FINCHforum

I just put my female zebra into the new bird room last night and today I heard her breathing strangely, not even up to my ear, just sitting about two feet from me. She was making a strange squeaking sound with every breath she took. I think it's air sac mites, but some factors could possibly be pointing to something else. For one she was just in a cage with my gouldian right before I put her in the new bird room, and he isn't clicking or anything. It's weird because gouldians are so much more susceptible to it then zebras yet she is the one who got it? She is still chirping really loudly and calling for her partner, which I know air sac mites prevent most of the time. I listened to everyone else that was in the bird room with her and no one else was clicking. I'm thinking it may be because the bird room is considerably warmer (previous temp was around 75 degrees f, new temp is around 85 degrees f) and more humid than her previous setting and the quick change may have made it difficult for her to breathe?

I've decided to treat all my birds for air sac mites. I listened to my gouldian again tonight and hear a very very faint clicking sound that was only present after he had just finished flying. It was only audible when I held him right up to my ear though, unlike the zebra. Can you guys refer me to somewhere that has the best deals on s76 or any other air sac mite treatment? And how long do birds usually live after they have gotten air sac mites? I hope it isn't too late to order the medicine and have it get here a few days from now....

Morning Bird has Iverlux and Bird Care Co. has S76--both pretty much the same thing. You can also use SCATT, but with it, you have to catch each bird so you can put a drop of the medicine directly on their skin. With the Iverlux or S76, you can administer it in the water. Any Morning Bird or Bird Care dealer will be able to get these to you. If you put your entire flock on a preventative program every 3-4 months, you shouldn't have problems.

Check out these sites: fairestfinches.com, justbirdstuff.com, ladygouldianfinch.com, redbirdproducts.com

Just a few sources, and in alphabetical order. All of these places fill their orders very quickly, and you can always tell them of your problem, too.

Thanks so much Sally. You're always so informative!

How is your zebra doing today? I hope she's better?

I had a young budgie that made these strange peeps with every breath. I brought him to the avian vet who didn't see another option than either to put him down or do extensive tests on him to find out the cause. She said he was breething very hard and she put him in an oxygen tank right away. The tests would have been very (!) expensive and also painful for the bird, so I decided to have him put down. (He was my first and so far only budgie baby, it was a very tough decision and very sad.) I paid for a necropsy though to find out the cause and all they could find was that he had a severe lung infection. The vet had no idea what could have caused it, and I have neither. Luckily, none of my other birds got sick, but I still wonder what could have triggered that.

I really do hope that your zebra has something that's treatable!

Yes my birds are doing fine! I haven't treated them yet but they are all holding up. I hope to get the medicine soon.

Sally, which medicine would you recommend and through what online store? I have 10 birds so I suppose catching them all wouldn't be too bad, but do you think if I purchased the water distribution one there would be a chance of one of the birds not getting treated?

I use Iverlux, just because I use a lot of Morning Bird products. S76 is basically the same thing, just another company. I think I already answered your question in a PM, but if you take all water sources away the night before you start treatment, they will be thirsty in the morning. It is very important that they have no water source except for the treated water for those two days, repeated for a total of three weeks. This means if you give them bathwater, give them treated water. They are not thrilled with the treated water, and so they will not drink it if there is a choice (I'm not about to taste it myself, but I know my birds don't like it! ). This also means no really watery veggies like cucumber. All the birds should eventually drink some of this treated water. Even my Parrot finches, which normally LOVE to bathe, as many times a day as I will refill the bathtub, are put off by the treated water, but they do get in it, giving me dirty looks all the while.

Sally wrote: Even my Parrot finches, which normally LOVE to bathe, as many times a day as I will refill the bathtub, are put off by the treated water, but they do get in it, giving me dirty looks all the while.

hahahaha that's hysterical. Thanks so much Sally. When my birds get better I will tell them a person named Sally saved them.