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is it possible to have a flea infestation in my parrot cage - bird is okay - has the occasional scratch but at night the cage has 'fleas' crawling all over it - cage is regularly cleaned and no foods is left overnight - it is driving me mad -
Optional Information: Type of Animal: indian ring necked parrotGender: maleAge: 4 Already Tried: just regular cleaning
Hi there
OK! This sounds like mites to me rather than fleas.
The red mite (which will appear black before it sucks blood), only lives in the cage/aviary and sucks the birds blood at night, which is when it comes out.
The best way to treat this is with careful use of a delousing powder such as a parrot permithrin dusting powder or 'Harkers louse powder'. Your local pet store should have a mite/louse powder which will kill these night time blood suckers.
Also be sure to clean all perches/corners for any that are living there.
Regards Andrea
I do not think I explained things properly - there are two types of crawling 'insects' in the cage - tiny little dots of things and then the larger reddish/brown things - which I just presumed to be the adult and child - if these are mites as you suspect do I have to delouse my bird
these are definitely red mites(aviary mites)- the smaller ones as you state are the juveniles, and the larger the blood sucking adults, so you do need to delouse your bird with a lose and mite powder from the petstore- if they continue to suck blood the bird will become anaemic.
Experience: bvm&s mrcvs 15 years companion animal practise
sorry to be a nuisance - stupid question - how should I de louse my bird - although he is tame we cannot hold him - so will we have to catch him and just rub some powder onto him
Yes, i'm afraid you will have to catch him! That's best done using a towel to hold him- and then hold the back of his head between your first finger and thumb to stop him biting you! Then get another person to dust some powder under his wings and on his belly area- if you can then quickly turn him over and dust a small amount on his back- try to get the powder to the base of the feathers for best effect.
Good luck!