flying cockroaches (Palmetto bugs),,,,,,,

our camper got infested with the big ones this past year, and I had to go bait the whole thing and spray insect growth regulator in there to get rid of them,,,,,,,,

which leads me to my concern about roaches,,,,,,,,there's NO WAY I'd feed my birds a roach,,,,around here, EVERYONE sprays, baits, whatever,,,,,,,,,

I had a nice healthy spider in our car port die from eating a poisoned cockroach,,,,,(I know this because it ate tons of roaches all the time,,,,,,then I started baiting,,,,,it caught and ate a roach and DIED. One of the ways the bait works is that it doesn't kill the roaches immediately,,,,,,they take it back to their nest, die, and the other roaches eat it and die too),,,,,,,,

even if I don't bait,,,,,there's a HUGE possibility that my neighbors do,,,,,

[Colt]

You can buy feeder roaches. They are probably a better and safer alternative. Just like crickets. The black armored ones most pet reptiles and birds won't touch. They prefer the soft bodied crickets available as feeders. Also the heavy exoskeleton is bad for their tummies.

[Justino222]

Yea they do it in those plastic stackable draws. Worth a try:) i wont do it til i have at least 10 birds.

[KarenB]

Just say no to roaches. Ick and double ick.

[MiaCarter]

Corkysgirl -- I thought of that too. The germ factor with maggots.

Seems any natural source would be hugely bacteria-ridden. So there's got to be a way that they cleanse/sterilize them?

I'd freeze them to kill them, so that would kill off lots of bacteria. But probably not all. I'd have to research it more.

[Justino222]

I don't think it was bad. I think he had it was semi covered in a plastic container...if I remember right. It was many years ago. It's worth a try.

Yea they do it in those plastic stackable draws. Worth a try:) i wont do it til i have at least 10 birds.

[Justino222]

Drawers*

[Corkysgirl]

I heard freezing doesn't kill a lot of bacteria, especially e-coli botulism, salmonella (but can stop further growth). I don't know if you can grow from a clean source of maggots...then you won't have to worry about the bacteria. Can't believe I'm talking about maggots. Egads!!! I'm not the expert.

[Colt]

Could you boil the maggots? Like in their own maggot pot? (Unless you don't like your mother-in-law in which case you could cook in it...lol) That should kill everything. Don't know if they'd like them cooked, but they eat their eggs boiled...

[CommaHolly]

Could you boil the maggots? Like in their own maggot pot? (Unless you don't like your mother-in-law in which case you could cook in it...lol) That should kill everything. Don't know if they'd like them cooked, but they eat their eggs boiled...

hahahahahaha!!!!!!!!!!

BTW, I loved my mother in law! REALLY,,she was awesome!

[MiaCarter]

I bet you could boil them.

First freeze to kill them, then boil.
I imagine that would kill any nasties.

They're quite small when I see them. About a the size of a grain of rice. So I could easily keep them for a day or so until any dangerous things in their stomach are excreted.

Of course, it could all be for nothing if they don't like them (or don't like them cooked!)

...then mix 'em in with rice and serve to said MIL.


On bug zapper bugs....
Not sure if they'd be fried to nothingness. I've seen birds picking at the little catch tray when my neighbor had a bug zapper, so there must have been something left over worth eating.
I can't imagine there'd be anything dangerous. Just cooked bugs, no toxins or anything.

[Corkysgirl]

Oh MiaCarter I love my birds but if they lived 10 years and yours lived 12 without maggots...as my mother always said..."The proof is in the pudding" then eggs are good enough! The thought of the smell of boiled maggots reminds me of the smell of having to boil a frog to mount his "skellibones" (the way my husband always says it) to a board with pins in Biology class to identify them. Its MANY years later and I still can't get that smell out of my nose!
@Colt you're hysterical!

[CommaHolly]

ew,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,the whole businss of boiling BUGS (and frogs),,,,,,yerghhhhhh