a few day ago we found red mites on him so we went out and got mite spray a vet had recommended so i had put it on him yesterday he has been sleeping for about 30 minutes he has a medium sized cage with a female and is always open we feed him alot of fruits and vegs and change his fiod and water every other day i do not what is causing him to sleep during the day he gets 12+ hours of sleep everyday
Hi Saba,
Red mites are a very bad parasite, and generally are very hard to see on the bird. It’s always best to have an Avian Vet examine a bird and give a professional diagnosis and prescribe treatment. Most over the counter products are not effective and many can be toxic. It sounds like your canary is not reacting well to the spray you used. If these are in fact red mites, they are a blood sucking parasite. He may have a compromised immune system because of them. The female almost certainly also has these mites. The cage will be infested as well as anywhere the birds have been. You said the cage is always open, so if these birds have been flying around in your home, then your home is infested also.
I would take both birds to an Avian Vet as soon as possible. If the Vet does diagnose red mites, you need to let the Vet treat both birds. If possible, board the birds at the Vet for a few days so you can have your house exterminated. The cage and everything in it, needs to be cleaned and disinfected. You need to ask the vet what to use, or try to find some information online. I would call a professional exterminator to treat your house. While most mites are host-specific – meaning they can only live on one type of host – without the birds to get on, these mites can get on you. I’m not sure how long they can exist with no host around, or if they can bite humans, but you need to look into this and ask a professional exterminator. I would throw away all of their food and anything that can’t be washed and disinfected. As to their care once they return, food & water needs to be changed daily, not every other day. Water can start growing bacteria as soon as you put it in the bowl, so after two days, it can be very contaminated. Water dishes or bottles need to be cleaned every day, and disinfected once a week. If you feed seeds, they leave empty hulls on top of uneaten seeds. Once a layer of hulls form, most birds will not dig below this. They will think they have no more food and actually starve.
Thank you for asking Lafeber,
Brenda
