NIX & PAM around Birds

[DaveDragon]

Has anyone who also owns birds ever used the NIX solution (1 bottle per gallon of distilled water) or Provent-A-Mite??

My wife brought some of the creepy crawlies home from out local pet store after discovering they had a mite problem. Now we do!! It seems most treatments involve some kind of risk to your reptile if not done properly. Since birds respiratory systems are far more susceptible to airborne contaminants I would think any kind of aerosol mite treatment would be bad to use in the same house. The NIX treatment should be OK as long as we do it in a different room since a spray bottle makes much larger particles and they shouldn’t carry far.

Any thoughts??

I’m going to Wal-Mart after work to get the NIX and will start treating our snakes tonight.

I’m guessing hanging a No-Pest Strip in a room with a bird is a no-no. What about on a different floor?

[Allysen]

My vet recommended that we use the Frontline spray, precisely because it's safe to use ON birds, and our birds and snakes share the "tropical room". I'm not sure about NIX, but I'm sure somebody else can chime in on that, but PAM is DEFINITELY not okay to use around birds.

Instead of a no-pest-strip, maybe try the Vaseline trick? You do a thin layer of Vaseline around the edges of the tanks/racks/tubs/enclosures, and if the mites try to cross it, they just get stuck.

	Mites Mites, close relatives of fleas and ticks

	Geek Auto Linker or Gallon Geek Auto Linker Gallon - United States liquid unit equal to 4 quarts or 3.785 liters

[morti]

I don't have birds, but here are some quotes from some very quick research.

EXTOXNET PIP - PERMETHRIN

Effects on birds: Permethrin is practically non-toxic to birds [12]. The oral LD50 for the permethrin formulation, Pramex, is greater than 9900 mg/kg in mallard ducks, greater than 13,500 mg/kg in pheasants, and greater than 15,500 mg/kg in Japanese quail [41].

PERMETHRIN - Insecticide Fact Sheet.. Read before using this poison

Birds: While permethrin’s acute toxicity to birds is low,50 it causes other ad-verse effects. Three-week dietary exposure of chickens reduced hemoglobin (oxygen carrying protein) levels, and red blood cell counts, while increasing the number of white blood cells.51 The reduction in hemoglobin occurred at the lowest dose tested, 33 mg/kg.51 Permethrin also caused decreased immune responses in chicks,52 and damaged mallard ovaries.53

I have found variations of those same quotes in probably 30 different sites as well as studies about treating different species of birds with permethrin for avian mites.

So I know it's conflicting info, but there you have it.

	Mites Mites, close relatives of fleas and ticks

	Geek Auto Linker or Gallon Geek Auto Linker Gallon - United States liquid unit equal to 4 quarts or 3.785 liters

[DaveDragon]

Thanks. We have the little canisters on each of the bird cages to ward off mites. I haven't looked to find what the active ingredient is. I'm more concerned with possible inhalation due to birds sensitive respiratory systems. Almost anything in aerosol form is toxic to birds. I assumed PAM would be bad for them. Although I think we've used the actual PAM without a problem!

	Mites Mites, close relatives of fleas and ticks

	Geek Auto Linker or Gallon Geek Auto Linker Gallon - United States liquid unit equal to 4 quarts or 3.785 liters

[DaveDragon]

I got the single bottle of NIX for $9.99!! The regular price was $15.49 and they were on sale for $13.49, except I found one package marked $9.99. When it rang up at the higher price I pointed out the price on the package and they gave it to me for the lower price!!

Since my wife treated the snake with Reptile Relief the day before I only treated the tank, everything that was inside of it and a large area around it. I also sprayed around all out other snakes to hopefully keep the mites from getting to them. We have tanks all over the house including another 2 downstairs where the affected snake is. Before spraying I could see a few mites on the hide where she had been and we found a few more on her just from handling. I put the garbage bag with the old bedding immediately outside and used paper towels for substrate. We'll see how it goes.

Doing more research I found those mite killing canisters for birds can do more harm than good!! They all got tossed.

	Mites Mites, close relatives of fleas and ticks

	Geek Auto Linker or Gallon Geek Auto Linker Gallon - United States liquid unit equal to 4 quarts or 3.785 liters