Bugs & Birds

[flrancho]

Living in Florida comes with the cost of lots and lots of bugs, especially this year for some reason.

Of course we have the usual nuisance of seed moths. For some reason, ants have been horrible this year, and now we have the added annoyance of a bunch of flies that got into the house as well as mosquitos.

Of course, I can't spray anything to kill these things around the birds, which is were the seed months, flies and ants are seeming to congretate. I vaccumed up some of the ants this morning and my Mom went after a bunch of the flies in the kitchen today with a swatter, but now two flies seem to have migrated to the bird room.

My male Java seems to enjoy chasing and trying to eat bugs, and while I know seed months are no issue; would it do him harm if he were to catch and eat a mosquito, ant or fly? I ask because I saw him take a snap at a mosquito flying in the flight the other day, and after he took a snap at it, I didn't see the mosquito anymore, so I think he got it.

Aside from these doing any harm if they were eaten, I also have 10-day old hatchlings in a nest. Again, I know the seed moths are nothing, but could the mosquitos, ants and/or flies cause problems for the babies?

I'm particualrly concerned over the ants, as I read somewhere about nests being abandoned because of predators and it specifically mentioning ants. That being said, I've had this ant issue since before the babies were even thought of by Mom and Dad and haven't had an ant issue with the babies yet. The ants seem more interested in the seed and egg food that gets dropped underneath the cage.... I've never seen them in the cage or in the dishes, just under everything.

[Ursula]

I remember a post about ants getting into a nest of an outdoor aviary and killing the chicks. So I would be very concerned! I am fighting ants with the little plastic ant traps that you can get at home improvement stores. They have poison inside that the ants carry back to the nest and then all of them die. It takes a few days to take effect, but it works for me. You can also put out dishes with normal baking powder, that supposedly has the same effect.

I don't know about mosquitoes and flies, but I would also think that they might bother the nestlings. I can't imagine them being bad for the birds if they eat them though... The best solution there might be window/door screens everywhere so they can't even get in.

[flrancho]

I'm sure a lot of the problem is due to someone leaving the back door open since they like the nice weather. Guess I'm going to have to tell them to stop. Ants on the other hand seem to be coming from the ceiling area... so I guess they're in the attic or coming through small holes from the tree next to our house.

I think I'm going to try the baking powder thing when I get home. I read mixing it with powdered sugar will help attract them to the powder and that adding active dry yeast in addition will double the "poison" factor for the ants.

[finchandlovebird]

You can also put down Boraxo for the ants

[cindy]

with borax you need to use cution that dogs or cats and the birds get into it.

I am a fellow Floridian, my husband is an Entomologist and wors with mosquitoes. Mosquitoes can carry certain diseases but I would have to check with him to see if some disease can be transmitted or a concern if the mosiquito is eaten vs having it bite the bird.

I will check with him and get back to you, his specialty is mosquito borne diseases.

As far as flies, well they are not really picky about what they land on or walk through. Try some fly paper (hanging strips) fly traps...look in Home Depot. They have a pretty good selection.

Another option is to place a screen door on the door to the bird room, that way you can still enjoy the birds while keeping pests out.

[finchmix22]

I'm having the same problem here in Texas. Our house is being overrun by flies and beetles, of all things. UGH. My daughter is a strict vegetarian and our family is very conscientious about respecting all life, so we read on a web site about Home Remedies for pest control. We are making a spray mixture of Rosemary, Cloves, Water and Oil to spray around the doors and windows, which is supposed to be a preventative. Apparently, the bugs do not like the smell and won't "cross the line" of spray. Another option is using pieces of the old fashioned Wrigley Mint Gum, not the Spearmint, but the regular mint flavored gum You place the gum, still in the foil wrapping around the window sills and door frames etc. Again, this repels bugs from crossing the line because of the smell, I think. I used that one last year and noticed a difference in the amount of bugs, being less, so they do help. As far as flies go, we have not found anything that works well; although, the yellow lights by doors outside help somewhat, but aren't super effective. My daughter will try to "catch" them and let them back outside. LOL What a funny scene it is to watch a 12-year-old girl with a cup and piece of computer paper, stalking flies so she can humanely release them back outside. At least, she is willing to follow through and take care of the issue. I can't kill anything, not even an ant or fly. I have swatted at mosquitos, but I mostly try to use prevention tactics.

[flrancho]

Thanks for the replies everyone.

I laid down some sugar and baking powder at the base of the cage last night and spent a lot of the evening sitting in my computer chair in the bird room waiting for the flies to come by and then I'd swat them with a fly swatter.

I think I got most of the flies, and we'll see about the ants. Don't really know what to do with the mosquitos.

I thought about using preventative myself on the ants, but was afraid that a preventative at the base of the cage where they are, would only drive them towards the back of my flight, or up the wall, which is were the nest is. Exactly where I don't want them to go! I figured in this instance it may be better to just lay something out to kill them rather than mistakenly drive them towards the nest.

[cindy]

Hi...checked in with my husband about the birds eating them...they should be fine. If the moaquito was carring a disease if the bird eats it it won't contract it. It is the mosquito biting the bird that wuld be more bothersome and a possible issue.

He said once they get indoors they start to dehydrate due to low humidity and only last a day or so. The best defense is keep the doors and windows closed or use screens in the windows and on the doors, like a slider.

When I come indoors during their peak season, I rub the dogs down and do a quick brush off before entering the house.

[cindy]

If the ants are entering the house through a crack in the grout or molding try these (HomeDepot). It is liquid so be careful not to push on it and make sure it is in an area where the dogs or cat can't get to it. Do not put these in the cages.

The best thing to do is to find exactly where they are entering the house, put the trap at that point, they will go in collect the food and go back to the nest. I used these and within two days they were gone. Once gone I caulked the site they were entering at. In some spots I left the traps down since any change in weather, hot, cold. rain sometimes brings them back in and you'll see scouts wondering back in.

What I do is place one of these in a small plastic sandwich container with one of the sides cut off, lid on and place the whole thin right where the ants enter the room.

[MRobinson]

Have any of you tried those little electronic pest repellers? They are supposed to be safe for pets (even safe for birds is labeled on the package of the ones I got.)

A couple of weeks ago my daughter saw a little field mouse run into our garage. To make sure it didn't 'set up house' but to be humane we tried the elecronic things. I was very concerned about the potential effect on my birds but the label said safe for birds. The ones we got were the Black and Decker ones that came in a package of 5 from Walmart for about $20-$25. We put one in the garage, one in her bedroom, one in my bedroom, one in the hallway going to the other bedrooms/my office and one in her office/sunroom. Doing this spread them all around the house but none were in the same room where the birds were (great room). Doing this did end up with them being in 3 of the 4 rooms adjoining the great room.

It hasn't seemed to have any effect on the birds at all, and after about 2-3 days, we haven't seen a single moth, mouse, ant, mosquito, spider, roach, nothing...not one single thing...and this is the time of year when all the outside buggies try to come in out of the cold in my area.

Prior to using these I'd been seeing some of the little seed/pantry moths and a spider or two (plus that one mouse!). Now they are all gone. So to me these things sure seems to be working!!