Do you know of a natural mite repellant?

[tigger_na]

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

[birdhouse]

Hi & Welcome Arthur. W/wild birds pairs will often groom each other in addition to personal grooming. Many birds like to bathe, even in mud puddles. They're also forced to bath whenever it rains or even when it mists. The foliage they're moving thru is wet & helps keep them clean to a degree. That's why my grandmother always gave the keets & canaries wet parsley.

 

However, many species live in regions where dry spells may last months or years. Water becomes a scarce & dangerous commodity. So birds also evolved to take dust baths to help control the naturally occurring oils & "visitors" in their plumage.

 

I don't actually know anything about this product. But it would appear to be based on that premise & *looks* to be a possible natural remedy. You might investigate it or something else like it. You might also consider creating your own dust bath.

 

https://ladygouldian.com/Dyna-Mite-Spray

 

There may be a few reasons for a healthy fid to fall of their perch. One could be referred to as night frights. Either they over react to something like a sound or perhaps a maybe nightmare. Obviously, birds need to be able to stay locked onto their perching even while they sleep. But sometimes whatever disturbs them allows the muscle "lock" to release.

 

Or the perching may just not suit the fid all that well. Either way, the easy way to help w/the problem is to change the perching. Natural branches w/smaller, curvier holds & lots of them let the talons hold on better & help to cradle them against a fall.

 

You could create a roosting area, higher up in your bird's cage. Either overload it to some degree w/branches like I just described, or install an actual platform type arrangement, according to your bird's preference.

 

The forum doesn't seem to have many birds who are for the most part free ranging. It would be very interesting to hear more about you & your fid. It might help generate some more ideas about how to answer your questions as well.

[Luvparrots]

Hello Arthur. It would certainly be nice to hear more about your "free range" grey. Where are you living, in the USA or other country? Pictures would be great. If you have any with your grey out in her tree, I would love to see them.

 

My CAG falls sometimes at night. He is a clumsy guy and he is 3 years old. I have had him since he was 5 months old and falling at night is something he does occasionally. I use to run and see if he is all right, but now I just listen to hear him climb back up his cage. If he is not complaining I go back to sleep. Sterling Gris is a scaredy cat, always has been.

 

Looking forward to hearing more about your free range grey. Welcome to the Grey family.

[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.