Mite treatment with ivomec- confused!

[marleen4]

My budgies have an infestation of what I assume to be red mite; a small creature that bites birds to suck blood, and also crawls on my arms in great numbers when I look in the nest box, yuck!

I treated the birds and babies (six in a nest box) with Ivomec last week. I noticed that the lid of the nest box is crawling with the creatures again, less than a week after treatment.

I read in the below article that treatment should be repeated in 2 days; a previous thread on this forum stated once a week for 3 weeks, and the shop selling the ivomec said that it's toxic and not to repeat within 3-4 weeks!!!

Big differences... the mites were treated last year, but obviously resurfaced this year, and I'd really like to get a handle on them. The aviaries are not easy to disinfect due to size and material used, so repeated treatment of the birds may be the only viable option. I'm also going to burn the nest boxes. OH will have to make new ones for next year!!!

Any suggestions (on frequency) welcome!



Ivomec: Eprinex (Eprinomectin) cattle formulation This product must also be diluted with propylene glycol before use 1ml - 10ml of ivomec or 0.15ml/100g of body weight. This is an effective treatment for airsac mite and scaly mite. This type of wormer is good for small birds up to the size of budgies, but in my experiences did not work well on larger birds, but opinions differ. 1 drop on the back of the neck for finches and canaries 2 drops on the back of the neck for budgies repeat dose for 2 days then repeat dose again 10-14 days from first treatment. For air sac mite the treatment is the same 1 to 2 drops on the back of the neck dose on every second day until the breathing is clear continue for 2 days after the breathing is back to normal. For scaly mite paint on effected area every second day the in between days paint the infected area with paraffin oil until the mite has gone. This may take up to a week or so.

[Hezz]

I am not sure where my info came from, marleen4 but I do remember reading that ivermectin is one of the safest treatments you can use and it is almost impossible to overdose with ...... sounding like you would nearly have to drown the poor birds in the stuff before it was a hazard to their health. I know it was an Australian site .... that is about all.

But wouldn't you have to treat the nest-boxes themselves? As well? Marleen, I am going to send you a PM.

[marleen4]

I will treat the boxes also, now that I know how to do so safely... I hope it will work!

[marleen4]

I've treated the babies with ivomec again (a week after first treatment), and the nest box with a diluted product for parasites in dogs, recommended for this purpose. The mites are in great numbers and continued to crawl around, in spite of the poison. I hope they will get the message eventually - I'll check again tonight...

The babies are a mixture of spangle and one albino (or lutino?)- very beautiful and I hope they will survive the onslaught of both chemicals and mite! Hard to know what is the right thing to do. I'll keep the forum posted!

[marleen4]

Half a day later and there are less mites than this morning, but a good lot of them have survived. I'll go through this again in a few days... poor babies.

[Hezz]

The babies sound delightful, Marleen. I hope you are able to put a stop to the mites, though.

[geordiemols]

Marleen,

I use diatomaceous earth in the nest boxes before breeding, I believe they use it on poultry and is safe for budgies.

Hope this helps.

You can get it on ebay or amazon but I got mine from a agricultural suppliers.

[marleen4]

Thank you, I will certainly give this a try! May work well as a preventor when the next breeding season starts again. For now I have to get the current epidemic under control. This morning (after 2 days) I again treated the babies with Ivomec (not quite bathed them in it...) and again sprayed the nest box, inside, outside and around the area. Thankfully the other birds are no longer breeding and this is the last nest for the season, which will make it a bit easier. The adult birds I'll have to treat again in a couple of weeks of so. I hope it will work!

[marleen4]

I seem to have gotten on top of the problem by repeatedly treating the babies with ivomec and spraying the nestbox with diluted dog parasite repellent every 2 days. I also treated the adults again before the babies flew out. Two of them have left the nest box over the last couple of days and they are absolutely gorgeous! George and his lady have done a magnificent job. I now know to be aggressive when treating mites as the only way to get rid of them. If not, babies become anemic and may die, not a great alternative!

[Hezz]

Good stuff! Is there any way you can soak the nestboxes in the stuff for next years' clutches, so you can be as sure as possible that they haven't survived the off season??? Alternatively, start treating the boxes periodically a couple of months out before putting them back into the aviary??

[marleen4]

I thought to cover the boxes in flea powder before storing them, or perhaps burning them and starting again. I again saw 2 mites on one of the babies, what a misery!

I'm also planning to treat the birds with ivomec monthly, rather than once every 6 months, until the mites are well and truly gone. Not knowing their life cycle though, I'm not sure this will be effective. It would be good to hear someone else's experiences, or is this problem more common in this part of the world?

I suppose most people have aviaries that can be sterilised. No such luck here, unfortunately.

[Hezz]

I remember Barrie mentioning a type of smoke bomb he used ....... he didn't have to move the birds either ..... this link might do the trick ......

budgerigarsforum.proboards.com/thread/256/detecting-mites-aviary-home
No, it doesn't really, does give instructions for using a fogger and F10, but found another where he says this stuff is good, this is the smoke bomb-type stuff:
Van –Vermine – Ex 11500

I wonder how @corie gets on?? @corie, any tips here?

[Deleted]

greenharvest.com.au/pestcontrol/diatomaceous_earth_prod.html#PD105

Burn the nests and start again use this product in the future and you want have a problem.

Kiaora

[Hezz]

Thanks, mate.

Hope that is of help, marleen4??

[marleen4]

Thanks a lot guys! I've already purchased the diatomaceous for next year from a NZ firm and am well prepared!

Hubby (who is much better at catching the birds) has agreed to catching them monthly for their treatment for the next 2 months or so until winter, and again from spring.

I hope this will be enough.... I'll look into the bomb idea, may replace sterilisation of the aviary.