mites???

[hutcho]

Hi, I kinda feel silly asking this question but im not sure so yeah.

My 10 week old sun conure is constantly scratching his beak/front of his face against the dowels in his cage/whatever he is sitting on at the time and scratches around his head a fair bit, is it mites, new feathers coming through or is he just an itchy conure?? I've only had him a week so I'm not sure whats "normal" for him. We are going to the vets next week for a general health checkup but any suggestions would be helpful.

Also is there any indications of mites in general? (like fleas leave flea dirt, do mites have any "symptoms"?)

Many thanks from Sarah and Jim

 

[weco]

Conures have a tendency to groom their beaks in that fashion and you can do your own check by placing a white sheet of paper in the bottom of the cage, let it stay overnight, then rise before dawn and take a flashlight/torch and check the white sheet of paper, once the lights are turned on, any mites will disappear into the detritus in the bottom of the cage.....

Good luck.....