FINCHforum

Warm weather has hit, and mites have appeared overnight on my birds: but our Zebra finches are nesting. What is the best way to go about cleaning and disinfecting without disturbing the nest and incubating egg(s)?

I believe Avian Insect Liquidator is safe to spray on finches, cages and even nests. But, I'm wondering how the mites gained access. Do you have an outdoor aviary? What is the source of the mites? I hope you can clear up the mites.

It's likely the mites carried over from the previous owners; I failed to correctly clean the nests they came with when I took the finches in (gave them new and clean everything else), and the birds were not kept in the best conditions previously.

Scatt the adults too. That will help.

I would use Avian Insect Liquidator to clean and either Scatt, S76 or AIL on the adults as well. I find if you do have to something with the nest if it's quick and then you fully leave them alone they'll go back to it usually without problem. I've even had to fully remove it to check on chicks before and as long as I out it back and completely leave it alone they are usually fine. If they do end up abandoning the eggs they can start again. Better to risk it and treat them.

For the future, you know to remove nests with any new finches. I recommend keeping finches in quarantine for 3-4 weeks. During that time, I watch for signs of illness and treat them with Ronex 12% for 5 days and treat all with S76 and Worm Away. I give them about five days between the different treatments and then watch them some more after all are administered to ensure no signs of illness. Then, I put them into the new cages/flights for a period of adjustment.

However, rescuing finches from a bad situation requires a little more caution and monitoring for these type of problems you are experiencing. With the avian liquidator and S76, you have a good start.

First you need to determine what kind of mites you have. Here is a link to articles about some of the mites, both external and internal, and how to deal with them.

http://www.finchinfo.com/health/diseases/index.php

Avian Insect Liquidator is one of the best products for treating cages and even birds for mites. You can spray it directly on the birds, in nests, on babies, yet it will kill most mites. It is a great product to keep on hand, as it also kills other insects such as spiders and ants.

SCATT and S76 are great for administering to the birds, but they do nothing about the mites that are in the cage, etc.

What kind of nests? If they are wicker, I would toss and start fresh. If they are wood, you would need to really soak the wood with AIL, as mites hide in the cracks. If plastic, they are a bit easier to disinfect.

Mites can also live in timothy hay (and other hay types too, I'd imagine.)

I had guinea pigs who got mites on half a dozen instances. I know we'd eliminated them as they'd be treated and went for a year or so without any troubles and clean skin scrapings....then they'd return and it's not like they went outdoors or anything.
But then I realized his hay could be bringing in the mites. I started freezing the hay bags for 48-72 hours and I never had the problem again.

So if you provide hay for nesting or foraging, it's possible this could be the culprit. I always freeze mine to kill off critters.

Thank you SO MUCH for the responses! We have AIL in the mail heading our way; and I've completely scrubbed the cages, moved everything else out or into the freezer, and inspected my birds: I'm finding no mite signs on the Zebras or in their cage (they had all new items), and after moving the other four birds out of the cage for a few days, and giving them mist baths, I'm finding no signs of mites anywhere on them anymore.

One of my Society finches is missing quite a few feathers (again); the rest all appear fine, but I'm going to keep a very close eye on them, and make sure to freeze and treat everything that comes in.

Are wicker and wood nests safe to return to the cage after freezing, or better just to throw them out and get new ones? My finches love sleeping in them.

When you get your AIL, spray the wicker and wooden nests well, into every crack and crevice. That should kill anything that might still be around, and it has a residual action as well.