Caution when feeding termites & tip on stopping ants

[cindy]

A big word of caution for those collecting and using termites: My husband is an Entomologist, he said termites do not dry out within a short period if brought inside your home. They will survive indoors so they can possibily infest your house if they manage to get into a crack, between baseboards or in between floor planks. They will not live as long if exposed outdoors in the direct sun.

To keep ants from crawling up the legs of your cage and avairy, coat them with vaseline. Coat vaseline from the base of the leg half way up. This will prevent roaches, spiders and ants from climbing up. You may need to wipe off and reapply since seed can get stuck on it. Do not get the vaseline near birds.

[CandoAviary]

If I had birds in my house I would not feed live bugs of any sort. Just insect patee of other insect products on the market. I do raise termites and feed these in an outdoor aviary. They never last long enough to crawl anywhere The birds devour them. I do notice while collecting the ones that fall on the ground die in the hot Florida sun before they can even get back in the ground. Of course my yard is sand. I have to add peat and water daily just to mine a few termites...but it is well worth it because the birds love them.
We also treat all our buildings yearly...sometimes more often for termites. Preventative is much better than repairs We also use pressure treated materials for fences, decks, etc. another great deterrent.

[dfcauley]

My husband will not even let me put mulch around my house because of the fear of termites.

I do feed mealworms and I keep mine inside in an aviary..... but they are eaten so quickly none have a chance.

[cindy]

If I had birds in my house I would not feed live bugs of any sort. Just insect patee of other insect products on the market. I do raise termites and feed these in an outdoor aviary. They never last long enough to crawl anywhere The birds devour them. I do notice while collecting the ones that fall on the ground die in the hot Florida sun before they can even get back in the ground. Of course my yard is sand. I have to add peat and water daily just to mine a few termites...but it is well worth it because the birds love them.
We also treat all our buildings yearly...sometimes more often for termites. Preventative is much better than repairs We also use pressure treated materials for fences, decks, etc. another great deterrent.

Can I ask where you get the insect patee. My birds are nesting but no eggs yet. (I keep them in the house) When I mentioned to my husband that the finches may need termites to eat he said absolutely not. Termites are costly if they do damage and if you ever go to sell the house you must disclose that. So I tried small meal worms, they don't touch them. I tried ground hard boiled egg/shell with petamine, greens and carrot..they didn't touch it.

What is the trick to this? I may try egg food. I also ordered Lafeber's Premium Daily diet pellets to try, possibly grinding it to a powder and sprinkling it on their seed if they don't eat it outright. Do you wait and feed this as they are nesting/mating or do you wait until young are born...

[lovemyfinch]

I use orlux insect pate, I usually find it right with the egg pate. It does have dry egg pate mixed in. I offer this to them at all times and let them eat what they want when they want. I figure that they probably know best when they are needing any supplements.

[CandoAviary]

I also feed the brand 'Orlux insect patee'. 'Bag o' Bugs' and
'Feast Incectivorous' are some others that I buy.
Many birds take a long while before they will eat a new food. Patience and continued offerings seems to be the key. I have got most all of my gouldians, red throats, goldbreast off the meal worms and eating eggfoods and insect mixes. After reading horror stories of mealies ating birds from the inside out I now understand why they recommend to blanch (kill) before serving. I decided I didn't want to take the risk.

[lovemyfinch]

I also feed the brand 'Orlux insect patee'. 'Bag o' Bugs' and
'Feast Incectivorous' are some others that I buy.
Many birds take a long while before they will eat a new food. Patience and continued offerings seems to be the key. I have got most all of my gouldians, red throats, goldbreast off the meal worms and eating eggfoods and insect mixes. After reading horror stories of mealies ating birds from the inside out I now understand why they recommend to blanch (kill) before serving. I decided I didn't want to take the risk.

Candace, has this ever been a topic on this forum. You just threw me into a panic.

[dfcauley]

After reading horror stories of mealies ating birds from the inside out I now understand why they recommend to blanch (kill) before serving. I decided I didn't want to take the risk.

WHAT??????

[lovemyfinch]

After reading horror stories of mealies ating birds from the inside out I now understand why they recommend to blanch (kill) before serving. I decided I didn't want to take the risk.

WHAT??????

Candace, could you let us know where and when you read this info. I have been feeding live mealies all along, and never heard of this happening.

[cindy]

I also feed the brand 'Orlux insect patee'. 'Bag o' Bugs' and
'Feast Incectivorous' are some others that I buy.
Many birds take a long while before they will eat a new food. Patience and continued offerings seems to be the key. I have got most all of my gouldians, red throats, goldbreast off the meal worms and eating eggfoods and insect mixes. After reading horror stories of mealies ating birds from the inside out I now understand why they recommend to blanch (kill) before serving. I decided I didn't want to take the risk.

I am not a fan of live bugs in the house..I just got a small bag of Quicko (Petsmart did not have the bag of Quicko with dried insects so I bought it without) I also got a can of dried meal worms. They smell bad when you open the can, my 2 little dogs followed me as I carried the little bowls to the cages...smells worse than sardines.

Anyway Quicko said you can serve the egg food dry on seed or soaked...I have waxbills and may be getting owls in a week. Our breeder is holding 2 pairs for me. Has anyone used Quicko before? Is Orlux better? I have not had finches for years. I went into breeding parrotlets and bigger birds. I cooked for my birds so I am out of the loop on what is best for finches. I will keep offering a little at a time. I'm not sure about the dried mealworms.

[mike]

After reading horror stories of mealies ating birds from the inside out I now understand why they recommend to blanch (kill) before serving. I decided I didn't want to take the risk.

WHAT??????

Candace, could you let us know where and when you read this info. I have been feeding live mealies all along, and never heard of this happening.

It's a myth carried over from the reptile community. It doesn't happen and can't happen. The origin of this myth is presumed to be as follows:
1) mealworms are fed to lizard and left in cage
2) lizard dies (unrelated to mealworms)
3) mealworms find a juicy snack in the shape of a dead lizard
4) mealworms feed on and burrow into the lizard
5) lizard keeper finds mealworm apparently eating its way out of the lizard

A mealworm in the gut of a bird would suffocate long before it could eat its way out of a bird, not just from lack of air but from drowning in digestive juice. Digestive juice would also kill the worm rapidly. But even more reason this could never happen is that birds crush mealworms in their beaks before swallowing and puncture the worm. If this doesn't kill it outright, it leaves lots of extra holes for digestive acids to kill the worm faster.

There has never been documented evidence that a mealworm has chewed its way out of a bird or lizard. "Proof" has been anecdotal at best.

[CandoAviary]

I know you can't believe everything you read....so maybe I was a little gullable on this one.
My birds always bit the heads and killed the worms before eating.

There was a post on this forum. I can not locate it now but it was posted by Poohbear and it had an attachment. The attachment was an article about the mealworms eating birds from the inside.

After reading that I google it and found lots of different opinions on the subject. Mostly from reptile keepers. Many take the stance that Mike just commented on, others said they witness the worms exiting the reptiles body.

I have no idea which is true. I was just not wanting to take any chances..... I will continue to try and find that post on this forum.

[dfcauley]

Well that is a relief!!!!

Paul?????

[cindy]

I know you can't believe everything you read....so maybe I was a little gullable on this one.
My birds always bit the heads and killed the worms before eating.

There was a post on this forum. I can not locate it now but it was posted by Poohbear and it had an attachment. The attachment was an article about the mealworms eating birds from the inside.

After reading that I google it and found lots of different opinions on the subject. Mostly from reptile keepers. Many take the stance that Mike just commented on, others said they witness the worms exiting the reptiles body.

I have no idea which is true. I was just not wanting to take any chances..... I will continue to try and find that post on this forum.

Beside raising bird we raised reptiles, mostly crested geckos, leopards of various mutations, rare dwarf sheild tailed agamas and uromastyx. We fed meal worms and crickets and never had a problem. We did this for years. The only issue we had was with crickets, they attract a small fly that is like a knat or fruit fly, they bite and you itch. I finally had had it with keeping 1000 crickets at a time and sold our collection. I much prefer the birds.

As a child my mother raised Pekin robins, they required meal worms which they happily gobbled down. Never a problem.

I asked my Entomologist hubby about mealworms eating birds from the inside out, he said no...their may be issues with larger grubs if fed and the animal getting pinched. If you ever watched a reptile eat large mealworms, they don't inhale it like spaghetti but chomp it down section by section, literally crushing the worm in a few spots. There are bigger, giant grubs that are fed to larger reptiles, you needed to remove the heads first since they could pinch if swallowed head first. We never messed with these, we did all sizes of mealworms for our lizards without a problem.

[CandoAviary]

Okay, thankyou, I am more relieved now. Maybe I won't get rid of the mealworms. The goldbreast love them especially. Like I said they suck the insides and leave the skin so I am sure no harm could come out of that. They could never swallow a worm whole.