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Thread: Feather Mites?

 
  1. #1
    Junior Member
    hiriki's Avatar


    Feather Mites?

    Hello!

    I feel like a fool, because my cockatiel, Kibble, started plucking about... a year ago? Maybe. Around when I got her a new cage, which may actually be related as I suppose I didn't sanitize it like I should and I bought it used. I thought it was because she was stressed from going to the cage I adopted her in which she'd lived in for ~6 years (too small for a budgie even) to suddenly a small bird flight cage (it was intended to be a flight cage for budgies, definitely not a flight cage for a bird her size but still pretty large!) She never stopped, which I thought was... I mean, unfortunate obviously, but I thought it was kind of normal, because once they start it's hard to stop sort of thing.

    Anyway, the reason I feel like a fool is because now it's spreading--she has a bald spot on TOP of her wing now--and when I googled it, the areas she started with (vent, chest/stomach, and under her wings) seem to be notorious mite locations?

    I just ruled mites out because I also have a conure and two doves, the doves she has very little physical interaction with since they get separate flight time but their cage is right next to hers. The conure she won't cuddle with, but they definitely play. I figured if Kibble had mites, my other feather babies would certainly have mites too... and now it's been probably over a year, I guess I haven't been paying too much attention to time passed, but it's been a long time and none of my other birds show any signs of mites?

    I mean, I guess probably the answer will be "treat them all for mites" one way or the other, just in case, but honestly right now I'm flat broke. I lost my job recently, and while I have a little bit left before my Care credit card hits its limit, I really don't have the funds for a ton of vet visits. And I absolutely already know over the counter mite treatments are not OK.

    Like, this post is getting long but I have no clue what to do at this point. If this IS mites, which I thought wasn't really possible (foolish!), then is the appearance of a new bald spot on TOP of the wing indication that the infestation might be really bad now? If so, I have no choice but to go to the vet! Or is the weird location more an indication that it's probably stress plucking? Ugh, even if it is probably stress plucking, should I probably treat everyone for mites anyway? Also--I do have mammal pets too (2 cats and 2 rats), do they need to be treated for mites as well, just to be thorough? Like, oh my god, this is just really pretty sucky, but I want to make sure Kibble is healthy!

    For now, as I finish up this post I plan to break down Kibble's cage and give it a bleach soak. My other bird cages don't break down but I'm going to disinfect them as thoroughly as I can as well including perches/toys/accessories... Basically, advice on how urgent a vet appointment is, as well as what I should go into the appointment expecting (just a skin check, or other things as well etc), and what I should expect to be prescribed for treatment... all of that would be appreciated. Things I can do with the environment once I'm done disinfecting would be nice.
    Last edited by hiriki; 08-06-2017 at 07:02 PM.

  2. #2
    Super Moderator
    Dragonlady2's Avatar


    Parrots

    Willy-Eclectus, Oliver-alexandrine, Mookie-Senegal, Bella- Australian King, Joey and Peewee- Barrabands, Peachiegirl-Peachfront conure, Pepper- crimson belly conure, Peanut-plum head, Babyblue-parrotlette, Harry and Louie-canaries.
    Welcome to Precisely Parrots, Luka!
    So sorry to hear about your cockatiel. Are you able to post some pictures of her?
    With regard to the mites. It would be best for a vet to see her, but in the absence of that, I will ask some questions and give a few suggestions.
    What is her diet? Do you see any blood on her?
    Were the doves ever kept outside?
    Can you handle her i.e., touch her on her wings and belly?
    I would not use bleach in the cage. Unless you are sure that you can get all of the residue off, she might ingest some inadvertently.
    There is a product you can purchase that is not too expensive called diatomaceous earth- human/food grade. It cannot be pool grade, it must be food grade. It will usually tell you that on the package.
    It's a powder and it kills mites, insects etc. You need to make sure that it doesn't get into the eyes of the birds and that they don't inhale it. By that I mean, do not make a cloud of it so that it is in the air. It works best in a bottle that has a nozzle on it so that you can "squirt" it.
    If you don't have that, try a nylon stocking/knee high and put some of the powder in it and use it like a powder puff.
    Put some of this powder in the bottom drawer of the cage. If you can handle the birds, lightly powder under their wings, vent area and back.
    This stuff is not poisonous. It dries out the insects, that is why you need to keep it away from their eyes. The birds can ingest it. You can use it on your other animals. I use it on my cats and dog for flea control and I feed it to them for worm control.
    There may be some other things you can try, but it would be helpful to know what she is eating and to see some pics.
    Last edited by Dragonlady2; 08-06-2017 at 07:24 PM.

  3. The following 3 users like this post:

    Lady (08-06-2017), luckyandjenn (08-06-2017), plax (08-06-2017)

  4. #3
    Super Moderator
    Lady's Avatar


    Parrots

    Illiger Macaw (Primolius maracana)
    Hello Luka,

    Welcome to PP.

    I'm glad you decided to ask for help for Kibble. It may seem late but as they say better late than never. I have an article that you may be interested in reading that I will link, but I have to agree with Helena, there are more questions than answers that would be good to know as we are not veterinarians and can only try to help from what we may have experienced or read. Meanwhile take a look at this article from Wiki How: http://www.wikihow.com/Tell-if-Your-Bird-Has-Mites Hope it helps.

  5. The following 2 users like this post:

    Dragonlady2 (08-06-2017), plax (08-06-2017)

  6. #4
    Junior Member
    hiriki's Avatar


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    I'm a bit restricted at the moment for photos, since I'm at home alone at the moment. She's totally comfortable with me, but of course no bird likes you manhandling her wings for a photoshoot, haha. Not quite enough hands. I do think I got a decent picture of her newest bald spot, though, which is on top of her wing. There has never been any blood that I could tell, but she does... really go at it sometimes? Like, she'll be perched for the evening and everything is quiet, and then suddenly she starts screeching while preening. She pauses if I whistle at her to sing with me but then goes right back to it, and it's obvious it hurts. That's usually under the wing, though, and I didn't get a picture of that of course. There's no scabs.

    I actually did do a quick search before bleaching, since I wanted to do perches as well. I have poop-off and cage cleaner which is usually what I use for perches but I want to be more thorough and do a hot water soak but absolutely, I didn't think it would be a good idea to soak bleach into perches... my google search confirmed that and also discouraged cage cleaning with bleach... Lol. What about maybe vinegar? I actually ordered F10 for cage cleaning but of course that will take a few days... I guess it just has to wait.

    As for diet and other info like that, my conure and my cockatiel are on seed diets since they're rescues and I just can't for the life of me seem to transition them. They're totally uninterested in Harrison's. However, they also get daily smoothie which has Harrison's mixed in, even the cockatiel eats that and she's picky as all hell! She seems to be eating normally, and her poops appear to be normal, but there are more feathers than I'd expect at the bottom of her cage. She just molted, but she may be molting again, my lights are on a timer and when I was employed she was getting regular lighting but now that I'm home in the evenings instead of out working she has way more light. I know that messes with their molting cycle. I did check the feather bases for holes and stuff after googling mites and I don't see any but I don't really know what to look for...

    As for the doves, my instinct/gut answer is no, they're ringnecks and as far as I know they've always been kept as indoor pets. However, both of them are rescues and I have no clue how old they are, or what kind of life they had prior to coming into my home, so... it really is possible they might have been kept outside. One of them I got recently, and since I was introducing her into a shared cage I had a really thorough vet check done, I know she didn't have mites when I brought her in but I guess if there's mites IN my home she might have them now, lol...

    OH--I realize I'm kind of being a chatterbox, but I just remembered, recently I made the mistake of getting Kibble a nest box to hide out in and of course, she laid eggs, seems like such a stupid idiot thing to do in hindsight LOL but she enjoyed herself. Anyway, I do have a pic of her being hormonal in her nest box where she fanned her feathers out really nice and you can see some bald spots from the plucking.

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  7. #5
    Super Moderator
    Dragonlady2's Avatar


    Parrots

    Willy-Eclectus, Oliver-alexandrine, Mookie-Senegal, Bella- Australian King, Joey and Peewee- Barrabands, Peachiegirl-Peachfront conure, Pepper- crimson belly conure, Peanut-plum head, Babyblue-parrotlette, Harry and Louie-canaries.
    It looks like she has a few pin feathers and because there is a nest box, she may be chewing/pulling feathers for it. I would remove the nest box and give her an open nest with her eggs in hopes she won't lay anymore.
    Can you feed her some scrambled egg? What is in her smoothie? Any vegetables and fruit? Try cooking some sweet potato and mash it. She is probably short some calcium. Try a supplement that has calcium and vit D3. She will need the vit D3 to assist with calcium absorption
    Does she bath regularly?

  8. The following 2 users like this post:

    Lady (08-13-2017), plax (08-06-2017)

  9. #6
    Junior Member
    hiriki's Avatar


    The nest box is gone already, as are her eggs. I took them away once she got bored of them and she's not very hormonal anymore.

    Her smoothie is usually 50% spinach or kale or other dark greens, depending on what I have lying around, some kind of fruit (usually peaches, mango or strawberries), banana, some kind of vegetable (usually broccoli or carrot), and then a cup or so of Harrison's. I blend it all and then freeze it in little ice cube tray portions to be thawed and given to them daily. I do have a calcium supplement, since one of my doves was just diagnosed with a pretty serious deficiency, do you think it would be OK to syringe feed her some of that without having a dosage given to me by a professional? I don't want to give her too much, if that's possible.

    She HATES being asked to bathe, she's my only bird who doesn't like being spritzed, and she very rarely bathes on her own. She's definitely dusty. I'm not sure how to encourage bathing though since she just really obviously doesn't appreciate it when I try ...

  10. The following user likes this post:

    Dragonlady2 (08-06-2017)

  11. #7
    Super Moderator
    Dragonlady2's Avatar


    Parrots

    Willy-Eclectus, Oliver-alexandrine, Mookie-Senegal, Bella- Australian King, Joey and Peewee- Barrabands, Peachiegirl-Peachfront conure, Pepper- crimson belly conure, Peanut-plum head, Babyblue-parrotlette, Harry and Louie-canaries.
    Spinach blocks calcium absorption. Try romaine, as a substitute. Broccoli is good for a calcium source as well as almonds. Can you call whomever diagnosed your dove to ask about dosage for the tiel?
    She probably needs a bath. I got my Ekkie used to it by not spraying his face. I only did a few sprays the first time which I immediately rewarded with a treat. Now he will spread his wings and gets a good soaking. She probably has dry skin and she needs the baths. Another way is to bring her to the sink and let her sit on your hand to see if she will go under the running water. My conure hates getting sprayed, but if I take him to the sink, he ducks himself under the running water. You may have to get inventive...lol.

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    Lady (08-13-2017)

  13. #8
    Junior Member
    hiriki's Avatar


    Oh wow does it? My smoothie recipe varies week to week, but now I'll keep that in mind and not use spinach. I don't actually remember exactly which greens I used in my current smoothie so I might whip up a new one tonight..

    I will be calling her tomorrow I think, she'll probably be amenable to giving me a dosage for Kibble, I think honestly I'm going to bite the bullet and do an appointment so I'm sure it'll be easy enough once they get her weight. I have just enough cash assuming whatever she prescribes isn't super pricey, and anyway when you have as many pets as I do you'd better be willing to go without fun-money during tight spots, lol. I'll probably buy the mite dust stuff that was mentioned on top of whatever mite treatment she might give me, just so that I don't have to get prescription mite meds for ALL of my pets... that way I can treat the whole household without selling my kidney.

    Getting Kibble to bathe was like at the top of my to-do list when I adopted her... and I still haven't done it! Lol. I got her from a friend who couldn't care from her anymore, according to my friend she'd never had a bath before and her cage was basically a budgie cage, the water and food dishes were super tiny. Too small for her to take a dip there even. The rest of my birds see water and immediately sit in it but Kibble only flops around in her water when the planets align on the third Tuesday of an even-numbered month, basically. I'll get her damp today though if it's the last thing I do .

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    Dragonlady2 (08-06-2017)

  15. #9
    Senior Member
    Macaw Lover's Avatar


    Many, many, too many years ago, I had canaries when I was growing up and what I learned back then was to put a white sheet over the cage and check for tiny red spots (they had a meal of blood remember) in the morning. Also, check the ends of the perches where they would fit in the bars, mites would hide there also.

    What I have learned since, is it is not often that birds will actually have mites but back then it was the thing to 'buy', the mite powder from Hartz, saw it on the shelves all over. We have since learned a lot over the years, such as round cages are really not good for any bird to live in but back then, those too were all over.

  16. The following 3 users like this post:

    Dragonlady2 (08-07-2017), Lady (08-13-2017), plax (08-07-2017)

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