Bird Mites

Hello. It's been a while since I've been on. I have a close friend who lives 45 minutes from me. She just found out that she has bird mites and is starting to battle them and treat her birds. She wants me to come visit but I'm terrified that if I visit I might be able to bring them home and I will put my birds at risk. On top of that I have a big cage that I brought part of it home but need to get the rest for my U2 that she is giving me. Along with a Pied Dove. Should I stay away till treatment is done and what do I do about the remaining part of the cage and the Pied Dove I'm suppose to get?

I am by no means knowledgable about these things, but my guess would be you'd have to treat your other birds too if you bought home infected cages/birds? If it were me, I'd stay away just to be sure, but that's because I really don't know!!!

For me, I stay away as well for the sake of my birds....If you take the cage, wear plastic gloves and don't sit anywhere or lean against anything. Don't forget to bring a bottle of sanitizer with you of fresh bleach and spray every single crevice on the cage. Let it sit for a few minute then spray again, let it sit again then rinse everything with a hose really good. Then haul it home but leave the dove unless your willing to treat the dove yourself. IF you do bring the dove home, keep it as far away from your other birds as possible and sit the cage on top of plastic liner and surround it with sticky traps just in case. The choice is yours!

There are several treatments for the ridding of bird mites, though most suggest/require removing cages from the home, thorough cleaning & treatment outside, before bringing back into the house. While there are numerous sprays available online, from veterinarians & pet stores, the only thing I have ever used was Sevin dust, rubbing the powder into my bird's feathers and not letting them bathe for several days.....

I did 3 treatments of 3 day durations, where I removed everything from the cages, vacuumed the cages, being especially diligent of corners & under edges, washed toys & perches in hot soapy water & let everything hang in the sun to dry. Three days later I did it all over again and again three days after that.....before putting toys & perches back in the cages, I dusted the cage floors with Sevin Dust, laid fresh newspapers under the floor grate & re-dusted on top of the papers.....

Unlike fleas, mites crawl to their next meal, but when I cleaned & treated the birds & cages, I vacuumed the room's carpeting & re-dusted with Sevin Dust.....when dusting your birds, they should be completely dry.....

Ten days later I couldn't find any sign of mites.....

You can contract with a pest control company, but you still have to clean your own bird cages, perches & toys, so, while doing that, why not just spend the extra $12-$15 for Sevin Dust, instead of a $65-$150 pest control treatment.....

Here's some information on bird mites from the University of Minnesota & a couple of government agencies in Australia:

BIRD AND RODENT MITES IN HOMES

http://www.health.sa.gov.au/pehs/PDF-files/ph-factsheet-bird-mites.pdf

Bird Mites

In answer to your question, I'm not really sure I would wait for my visit, because, unlike fleas, which are active all the time, mites are normally nocturnal pests and don't venture far from the feeding station (bird's blood source) and since the weather pretty much guarantees you're not going to be wearing one of your furs, I doubt any mites would look to you for a taxi ride to visit your birds.....now, I probably wouldn't get in the cage with your friend's birds...arms/wings length is probably OK, while visiting, but aside from just being a pain in the butt, you're not dealing with cholera or typhoid.....

Good luck.....

Thank you guys. I just didn't know if I should wait to visit once everything has been cleared for her. I didn't know if I went if they would hitch a ride on me somewhere and be brought home to my birds.