Yes, its that time of year again when the bugs come calling for our birdies! The main culprits are red mites, with feather lice, air sac mites and scaley face mites also a possibility. But it is the red mites that seem to be the most common, and can really pester our birds during the warmer months if not year round. Look hard enough, and you will probably find them!

Red mites are small and evasive, about the size and color of a pepper grain when young, and can get as big as 2mm and bright red as adults after a feeding. The main difficulty in controlling them is that they can come into your house from so many places. They can crawl through open windows, through screens, through doors left open in the heat. They can come in on your clothes, your shoes or groceries, or through ventilation systems and cracks in the walls. They prey mainly on wild birds, and are a big concern for those raising chickens. They require avian blood to be able to reproduce but can still leave the occasional itchy bite on a person. They hide during the day, and come out at night to feed, before hiding again before dawn. This makes them very hard to see, and most people are unaware of these little bloodsuckers.

Mites are not a great danger to a healthy bird, although a large infestation can cause anemia (low red blood cell count) and weaken a bird to other maladies. The real danger lies in a bird that might already be weak from illness, egg laying, inadequate diet or supplementation, or from stress due to any number of factors, even from the hot weather of summer. A bird sitting on eggs in a nest box is an easy target, and something that I take steps to prevent daily.

Red mites are very hard to see during the day, they hide in any dark place they can find and set up their nest. Behind the bolts of screw on dishes, perches, and toys. Under the bottom tray, in the cracks of the cage stand, under a box sitting on a nearby table, under the wheels of a cage, behind pictures or decorations, anywhere dark and out of sight.

One good way to discover if you have mites in your cage is to line the bottom of the cage with white paper towels just before lights out at night. In the morning, take out the paper towels and inspect for any black or red dots that move around. This is best done first thing in the morning, and it makes the mites easy to see as they can get trapped in the texture of the paper towels, and will often crawl around to the underside with the lights on. For the more adventurous, a flashlight at 3am can be used to play a fun little "where's Waldo" game, searching perches and cage bars. This will most likely annoy your birdies to no end though. During the day you can take apart anything on or around your cage, looking for the mite nests. Don't worry about not recognizing a nest, you'll know one when you see one! Red mites have a reproduction cycle of ten days, so they can multiply fast.

Fortunately treating a bird for red mites, and eradicating them from the environs, is easy, and keeping them away is easy as well. The above products are what I use on a regular basis to prevent infestations and is what I keep on hand just in case some get through to one of my birdies. I also treat all birdies leaving here for new homes just before getting picked up, and are therefore protected for several weeks afterwards.

The main product I use is A.I.L. (Avian Insect Liquidator) and it is an insecticide and insect growth regulator. It is a completely safe product when used properly, and can be used without risk even on new hatchlings. Its main use though is preventative, and i spray this around the cage and fittings (removing all food and water) every 10 days. I also spray this daily on the windowsills and around all windows and openings where bugs could come in. In this hot weather, windows have to be open, and every couple of days I get to vacuum up all the dead insect carcasses from the windowsills. I can see it works well, because no dead insects ever make it to the front part of the sill. This spray claims that it works for 6 weeks between applications, but used every 10 days means that you can be sure that the reproduction cycle of the red mites never gets a chance to complete.

Another good product is Control Aviary and Cage Bug Spray. This is an all natural product from Mango Pet Products. Every time you clean your cage, give it a good spray with this. It uses cinnamon oils, cedar oils and clove oils along with a few other ingredients that repel the bugs. It is not an insecticide though, but is a good preventative measure.

The other products I have on hand in case of an infestation is SCATT, S76 and a vial of pure Ivermectin. These products treat not only red mites, but any bugs that feast on the blood of our birdies. Much like the modern flea treatments for birds and cats, drops (amount depending on size of bird) placed under the feathers on the back of the head or on the thigh will kill any bugs biting your bird for quite a while. I give all incoming rescues, rehabs, surrenders and other incoming birds a treatment just in case, and never had a bad reaction. They can also be added to a bird's drinking water, although I have never tried that method. Any one of these will work fine. Pure Ivermectin is the best, but can be hard to get a hold of. They will also kill any worms that your bird could be suffering from. Best done under a knowledgeable person's supervision, these are real medications that could cause real harm if used incorrectly.

These products can be hard to get a hold of. No stores that I know of carry A.I.L., and only just For Birds in Langley can get in SCATT and Ivermectin, and if not in stock it could take a while. There are many websites that do provide these products though, but delivery could take a while as they all come from Austrailia. LadyGouldian.com (Not LadyGouldianFinch.com) is usually my main purchase site, but be prepared to pay! These products are not cheap, and shipping and handling can double the price. Delivery can take a while, although it can be very quick if you have the extra cash for rush shipping. LadyGouldian.com is a good place for many bird medications and supplements, and the person who runs it will help you out if you need something right away.

For those finding red mites, and needing an instant solution, I will be offering for sale small pre-mixed spray bottles of the A.I.L. product. Enough for a couple of cages for the season, and sold pretty much at my cost. More work for me maybe, but I really hate to think of the birdies out there that would have to deal with these itchy blood draining bugs while waiting for shipping!