FINCHforum

Is dryed millet grass safe for birds to play (and/or fill their nests with)? It's grown at my house, and is sprayed with anything (Except water). Should I dry them in the sun for a week or so, because my other plants have had red mites sucking their "juices" and lizard blood. I do not want to have a mite war again, so I need to know what to do with the grass before giving it to the birds. And is jute fibre and burlap from a rope safe or will it get stuck on their feet? I cute the jute and burlap short so it won't wrap around their small little toes, it's a couple centimeters long (Maximum size is about 6-8 cm or something).

Many people cut small squares of burlap and unravel it to make short pieces of nesting material for their birds, and some nesting materials sold on the internet have short pieces of jute in them, so I think you should be OK. As far as the millet, many birds carry spray millet into their nests after they are pretty well stripped of all seed. As long as yours is not sprayed with chemicals, it should be fine. However, if you have red mites on your plants, I would think you wouldn't want to use those--red mites are a bugger to get rid of once they are on your birds.

I see... But it isn't the burlap you are thinking about, it's the burlap people use to make rope (So it's just jute fibre, I guess). Where can I get the kind of burlap that you see on sacks or something?

How can I check for mites? Do I see them running around or what?

I'll see if I can buy some burlap.

Try strips of kleenex. Mine like to tear those up and carry pieces into a nest.
For Gouldians I put a handful or two of shredded paper into the nest and they are happy with that. A good use for shredded documents, a byproduct of trying to minimize identity theft rather than putting entire bank statements etc. into the garbage.

I'm just going to use napkins and tissues. Maybe burlap is going to be an option in the future.

The mites on plants aren't the mites you might find on birds. Neither is good, and both are difficult to get rid of.

But, plant mites aren't interested in birds. Plant mites like plant sap.

Bird mites CAN be interested in us, though, if they move out of the bird cage. Bird mites like bird (or human) blood.

I think (although I'm not sure) the bird mite is: Dermanyssus gallinae

The common plant mite (two spotted mite) is: Tetranychus urticae

I'll just plant more for more seeds and the pieces of the plant.

The burlap I'm talking about can be bought in any fabric shop. You can buy a small amount, it will last you a long time.

Couldn't find it. Unless it was a hat or a doll or something... At least in that particular store.