Black Bugs

[ryusmum]

I have been noticing small black bugs at the bottom of the cage when I have been changing the paper over the last month or so. I have not seen my GCC scratching and I looked up mites and it does not seem to be that, plus he just went to the vet last month and they did an exam. Anyone have any idea what these little bugs are ?

They are about the size of a flea and do not fly and do not jump. Kinda look like specs of pepper. Help !

 

[Flboy]

They most likely are from the food! You should be storing it in the freezer!
Common Stored Product Pests - United Exterminating Company - Cherry Hill, NJ

That link is ONLY for identification! You must not use any insecticide! They are easy to eliminate, as said freeze all the seeds and pellets! Everything else in Ziploc bags.

 

[ryusmum]

They most likely are from the food! You should be storing it in the freezer!
Common Stored Product Pests - United Exterminating Company - Cherry Hill, NJ

That link is ONLY for identification! You must not use any insecticide! They are easy to eliminate, as said freeze all the seeds and pellets! Everything else in Ziploc bags.

I have not used any insecticide. I only cleaned the cage with vinegar and water solution and i wiped off all the toys. I feed the bird pellets and fresh food. But I do not see any of these bugs IN the food... only on the bottom of the cage among the food when I go to clean the newspaper.

 

[ryusmum]

They most likely are from the food! You should be storing it in the freezer!
Common Stored Product Pests - United Exterminating Company - Cherry Hill, NJ

That link is ONLY for identification! You must not use any insecticide! They are easy to eliminate, as said freeze all the seeds and pellets! Everything else in Ziploc bags.

I have not used any insecticide. I only cleaned the cage with vinegar and water solution and i wiped off all the toys. I feed the bird pellets and fresh food. But I do not see any of these bugs IN the food... only on the bottom of the cage among the food when I go to clean the newspaper. I also saw that link you provided and none of the bugs on there look like the ones I see and the descriptions do not fit.

 

[BoomBoom]

Are you able to dab some onto a paper towel, put in zip lock bag and bring to the vet for inspection? Supplemented by a really good photo and video perhaps? Could it be bird mites? According to the internet, those would be accompanied by dark red specs on the cage floor and perches (blood). Bird would also be itching and could at the early stages exhibit skin abnormalities. Could it be plant mites? Some look very tiny, black and spec-ish.

 

[ryusmum]

the bird has not been itching at all. they are just black and i have squished them and there is no redness .

 

[Flboy]

Give this a shot.
California Beetles

 

[Kiwibird]

Guessing they are some kind of carpet or cereal beetles. Likely coming from the food and likely not harmful to your bird (pesticides or traps to get rid of them ARE harmful to birds though).

Any chance of getting photos of them?

 

[ryusmum]

@kiwibird @flyboy Thanks for the link . These bugs are literally as small as this "," so I cannot determine from the pictures if it matched any of the links. I do know that they are not only out at night because I saw them in the morning. I first noticed them right after I returned from a trip (had the parrot with me) up to a ranch and they had chickens so I was worried it was a chicken mite but then the bird is not itching more than usual, is sleeping fine and they are not reddish to squish. They also seem to be down where the food is, not on the parrot. I am so annoyed by this. Ryu had an infection last month and I took him to the vet and paid a few hundred to get him cured so I am not looking forward to the idea of having to fork over more money to find out what these bugs are... I just want them GONE !
I cleaned the cage as much as I could last night. I live in an apartment and its a huge/heavy cage so I cannot take it outside for a power-wash as was suggested to me. I sprayed in every crack I could see with vinegar/water solution. Is there anything else I can do ???

 

[Kiwibird]

Do you have a steam cleaner? Steam would definitely kill them and is a great way to clean cages when you don't have access to a pressure washer. If not, I'd use straight cleaning vinegar on the cage (which has a higher acidity than regular white vinegar) then clean again with water. Be super thorough. Cleaning vinegar can be found in the laundry soap aisle of the grocery store with other cleaning products.

 

[ryusmum]

Do you have a steam cleaner? Steam would definitely kill them and is a great way to clean cages when you don't have access to a pressure washer. If not, I'd use straight cleaning vinegar on the cage (which has a higher acidity than regular white vinegar) then clean again with water. Be super thorough. Cleaning vinegar can be found in the laundry soap aisle of the grocery store with other cleaning products.

Would one of those hand held steaming devices work ? I do not have a large steam cleaner but I could barrow a hand held one from my coworker.

 

[Kiwibird]

Is the handheld steamer intended for cleaning or de-wrinkling clothing? I do not believe the ones used for clothes get hot enough/have enough pressure to disinfect like a unit made for cleaning would.

I also should add, if you use straight vinegar on the cage, plan to do soon a day your bird can be away from the cage for a few hours. Clean with water thoroughly after applying the undiluted vinegar and allow the cage to dry completely before putting your bird back in. You can also disinfect toys and perches in the dishwasher (no soap!) or with boiling water.

 

[Notdumasilook]

Most effective and safe product I suggest to get rid of pest in a cage is 91% alcohol in a spray bottle. Remove water and food of course (and the bird).. spray the nasty lil critters and it usually kills them by dehydrating them. 91% alcohol evaporates really quick and leaves no toxic residue. I share to opinion of others here.. your critters are in the seed.. probably kind of a lil weevil.. I have seen them before. The larvae are inside the seeds themselves and when mature they come out.

 

[Flboy]

Most effective and safe product I suggest to get rid of pest in a cage is 91% alcohol in a spray bottle. Remove water and food of course (and the bird).. spray the nasty lil critters and it usually kills them by dehydrating them. 91% alcohol evaporates really quick and leaves no toxic residue. I share to opinion of others here.. your critters are in the seed.. probably kind of a lil weevil.. I have seen them before. The larvae are inside the seeds themselves and when mature they come out.

Yep, if the food is any good, it has bugs!

 

[Kentuckienne]

If you can put a grate in the bottom of the cage, you can put some sticky insect traps under it where the bird can't touch it. You can get them at the hardware store or I order them in bulk from Amazon. They are made to either fold up in a triangle or rectangle, with the sticky part inside, or lay flat sticky side up. Any bug that walks on them will stick at once. Sadly, this includes skinks, I found one too late in the basement. We live in the woods and wood roaches come in from outside, so I started putting these by all the doors and hidey places and really seems to keep the numbers down. Not toxic at all. Once you have some stuck, maybe get a photo or find a magnifying glass to examine and photograph if you can. Don't touch the sticky stuff! It's way the h - e - double hockey sticks sticky!

 

[ryusmum]

So these black bugs are not just on the bottom of the cage. They are inside the perches , I found a them inside toys and one was crawling on my bathroom wall so I checked under a basket on my toilet and several were there too! They are black. One of them seemed to have blood inside but I only saw that once. My parrot is not restless at night, not preening more often, not scratching . I think I'm going to take him in tomorrow to the vet to get checked and drop off a sample too but damn, this isn't money I can afford to spend at this time . So annoyed .... and itchy paranoid

 

[Flboy]

You should fairly easy be able to see the difference between a mite and a beetle, even if small! Remember, a mite is a spider and has 8 legs! Both are short lived and fairly easy to control on a DIY basis! Start checking any and all food products that aren't in the refrigerator!

 

[LordTriggs]

Do you have a steam cleaner? Steam would definitely kill them and is a great way to clean cages when you don't have access to a pressure washer.

I should get myself a steam cleaner. Bet it's a really good way to clean floors and surfaces too without using chemicals

 

[Kiwibird]

If you can put a grate in the bottom of the cage, you can put some sticky insect traps under it where the bird can't touch it.

This would never work for us! If Kiwi drops a treat or small toy through the grate, he'll go down, stick his little foot/let through the grate bars and retrieve whatever it was he dropped. Be sure your bird never reaches through the grate if you use a sticky trap in the cage. I couldn't even imagine trying to get a bird unstuck from one of those.

 

[Laylatoo]

I'm curious.....do they look like this? I ask because I had a little wild finch make a nest on our porch light a couple weeks ago and had 5 chicks right before a heat wave. As it got hot the mom and dad bird stayed away from the nest so I was kind of a stand in mom and did a bit of hand feeding and making sure babies didn't die in the heat. Their nest was covered in these mites. I removed the infested nest and hung a basket which worked much better for the little birds who kept falling out of the other nest. As of today the last little bird has flown from the nest. My babies are all grown up. I hope your bug problem gets better!