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Insect bites/stings & Parrots

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Insect bites/stings & Parrots

Postby Brittanyv326 » Fri Jul 30, 2010 8:09 am

So there is a wasp nest outside of my porch, and we've sprayed it a few times, but they just rebuild it. The other day, a wasp ended up inside - where me and Sadie were. I immediately put her in the other room to deal with it, but once another got into my porch the next day, I decided to try to find out what would happen if Sadie got stung by researching. I found that a wasp sting CAN kill a bird. No more porch time for Sadie until we get it cleared up.

I also decided to look up mosquitoes as I live in swamp lands and there are plenty, we have to worry about encephalitis and everything else transmitted by them. There have been local reports of encephalitis, so it's been on my mind. What I've found with birds & mosquitoes is just that we have to fear what we fear for ourselves - transmission of disease. It's good to know the bite itself won't hurt her, it's the chance that the mosquito is carrying something.

Thankfully though, birds have feathers that are hard to get under for a sting.

Anyone else know of any insects/flies that we should worry about?
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Re: Insect bites/stings & Parrots

Postby Kim S » Fri Jul 30, 2010 8:31 am

A while ago I had a cockatiel with a big lump just over his eye. I took him out of the aviary and pulled off a tick the size of a small pea. I never knew ticks could get on birds and I was very surprized, not to mention upset. It was a friday afternoon so I called the vet before they closed. She couldnt do more then tell me to watch him closely and if he wasnt better on monday to bring him in. He was a bit slow and his eye was closed, but I thought that would be somethin that would pass over time. But on saturday he was stil sitting very quietly and puffed up in a corner and as the day progressed his breath became raspy and labored. I called the vet again and got the answeringmachine (being the weekends). By evening he was unresponsive, sitting in the floor with his head down, wings hanging, heaving for breath. We decided to put him to sleep that evening.

Unfotunately the vet couldnt tell me what to do in case this happens again. It should not have killed him. The tick probably bit him in a place that was very vulnerable (on the head so close to the eye) that it will probably impaired the bloodflow to the brains.
She never heard of a bird being bitten by a tick before, and neither have I. Our conclusin was that he probably had something going on anyway making him more susseptible to parasites.
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Re: Insect bites/stings & Parrots

Postby lzver » Fri Jul 30, 2010 9:29 am

Our birds come to the trailer with us every weekend during the summer and if its a nice day they're outside on the deck from 8am into the evening. Fortunately we don't get a lot of wasps or bees flying around the trailer, so I don't worry about that too much. I got a bit concerned once though when there was a wasp hovering around Jessie's cage because he was trying to go after it. I'm sure if they caught one they'd most likely get stung.

As for mosquitoes, we do have some at the trailer, but they don't really bother the birds. I never really see them flying around their cage very often. I spoke to the vet about my concerns several years ago and she said the only real concern was transmission of diseases that they carry - we have to worry about West Nile here. There isn't much you can do to protect them from a mosquito - I suppose we could drape a mosquito net over their cages to protect them, but that would block their view and take away some of the advantages of being outside.

Good luck getting rid of the wasps net.

And Kim S, I'm sorry to hear about your Cockatiel and the unfortuante outcome.
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Re: Insect bites/stings & Parrots

Postby Mr.Darcy » Sun Aug 01, 2010 10:48 pm

FYI you can buy a fake wasp nest at home depot and set it up,.. kinda like the fake owls for birds/pidgeons the fake wasp nest deters new wasps without chemicals!! :P
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Re: Insect bites/stings & Parrots

Postby Nathaniel » Sun Aug 01, 2010 11:02 pm

I just shoot nests with a paintball gun. Or throw tenis balls at it. From a safe distance of course. But a paintball gun is veryhelpful if there are feral dogs or cats, bees or wasps, or the friendly neighbor hood spider(man :lol: ).
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Re: Insect bites/stings & Parrots

Postby TheNzJessie » Mon Aug 02, 2010 2:07 am

i got stung last weekends form a wasp at the zoo there is a massive nest right next to the sun conures that needs to be smoked...and lol at the paintball idea :)
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Re: Insect bites/stings & Parrots

Postby Kim S » Mon Aug 02, 2010 3:55 am

Nathaniel wrote:I just shoot nests with a paintball gun. Or throw tenis balls at it. From a safe distance of course. But a paintball gun is veryhelpful if there are feral dogs or cats, bees or wasps, or the friendly neighbor hood spider(man :lol: ).


:lol: Doesnt that just piss them off? It would be likely to increase the chances of getting stung. Maybe not for you (you big wimp, hiding behind your gun) but anything else in the area.
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Re: Insect bites/stings & Parrots

Postby Nathaniel » Mon Aug 02, 2010 5:53 am

Set the gun up to 400+ psi and it makes them pissed of at their painted nest. Before I had a paintball gun I used a golf club. That pisses them of at you. And as they are ocupied with stinging their painted sisters I pick them off one by one with my incredible marksman ship at a distance of ten feet. If wasps were bigger and had enough venom to kill this would not seem so wimpy.

Kim S wrote:(you big wimp, hiding behind your gun)

:o That hurts me worse than a wasp itself.


Besides I have taken my fair share of hits. :P
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Re: Insect bites/stings & Parrots

Postby Giantmoa » Mon Aug 02, 2010 1:35 pm

haha, when yellow jackets nest in a hole in the ground I simply put the nozzle of the shop vac by the hole and they get sucked in when they try to get in or out. very effective :D I wonder if it would work with a wasp nest too...
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