Apr 23, 2011 – Have Pigeons, Will Have Mites
QUESTION:
My neighbor has a bird mite problem from handling a sick pigeon. I told her to take benadryl. How do we get rid of the mites themselves?
ANSWER:
I can't resist the temptation to toss out a couple of thoughts. First, just be careful when you offer medical advice, since we never know how someone might react to a medication, even as simple as benadryl. I guess this would be an appropriate medication for relieving itching from bites, but if this lady did have an allergic reaction to it she might decide you were to blame. Just a thought. Second, and I try not to be smug while saying it, this points out one more reason that those lovely, cute little "rock doves" can be nasty pest problems that we should evict from our homes and businesses. They routinely carry large numbers of parasites and are happy to share them with people.
There is good news. First, bird mites do not vector any diseases to humans, so it is just the biting and itching that are the consequences. Second, these mites apparently cannot sustain themselves if no birds are available. They may bite humans when hungry, but will not produce more generations of themselves, so in a sense the infestation would die out on its own. However, this could take longer than the neighbor chooses to allow, and to have them annoying him in the meantime.
Control begins with eliminating the source of the mites, which is birds, and if these mites came only from a single bird he was handling then it could be that there is no infestation within his home. He may only have gotten some mites that transferred onto him when he was handling this ill rat-with-wings......... I mean, pigeon. Showering and laundering all clothing he was wearing at the time could do the trick. If the bird or some of its friends were nesting in his home somewhere, or roosting outside, then perhaps the mites did begin to move about inside the home, and this gets tough to eliminate. Consider how small an opening is needed for those microscopic mites to move around and through, and you see they could be anywhere inside the structure - attic, wall voids, interior rooms, etc. Thorough vacuuming of every surface helps remove many of them, and you could apply a residual insecticide along likely travel routes to intercept the mites.
I suggest you place a lot of insect glue traps throughout his home and inspect them very carefully with good magnification in about one week. If you find no mites then hopefully the problem was very localized, and if you do find mites then it tells you where to focus your attention. You could fog or dust the attic (a desiccant dust especially) or fog within wall voids using a void injector.
My neighbor has a bird mite problem from handling a sick pigeon. I told her to take benadryl. How do we get rid of the mites themselves?
ANSWER:
I can't resist the temptation to toss out a couple of thoughts. First, just be careful when you offer medical advice, since we never know how someone might react to a medication, even as simple as benadryl. I guess this would be an appropriate medication for relieving itching from bites, but if this lady did have an allergic reaction to it she might decide you were to blame. Just a thought. Second, and I try not to be smug while saying it, this points out one more reason that those lovely, cute little "rock doves" can be nasty pest problems that we should evict from our homes and businesses. They routinely carry large numbers of parasites and are happy to share them with people.
There is good news. First, bird mites do not vector any diseases to humans, so it is just the biting and itching that are the consequences. Second, these mites apparently cannot sustain themselves if no birds are available. They may bite humans when hungry, but will not produce more generations of themselves, so in a sense the infestation would die out on its own. However, this could take longer than the neighbor chooses to allow, and to have them annoying him in the meantime.
Control begins with eliminating the source of the mites, which is birds, and if these mites came only from a single bird he was handling then it could be that there is no infestation within his home. He may only have gotten some mites that transferred onto him when he was handling this ill rat-with-wings......... I mean, pigeon. Showering and laundering all clothing he was wearing at the time could do the trick. If the bird or some of its friends were nesting in his home somewhere, or roosting outside, then perhaps the mites did begin to move about inside the home, and this gets tough to eliminate. Consider how small an opening is needed for those microscopic mites to move around and through, and you see they could be anywhere inside the structure - attic, wall voids, interior rooms, etc. Thorough vacuuming of every surface helps remove many of them, and you could apply a residual insecticide along likely travel routes to intercept the mites.
I suggest you place a lot of insect glue traps throughout his home and inspect them very carefully with good magnification in about one week. If you find no mites then hopefully the problem was very localized, and if you do find mites then it tells you where to focus your attention. You could fog or dust the attic (a desiccant dust especially) or fog within wall voids using a void injector.
