# "cardboard/box mites" Advice? Dangerous for budgies?



## Nebula21 (Mar 11, 2012)

my budgie likes to chew on cardboard, so i usually give her small cardboard boxes that i get from random places, i.e. empty tissue boxes, shoe boxes etc, and she shreds and chews on them, but lately during my cleaning routine ive started to notice these very very very tiny light tan almost clear colored bugs crawling around, at first i didnt know what they are so i threw everything on her play stand away and vacuumed the play stand and gave her a new box, and again the same thing is happening, this is the only place its happening, its not anywhere else in the house and not in her cage, just on her play stand where the cardboard is. After googling it i found out they are called Cardboard or Box mites. 

Has anyone else heard of these? how do i find cardboard that doesnt have this issue? I've tried giving her carboard from various places and it all seems to have the same issue, i dont really want to stop giving it to her as she enjoys shredding it so much but obviously if this problem persists and i cant find a way to stop it, im going to have to stop giving it to her.

Any ideas?


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## FaeryBee (May 9, 2011)

*You need to stop giving her the cardboard. 
You can make or buy shredding toys for her using wood, yucca and paper.
Check out the Resource Directory:

Resource Directory

Cardboard Box Mites can and will cause problems for her.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5094226/

https://www.cuteness.com/article/skin-irritation-caused-cardboard-mites

What type of plant is she perched on in the picture?
Make sure any plants she comes in contact with are budgie safe.

Safe and Toxic Houseplants

Best wishes!*


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## Nebula21 (Mar 11, 2012)

FaeryBee said:


> *You need to stop giving her the cardboard.
> You can make or buy shredding toys for her using wood, yucca and paper.
> Check out the Resource Directory:
> 
> ...


Thanks for replying. I read the article, am i right in assuming that they do live in and come directly from the cardboard? or could they be regular bird mites?

Iv removed all the boxes and cardboard and cleaned everything in hot water, aslong as i dont give her more cardboard im assuming they wont come back if they are cardboard mites?

the tree she is perched on was a artificial bamboo tree, which i know longer have. I always make sure i only have budgie safe plants.


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## Nebula21 (Mar 11, 2012)

also i should mention, iv seen 1 or two in the bag my millet spray comes in, so i dont know if they could be coming from there. i read online that if you freeze the millet sprays in the freezer for 24 hours before giving it to the birds, that it will kill any bugs or mites and their eggs. do you think this would work? 

i have a photo of them, if there was a way to upload one on this thread i could show you what they look like


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## philw (Aug 22, 2014)

Here's my take on this creature. I taught biology for over 34 years and have been a "bug" person my whole life....actually anything zoologically speaking. The "bug" your seeing is likely not an insect but a type of mite (American dust mite), that feeds, not on birds, or people, but mostly the dead skin of mammals (including us) and bird dander, which we call "dust". Much of the dust in your home is composed of our, and our pet's dead skin cells.The these mites usually can be found on most household surfaces, but is large amounts of dust collects on
smooth surfaces like cardboard they may collect in large numbers. In our carpet the feed on our dander and when they poop, the dried poop gets stirred up as we walk or play on these surfaces causing allergies in many. They aren't like the parasitic mites which feed on the blood of birds, which is a health problem. Scaley face/beak disease is also caused by a mite. There are 1000's of species of mite, some harmful others not. 
Dust mites are typically about the size of a sand grain but they are definitely visible, rather transparent, and you could certainly feel them if they got on you but aside from allergies
they're not really dangerous. If you Google images for "dust mites" you can see what they look like. I'd just keep your budgies in clean cages and you won't see them again. The ASTMH article in the resources is not a mite (mites have 8 legs)!


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## Nebula21 (Mar 11, 2012)

philw said:


> Here's my take on this creature. I taught biology for over 34 years and have been a "bug" person my whole life....actually anything zoologically speaking. The "bug" your seeing is likely not an insect but a type of mite (American dust mite), that feeds, not on birds, or people, but mostly the dead skin of mammals (including us) and bird dander, which we call "dust". Much of the dust in your home is composed of our, and our pet's dead skin cells.The these mites usually can be found on most household surfaces, but is large amounts of dust collects on
> smooth surfaces like cardboard they may collect in large numbers. In our carpet the feed on our dander and when they poop, the dried poop gets stirred up as we walk or play on these surfaces causing allergies in many. They aren't like the parasitic mites which feed on the blood of birds, which is a health problem. Scaley face/beak disease is also caused by a mite. There are 1000's of species of mite, some harmful others not.
> Dust mites are typically about the size of a sand grain but they are definitely visible, rather transparent, and you could certainly feel them if they got on you but aside from allergies
> they're not really dangerous. If you Google images for "dust mites" you can see what they look like. I'd just keep your budgies in clean cages and you won't see them again. The ASTMH article in the resources is not a mite (mites have 8 legs)!


Thanks for replying. My budgie is in a clean cage, i clean it weekly, I dont think these are dust mites. ive never seen them in her cage or anywhere else in the house in the 4 years i've had her. Iv only seen them in this play stand that she has all her toys on with cardboard for shredding.

I took a sample of them down to my avian vet today and hes going to take a look at them so at least i will no for sure what they are and if its anything that needs treating.

Ill update this post when my vet tells me what they are, just incase anyone is interested


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## Nebula21 (Mar 11, 2012)

Nebula21 said:


> Thanks for replying. I read the article, am i right in assuming that they do live in and come directly from the cardboard? or could they be regular bird mites?
> 
> Iv removed all the boxes and cardboard and cleaned everything in hot water, aslong as i dont give her more cardboard im assuming they wont come back if they are cardboard mites?
> 
> the tree she is perched on was a artificial bamboo tree, which i know longer have. I always make sure i only have budgie safe plants.





philw said:


> Here's my take on this creature. I taught biology for over 34 years and have been a "bug" person my whole life....actually anything zoologically speaking. The "bug" your seeing is likely not an insect but a type of mite (American dust mite), that feeds, not on birds, or people, but mostly the dead skin of mammals (including us) and bird dander, which we call "dust". Much of the dust in your home is composed of our, and our pet's dead skin cells.The these mites usually can be found on most household surfaces, but is large amounts of dust collects on
> smooth surfaces like cardboard they may collect in large numbers. In our carpet the feed on our dander and when they poop, the dried poop gets stirred up as we walk or play on these surfaces causing allergies in many. They aren't like the parasitic mites which feed on the blood of birds, which is a health problem. Scaley face/beak disease is also caused by a mite. There are 1000's of species of mite, some harmful others not.
> Dust mites are typically about the size of a sand grain but they are definitely visible, rather transparent, and you could certainly feel them if they got on you but aside from allergies
> they're not really dangerous. If you Google images for "dust mites" you can see what they look like. I'd just keep your budgies in clean cages and you won't see them again. The ASTMH article in the resources is not a mite (mites have 8 legs)!


hi guys, the vet got back to me. we know what they are and i found out where they came from. turns out they are bird lice and they are coming from the bags of millet spray i bought from the pet shop which means the pet shop obviously has some kind of infestation. Jessie has been treated with a spot on drop on the back of her neck and i've cleaned everything in her cage and on her play stand, and got rid of the millet and i havent seen any since then. when i buy millet or food from now on (obviously i wont be buying it from the same store) im going to freeze it for a couple days to kill anything that could potentially be on it, that should prevent this from possibly happening again.

thank you both for your replies though


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## RavensGryf (May 8, 2015)

Good news Carla! Well, not about the lice lol, but that it was identified and Jessie is being treated. I sure wouldn’t want to step foot into that particular store again! 

Ps.. Phil, I now know who to go to asking about bugs :laughing2:


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## FaeryBee (May 9, 2011)

*I'm very glad you took Jessie to the vet and the problem was correctly diagnosed and treated! Well done. :hug:*


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