Help! Bugs!

[Eshana]

My Senegal loves toys that can be shredded, so I love to get him those pinata toys that have the treats in them.

 

On Friday I gave Jon this toy:

 

A few minutes ago I went to check on my birds when I saw these tiny black bugs flying all around his cage. I freaked out and changed the paper (which I had changed this morning) and took the pinata out. The bugs seemed to disappear after I caught the few in his cage and threw out the paper/pinata.

 

Is it possible that this toy had some sort of colony of flying black bugs in it? Is there some sort of treatment I should give Jon in case he ate any?

[birdhouse]

Very possible. Also possible that the bugs just took advantage because they liked something in the toy. I don't think you have to worry that Jon might have eaten any & gotten some added protein in his diet.

 

There was a feed & grain store near me that used to have huge, uncovered bins of bulk bird seed. When I asked how they could leave it out in the wide open like that w/o it getting infested, the owner said they put a couple of bay leaves in w/the seed as bug repellent.

 

I always used to take the leaves out because I just didn't have any way to check if they were ok in those days. But I just did a quick check on my fav toxic plant list & didn't see them listed as a no-no. So, if you don't find any reason not to, you might use some next time you hang one of those, just to be on the safe side.

 

And if you do find that bay leaves are bad for fids, would you mind posting it so the rest of us know, too? Thanks a lot.

[Eshana]

Haha thanks! I'll do some research, but in the meantime I threw out all the pinata toys I bought from that brand. A little paranoia never hurt anyone!