Advice needed for lovebird

[lassss]

Hi I am a newbie here. I was looking for a bird forum hoping someone can give me advice.

I have a lovebird that stays in my son's room. He is on the third floor (converted attic) and although the central air does reach up there, it is still hot. In the spring, ants found their way into the bird food, during the summer, we found some type of moths flying around his cage and now just yesterday, we found either worms or maggots (ughhhhh) around the cage.

I threw out everything, bought a new cage, all new toys, food, bowls, perches and now am keeping him in my room (which is much cooler)

I wanted to know if anyone had an similar incidents?? Is it the heat/food combo that produced the worms? and any suggestions on keeping these critters away

We moved into this house back in January and I have never had problems in my previous residence. I change the food about every other day and change the water everyday. I also change the bottom as needed.

Any advice would be greatly appreciate

[SweetPea]

the only thing i can tell you is to change and clean your birdie's cage more often...

i clean mine every day, take the bottom grate and tray and clean it once a week, and break down the cage, and give it a good washing, throwing all the rope perches in the washer, and toys and such in the dish washer.

[MiniMacMum]

The larvae you see crawling around is from a seed moth. The moths, lay eggs which hatch into a creepy crawly lavae & then they will make a cocoon & hatch into a seed moth again. You can buy moth traps which work very well. The moths will become stuck in these traps. They are a pain when they get into the seed. If the seed is infested, then throw it out. Most of the time if you look closely when buying a bag of seed ( a see-through bag) make sure you don't see any cob webs in it. That usually means there are larvae & moths. Keep your seed in a air tight container also.

Another method for controlling the moth population in your seed is to simply freeze the bag of seed for 1or 2 days before opening it.

You should change food & water bowls everyday.

[Monica]

I can only suggest to freeze for you lovebirds food for a minimum of 24 hours, 48 or longer is better. If you are worried about moths and maggots in the seed, simply feed the food straight from the freezer.

However as far as how often you feed him, his food should be changed out daily, and he should only get enough food to last him throughout the day, with veggies and other fresh foods supplied.

[Skyebirdsmom]

I agree that cleanliness is very important! I clean my birds cage daily, except for power washing, which it gets weekly. But paper changes, daily, and light cleaning daily. Of course I have a Parrotlet...but I've had Quakers, a tiel and a CAG, they all got paper changes on a daily basis and washdowns weekly. :) Clean cages are a MUST, how would YOU like living in crappy quarters?
Linda & Skye

[lassss]

Originally Posted by MiniMacMum

The larvae you see crawling around is from a seed moth. The moths, lay eggs which hatch into a creepy crawly lavae & then they will make a cocoon & hatch into a seed moth again. You can buy moth traps which work very well. The moths will become stuck in these traps. They are a pain when they get into the seed. If the seed is infested, then throw it out. Most of the time if you look closely when buying a bag of seed ( a see-through bag) make sure you don't see any cob webs in it. That usually means there are larvae & moths. Keep your seed in a air tight container also.

Another method for controlling the moth population in your seed is to simply freeze the bag of seed for 1or 2 days before opening it.

You should change food & water bowls everyday.

Thank you so much for the info. I threw everything out including the cage and got him new toys, food, bowls etc. I haven't had anymore incidents and do keep the seed in the freezer now