Bugs on Playpen and in Bird Food?

[meltedrose]

So today I noticed when I was prepping my GCC's playpen/gym that there were a bunch of little tiny light brown baby ant looking bugs, and they scattered into the seams of his playpen. Also, I had forgotten the night earlier to clean up his bird food so when I was doing that today there were a bunch of small black or dark brown bugs all over it, that some say could be weevils? I checked both his pellet and seed containers, but there seems to be nothing in there moving around or anything. What are these bugs and what do I do?

 

[Mimsy01]

Are they ants? We have had a sugar ant issue this year ourselves. They go for the animal foods. I clean everything with vinegar, hoping to get all their pheromone trails and block any cracks in the walls and cupboards I can see with Diatomaceous earth. I also added a little cinnamon and cayenne pepper to the bird pellets and seeds, which seems to turn off ants. This year, has been bad I'll see some, do the things I listed, then in a few weeks I'll see a few and have to do it again.

We did put some of the outdoor ant baits under the house as well this year. We have a very large old tree in our yard that is absolutely covered in them. YUCK

 

[meltedrose]

I believe they are ants. They look like tiny little light brown baby ants. They are just hiding in his playgym, in the cracks and seams where the frame connects to the bottom. I hate this playgym too, it's cheap crappy wood. I think those other bugs are weevils, cause from the pictures I saw, they looked almost completely alike. This has happened the a couple time before when I ordered food from amazon. It makes me sooo mad! From now on I'm just ordering directly from the manufacturers's. I will have to try scrubbing everything with vinegar then if it helps. I will try everything you suggested and hope that it helps. We live next to a couple big old trees, so we get a lot of bugs in the house, it's annoying.

 

[Mimsy01]

As far as bugs in the bird food-I've had that happen from any place on occasion. I've take n to freezing the food for a few days after getting it and that eliminated finding bugs in the bird food. For some reason it's always the nutriberries that got me with the moth larva.

How big is the playgym? If it's small put it in the freezer. If it's larger I'd stick it in the tub and spray it down with natures miracle, which seems to kill ants on contact. Let it it sit for awhile and then spray it all off with the shower head and let dry completely.

Good luck. I hate bugs!

 

[meltedrose]

Thank you, I am trying everything you suggested, I mixed in the cinnamon and cayenne pepper in his food, though I'm sure it's still infested with bugs, I scrubbed his playpen and the whole area around it with vinegar. I'm going to look into Nature's Miracle, and hopefully soon all the bugs will be taken care of. Thank you for your help

 

[Newbsi]

ants do not usually scatter. that sounds more like roaches. Maybe a picture?
I have had the fruit flies or gnats that keep showing up around the grass mats.

 

[meltedrose]

Ok I'm going to try to get the picture to show up. The ant-like thing is super tiny.

 

[Sunshyn7529]

That looks like an ant to me. We also buy Sevin dust; we put that outside. Nothing inside of course...well, vinegar, and Nature's Miracle. But that's all...the Sevin dust outside allows us to keep a "ring" around the base of our house, and a light dusting under the crawl space, which keeps a lot of the bugs out....still allows our birds a safe environment. I haven't used Diatomaceous earth yet, but that's next on my list. We also keep all food and treats in the freezer. Our conures came with seed; we immediately bought pellets, but even still, for the first week as we were weaning off seed onto pellets, we had moths everywhere! lol...I learned quickly.

 

[Solo]

Diatomaceous Earth is AMAZING!!! I highly recommend. Get the food grade and small amounts can be mixed in with the food. Prevents bugs in the food, its safe for the birds to ingest and will actually kill any parasites your bird might have.

 

[meltedrose]

I ran out to quickly buy him a temp playpen until I can actually afford to get him a decent one. I was thinking acrylic since it's less likely to get infested with anything. Anywho, so I put a little bit of seed on his new playpen for him to snack on, and some hours later I find some more of those little baby ant like creatures! So I don't know if they're on my desk where his playpen is, or if they're in the seed that I'm giving him, but I got rid of the desk, and changed to a new one, put all the food in the freezer after putting cayenne and some cinnamon in it, I have no idea where to buy diatomaceous earth and I am so effin pissed off right now. I have no idea where the little buggers came from or how to get rid of them, I just want everything to go away and be normal again lol.

 

[Solo]

Lmfao. You can order DE online. I've been dealing with roaches since April when I got Phoebe. They dwindle in numbers.. Then the next batch or eggs hatches. Think I've finally got them nipped in the butt.

 

[Skittys_Daddy]

When I used to feed my birds pet store seeds, I would often find moths come out of the container. Which apparently was not uncommon. They told me to store it in the freezer for a few days and that should kill the eggs.

The thing with bugs and birds is you can't just spray the bugs with insect spray - not with birds around. So you have to get creative.

 

[Kyoto]

I have silverfish in my house, and they have been a total pain to get rid of. They come out at night and search for the food Kyo drops. I sweep and vacuum constantly but it doesn't seem to help.

I feel your pain!!

 

[meltedrose]

Bugs make me so mad. I hate them. I hate dealing with them with Caspian. Ever since we moved into this new place there have been bugs galore. The landlord says "bugs are your problem" now I know why, this place is being held together by all the bugs! Doesn't help there are two really big trees next to this place. I have never had such a problem like this before. Now that I know that some of the bugs I'm dealing with are weevils, and those other ant things now, I'm going to have to invest in so many things to kill them off. I was wondering if any store would carry the food grade type diatomaceous earth? If not then I'll just have to find it online. I'm willing to try anything to kill off the little buggers without hurting Caspian. I also found that some dryer sheets pasted around the areas I've seen a lot of the bugs crawl in help. I guess they hate the scent? Thanks Gain Well I haven't seen any ant boogers yet, so maybe they did make a home in my old desk? Guess we'll see.

 

[Flboy]

Lowes carries food grade DE. You can get really good stuff at Do It Yourself Pest Control Products & Supplies | Do My Own Pest Control Sugar ants are also called pharaoh ants.

 

[meltedrose]

I'm going to have to look into that then. The ants seem to have been living in my desk. We took it apart and there was a bunch plus one that looked like it was growing wings. Also an odd spider-looking-ish thing. So we decided to burn that desk xD I don't see any more weevils, so I don't know if they're in the food and not coming out yet, or what, but I'll continue to keep his food in the freezer and when I can I'll go to Lowe's and try to find some DE there. Food grade hopefully. Is there anything I can spread, sprinkle or spray around all the bird area and stuff that is safe for him but will deter or kill any bugs besides the Nature's Miracle and DE?

 

[Skittys_Daddy]

@meltedrose I don't think you are alone about not liking bugs. Even though they all serve a purpose - one of those is not supposed to be annoying humans.