Pearce Flint budgerigars

Their are many different mites which affect birds.

I will mainly be talking about the standard feather mite.

Let me start by saying, unlike the red mite, feather mites do not suck birds blood.

A feather mite is extremely small, it will look like dirt or dust on a bird.

A feather mite survives off the feathers of a bird, they eat their way through a birds feathers.

They live, breed and eat on the bird, they will not leave the bird unless necessary.

Like red mite, they breed extremely fast, so if left untreated,you will have millions in no time.

Eventually a bird will start losing feathers everywhere, causing immense itching and pain.

Treatment

Their are a few products you can get to get rid of these mites. 

Personally I use Ivermectin spot on, It is very very strong.

Ivermectin spot on is a high quality strong product that will guarantee eradication.

You can get products from a pet shop, like aristo-pet and avian-science lice spray, in my opinion these dont work, their dosage is either to low or they do not have the right ingredients to kill the mites.

Get ivermectin and your birds will love you for it.

Some mites on a birds feathers, pictured below.

Red mite are a blood sucking parasite that feed on the outside of a bird.

Most of the time a red mite will feed on the blood of a budgie at night time.

Red mites will hide in cracks in nest boxes, under the concaves and about any other small place you can think of.

They lay eggs extremely fast and usually hatch into larvae at 2-3 days old.

Red mite breed at a very young age, so if you start with 10 red mite, their will be millions within a week.

This is why it is best to get rid of them asap. 

Red mite are deadly, they suck blood from all birds, and are fatal to all budgies, especially babies.

They are also very irritating.

I have had a few red mite on me when I had a severe red mite case, and they bite like anything.

Within an hour I was so itchy, I had to take a shower.

Red mite are very small, usually 1-3 MM in length, so they are extremely hard to spot on birds.

Treatment

Their are a few very important things you should do if you ever come across a red mite.

Seal every joint possible, all nest box cracks, seal the concave up and seal any holes in the cage.

Their are a few products you can spray the cage with, I use either A.I.L, Coopex or Scatta-7.

Move the birds out of the cages, then Spray the cage thoroughly.

Let the cage sit for a few hours then you can move the birds back into the cage.

I also treat my birds suffering from red mite with a drop of ivermectin spot on to the back of the neck, this will kill any mite, including scaly mites.

Once the red mite are disposed of, you will have happy, healthy birds.

This article was made by me, I did not copy this in any way, shape or form, so I would appreciate if you do not copy it.

A scaly face mite is a mite that burrows into the cere of a budgerigar.

A scaly face mite can also spread to the legs and face of a budgie.

Scaly face mites are about 0.25  Millimeters long, So they are extremely hard to see.

They burrow in to the leg or cere of the budgie, and then reproduce countless times.

They are very irritating to a budgie, causing itchiness and pain.

After an infestation of scaly mites, a birds leg or beak will turn very crusty, and will start to look very scaly.

If your bird has scaly mites, and you do not treat it, it will eventually die a horrible death.

Eventually once the mites take over the budgerigars beak, the beak will then fall off, causing the bird to starve to death. 

The mites are transmitted from bird to bird in the nest box, when feeding another bird and when birds kiss each other

Treatment

Their are plenty of things you can do to treat scaly face mites, it can be easily cured.

If you cannot afford to go to the vet, but your bird has a NON serious infestation, you can apply Vaseline or olive oil to the affected area.

Do this once each day and it will clog the holes where the scaly face burrow into the cere, causing them to suffocate.

Of course if you have ivermectin spot on you would definitely use that over Vaseline.

Only use Vaseline if you cannot get a hold of ivermectin.

In all reality your bird should never get a serious infestation of scaly face mites.

You should intervene before it gets that far.

If however you are ignorant and cannot care for your birds correctly, and your bird gets a serious scaly face infestation, you need to go to an avian vet and purchase Ivermectin spot on.

Once you have this, you apply one drop to the back of the budgies neck. This will kill all scaly mites.

An example of a serious scaly face infestation, no human being should let it get this far.