tigger_na

Thank you for the replies. I spent some more time reading around on this forum and have decided that I won't do much in terms of mites before I get Micki to take a regular bath. I can't have a dirty bird. Mites live on dirty birds. Nothing special about the free-range thing. Micki's wings are clipped and she is allowed to pretty much do what she wants during the day. Go inside the house and chew on the furniture, or climb into the tree (it is a say 30 foot high Kafferpruim, an indigenous tree here in Namibia) and chew on the branches, or stay in her cage. Whatever. At night she must be inside, though. This arrangement works very well, 20 out of 21 times. If she is upset for whatever reason she doesn't come down. And if no amount of food coaxes her out, I have to go get her. Since her wings are clipped, falling out of the tree is obviously quite dangerous, but this happens seldom these days. I reason that I would rather have a Grey that can spend time in her natural habitat than one that is always caged.

Dear Forumites My African Grey is plagued by what must be mites or fleas. I cannot see them on the bird, but every now and then I find a flea or some other tiny insect in my bed. They aren't mine, I hope. When Micki rests at night, and especially when it gets dark in the room, she starts to twitch her wings and shakes her tail. I don't think that this is just a habit, as she often doesn't do it for weeks on end, until it starts again. Sometimes in the dark she falls completely off her perch (actually, I don't know if this is what really happens, but all of a sudden there's a huge racket in the cage), I imagine in response to a painful bite. Micki is sort of free-ranging, if you can call what is achievable on those short legs "range". She spends a lot of time in a tree and although she doesn't mix with wild birds, they do come into her day-cage (which is outside) every now and then. External parasites are quite common on our wild birds. Is there any natural mite repellents I can try? I abhor the idea of spraying or dusting Micki with chemicals. And o, Micki doesn't bathe, or only very little. She abhors water. That is obviously also not helping the situation. Best regards Arthur