FINCHforum

UGH! not a good morning. I went to check on the gouldian chicks (they are 10 days old about) and I saw something odd. I picked them up to look closer and their ear holes were blocked with dark brown. I got a q-tip and put it near their ears...the black/brown things moved!! My babies are covered in mites/lice!!

I killed as many as I could with my hands...they were crawling all over me

I removed all the nesting material, and scubbed the nest down. I cleaned off the babies as best I could. and replaced with new material.


UGH I am thinking they either came from the orchard grass nesting material in the bag OR from some seed I bought at the petstore.

Im so ticked off! ive never had this happen before. Now Im pretty sure that the parents are covered in mites/lice.

And to top it off, I think the 5 eggs are DIS. They all are browinish inside with a ring. Could this day get any worse? And its only 9 am!

So sorry you are having this problem, but the best thing I have found for mites is Avian Insect Liquidator by Vetafarm. It kills mites and insects, has a residual action, and is perfectly safe to use on newly-hatched chicks. Most bird vendors will carry this product, so if you don't have it already, you can find someone who could overnight it to you. You will also need to treat your whole bird room or aviary, as if they were in the nestbox, they could be elsewhere too.

Thanks Sally. I dont have AIL....the only products I have are Dyna-Mite all natural product (got from Ladygouldianfinch.com) here http://ladygouldianfinch.com/product_dyna-mite.php

Not sure if this can do the same thing??

I also have inverlux and S76....

It doesn't seem to have the same ingredients as AIL I would check with your local pet store, there are many products that have the same basic ingredients as AIL that would work just as well.
Your looking for something with Permethrin, Piperonyl Butoxide, and Methoprene
Good luck

Oh dear, so sorry to hear of your trials. Fingers crossed I have never had a mite problem and touch wood I never do!

Hope your babies are all ok!

so sorry this is happening dee! i too have just had a similar problem with grain mites that (i think) came from my mealworm farm. stupid little things!

Thank you everyone.

I have been worried sick all day long. My husband called me on his phone angry and worried that mites will get onto us & our kids/pets and suck our blood! I researched the net and some say they will go on humans and other pets, and some say they wont! I just finished reading an article on ladygouldian, that left me sick to my stomach. She literally had an infestation! My god I hope it doesnt progess any further.This has never happened in the years Ive had birds! Ive never had mites. Never. I donnt know where they colud have come from..weither or not they came from bags of seed from the store? or from orchard grass from the petstore...or millet from the petstore..I just have no idea!

So far I have just seen them in the nest. fingers crossed thats just where they are!

I have gone out and picked up some Avian Insect Liquidator. And have spray all my finches, parrotlet and budgie. The cages, and of course the nest box with the babies inside as well as the eggs.

I noticed that the eggs have at least 5 black dots on them....I wonder if mites and burrow into eggs and kill the babies inside?
I also think the mites have crawled in through the babies ear holes and are in the crop. Is it safe to treat with Inverlux?

This is the worst day ever

How many times do I spray the birds to get rid of the mites?

Oh my gosh.... Tha is so discusting. So sorry Dee.. I don't know if I can help but I hope they are killed fast and stay away from your family.

Thank you Dante. I hope so too! Just thinking about it makes me itch!

I have sprayed all the cages, the nest, the chicks, the eggs. Every nook and cranny I hope it works. I saw 1 mite crawl up on top of the wooden nest box about an hour after spraying. I killed it right away. Will check the nest in the wee hours of the morning tomorrow to see if the mites are gone.

*For those that have used AIL, is this just a one time spray? Or how many times do I spray? Once a day? for how many days?
Also is Iverlux safe to use with chicks? Can I put it in the water?

Sorry for what you are going through. Hope you get it all under control soon with minimal casualties. Bob

Dee are the mites red or brown? You said brown but I'm wondering if they're actually red in color.
Didn't you recently get some new birds? Is it at all possible that the new birds came infected and have passed the mites on to your other birds? You see they can get around relatively easily so if the cages are near or touching it's not impossible that they could have just passed from one host to another.

If they are blood mites you need to act super fast and be incredibly aggressive with your attack because these CAN infest your home and begin to bite you and your family/pets.

If you can or haven't already, ditch the nest they're in entirely and switch it out with a fresh nest (plastic if you've got it) and no grasses - just paper towels if you can.

I would spray the birds, nest and cage at least once a day, if not more, and change out the nest and nesting material, cleaning a plastic nest in the dishwasher on a sanitize cycle if you have it, if not, soaking the plastic nest in a mildly diluted bleach or Virkon S solution and letting it dry without rinsing.

Gosh.. I hope you can get a handle on it and get rid of them
Can you get a picture?

Tiffany- Thanks for your response. Im pretty sure they looked brownish to me...but I did look at them without my glasses on (need them for seeing far away)

I changed out the nesting material and scrubbed the nest. I do have a plastic nest BUT its the ones that lay sideways and birds woul dhave to go in an L shape to get to the babies. I found last year they didnt favor this nest :/

Last night when I sprayed, I sprayed everything I could. I literally soaked the nest the babies and the eggs in the solution, I sprayed so much.

I went to up there an hour after I sprayed and saw just one mite climbing on the edge on the nest box. I squished it right away and blood came out of it.

This morning I turned on the lights, took a deep breath and looked inside the nest.....I didnt see a single mite on the babies on their ears and hopefully not in the nest *fingers crossed*

I guess I should sprayed the cage and the nest again. As well as the other cages in the home.

AS for new birds...the only newish one is the budgie. But the bird wasnt on the same floor of the house.
And I treated that bird for worms, and asm in the quarentine procedure.
Other than that, I dont know where else it could have come from other than new seed or nesting material?

Tiffany- how long should I keep spraying them everyday?


Also, is Iverlux safe for chicks? I wanted to put a drop on every single bird in the home and start a treatment. I cant be sure but I think maybe the mites crawled into the babies ears and got in theircrops...unless its asm...

I have used Iverlux on parents that were feeding babies and did not have a problem. I've also used Worm Away with parents that had babies but I don't think you need to use that.

S76 is safe for all ages, but it is designed to be administered diluted in the water. I wouldn't put a drop of concentrate on baby birds unless you talked to someone with experience doing that. If you put it in the water, I would think it would get to the babies through the parents drinking water and then feeding their babies.

It can be used either way - topically for 5 days or diluted in the water for 2 consecutive days over 3 consecutive weeks.

I agree though, I would probably go for the treatment via water in lieu of topically just since they're so young.