Beak and eyes , could it be mites ?

[pam]

. My Budgie Joey is just under a year old, and appears to be happy , eating and chirping. However I noticed what I thought was a piece of seed near his eye, but it then appeared on the corner of his other eye and top of his beak. I read on different forums that it could be mites. I rang the vet that I take my dog to, and they said they didn’t deal with birds only to cut their nails, so I asked them if they could recommend anyone, they gave me another vets number and they said they weren’t taking any new patients, and to ring my vet back, I rang my vet and they said they didn’t have any one else who dealt with birds, I was rather annoyed and said what was I too do, they spoke to another vet who suggested “ Xeno® 450 Spot-On Parasite Control-6 Pipettes “ I have now ordered them and should be here in about 5 days. Is there anything I could do in the meantime, and has any one on the forum used these. Joey is a very feisty budgie, he loves talking and listening to me, but heck he has a mean bite …. and doesn’t like been handled, so any tips please.

[tweetiepiesmom]

Oh, poor little guy. Looking at the picture, it might be mites. There are other members who have experience treating mites, so I'll leave it to them to recommend treatments as well as the procedure to clean up the cage and his toys. Do you have another cage you can put him in while you do that? Where do you live - someone may be able to help you find a vet.

[Marianne Marlow]

Yes, it looks just like scaly mites to me.

[skysmum]

Definitely scaly mites, treat with ivermectin 0.1% drops, one drop on the back of the neck once a week for three weeks will do the job.

[pam]

Thank you for all your replies, I feel so guilty, and yet I throughly clean his cage out once a week, and put clean sandpaper every other day. I will have to buy a smaller cage for him while I take his bigger cage to pieces ( just not sure if I can manage to put it back together again) that way I will be able to plunge each part of the cage into water , ( these modern cages are not like the old fashioned cages, that were easy to clean, also take all his toys out and clean those, although as I said they are cleaned weekly. The treatment the vet recommended is Xeno® 450 Spot-On Parasite Control-6 Pipettes, is it the same or similar to what you recommend, this was quite expensive. Poor Joey he is such a happy chappy. Is hot sudsy water all that is required , or do I need so other cleaning aid. ?

[Hezz]

Scales mites for sure as already said. These aren’t like red mites that get into all the crevasses of your perches, toys and cage pieces so a good blast with the hose on full or a hot steam clean should be enough - you shouldn’t need to pull the cage apart. skysmum has given you the best treatment regime but make sure you get the correct concentration - 0.1%, you will need to do all birds if this one is not your only one as they are very contagious and will move on to another once you start treatment if the others are left untreated. See how she looks after the three weeks, you may need to continue treatment for another week or two beyond the three weeks as she is quite badly infested. It may take more than the three doses.

PS Joey appears to be a hen to me, judging by this photo.

[Marianne Marlow]

Hopefully, once treated, Joey will be fine. They usually recover very well from scaly mites if treated early.

[pam]

Oops thought I had replied , my post seems to have disappeared, well have treated Joey four times now , he looks a lot better , although he does still have a few marks on his beak. The blue above his beak is showing though now, should I give him one more treatment? He really is a lovely little man, now wolf whistling and saying all sorts of things . Thank you all so much for your help. Pam 

[Loz]

I'm so pleased Joey is feeling better.

I don't think a fifth treatment will do any harm but perhaps someone with experience of treating mites can advise?

[Marianne Marlow]

I'm not sure about more treatment. What does the packet suggest? (I'm not familiar with "Xeno® 450 Spot-On Parasite Control-6 Pipettes"

You can rub a teeny tiny dab of vaseline on just the beak (making sure not to get it in the birds cere or nares (nose or nostrils) )

Joey looks much much better though

[Hezz]

More treatments should not be necessary; the mites should be all dead by now but the tunnels where they were living will still be there, I feel sure these are what you can see on his beak. These will grow out over time.