Mites and feather care

[Sandy19]

I saw two products at the pet store, one was for mite and lice prevention and the other was a feather conditioner/ bird bath spray. Are either of these necessary? So far Peanut has only taken a bath in her water bowl and her feathers are nice and healthy and I don't know where she would pick up mites or lice from unless my daughter brings them home from school lol.

Does anyone bathe their birds with special products like that? I thought just plain water was good enough.

 

[Teddscau]

Those products aren't necessary. The only way for her to get lice or mites is to come in contact with a bird with mites. For bathing, just give her a glass pie plate with some water in it to bathe in. Or a large stainless steel macaw dish with water in it. Or, using a clean spray bottle that has only ever had water in it, you can mist Peanut.

The only time I'd consider using something besides plain water would be if Peanut is having issues with itchiness or dry skin or the like. In that case, you can make some chamomile tea, let it come to room temperature, then mist her with it. Also, if she were to contract mites or lice, I'd take her to an avian vet to pick up some Invermectin or whatever.

Also, use cool water for bathing. Not warm. Not room temperature. You want cool water. Also, I just read the first thread you posted on here. While selling unweaned babies isn't exactly illegal, you should definitely try to organize some sort of boycott or awareness campaign. Even experienced breeders can end up killing a baby due to a simple mistake.

 

[Sandy19]

Yeah I wasn't too concerned about the mite and lice spray since she's not outside with other birds or anything, but I did wonder about the bird bath spray and if its claims that it is veterinarian recommended was a bunch of crap or not.

I don't know this for sure, but there is another pet store I go to that has a weaned Senegal for sale. They can't get rid of it because he's very shy and will only go to the owners of the store. Peanut is the exact same way, she has no use for strangers. I was thinking that maybe since Senegals tend to be people shy that they try to sell them as babies instead of getting stuck with an older bird no one wants. Of course no one is going to want to take a bird that flies away or even worse bites them.

 

[Teddscau]

That's the thing with pet stores. You're not going to get a well adjusted animal from one of those places. Each animal needs to be properly socialized with humans, conspecifics, and other species. They need to be exposed to different sounds, smells, objects, and situations. Pet shops can't do that. The animals at these places are exposed to hundreds of different humans and animals in an uncontrolled setting. This might be okay for puppies or kittens, but birds just can't handle that sort of thing.

I definitely think you might be onto something with the rationale behind selling baby birds.