Worms in poop....help!!

[Pidgeot]

I was cuddling with Petrie, my house sparrow, and he decided to take a poop on me. Nothing new.
As I was about to wipe it off with a towel, I noticed that the poop started..moving.
I looked closer and noticed a tiny white worm squirming out
This was about a half hour ago, and just now I took Petrie out and he pooped again, and there were two worms in his poop
I took a photo so you can see what they look like, I circled them in red

They squirm and push themselves out of the poop, it looks absolutely DISGUSTING
I don't understand what's going on...I've NEVER had a problem with worms before.
Alex, my sun conure,...his poop is fine. I checked it all up and no worms to be seen.
It's just Petrie's...
I've had him ever since he was a nestling, that's all I can say
His diet consists of parakeet food and an occasional pet store cricket
And he hasn't been acting strange at all, he's always his normal hoppy little self.
Does anyone know what I can do to get rid of these nasty things? This is really scaring me...I don't want anything bad to happen to him..

 

[penny'smom]

Ask your vet about dosing him with Capstar. A wildlife rehabber that I work with suggested this to me when I had a baby bird with parasites. Capstar was not made for birds, and I picked up a tablet for about $5 over-the-counter at the vet's. The rehabber told me to chip off a piece of the tablet, and that it is not harmful, and should kill any parasite within several hours. Your vet may suggest something else, but it's certainly worth asking about.

 

[Tangle Elf]

You will have to get the vet to identify and treat the worms. If Petrie has been seen recently, you will probably only have to bring in poop. Depending on the type of worm, you may have to bring in poop from all the birds. He's probably had them all of his life and they are just now at a point in their lifecycle that they are being excreted. It's also possible that crickets have worms, but not that I'm aware of. I'm sorry you're having to deal with this. I really hate worms, they're so disgusting. Usually though, they're not a big deal to the host.

 

[Cathy AZ]

looks like tapeworm, they are flat like that but when dried up they look like rice. A vet has to treat the bird. Regular worming medication will not get rid of the parasite.

 

[Tangle Elf]

Do you have a cat or dog? If they are tapeworm, they usually come from fleas. Birds don't usually get bit, but it does happen.

 

[Pidgeot]

Do you have a cat or dog? If they are tapeworm, they usually come from fleas. Birds don't usually get bit, but it does happen.

I do not. I have no furry animals whatsoever. I still don't know what could have caused it, but like Tangle Elf said, he could have had it all his life. I just really want to get rid of them.

 

[Chicobo]

Do you have a cat or dog? If they are tapeworm, they usually come from fleas. Birds don't usually get bit, but it does happen.

I agree, it could be tapeworm. If your little guy ATE a flea, which is certainly possible, he could have gotten a tapeworm from the flea. Same if the crickets eat fleas. That's the primary method of transference -- via ingestion of fleas.

 

[Tangle Elf]

I agree, it could be tapeworm. If your little guy ATE a flea, which is certainly possible, he could have gotten a tapeworm from the flea. Same if the crickets eat fleas. That's the primary method of transference -- via ingestion of fleas.

Ahhh, thank you. I knew it was fleas, but bites didn't sound right. You are absolutely correct, the fleas must be ingested.

 

[suncoast]

Off to the vets toot sweet.

Ginger

 

[penny'smom]

Please keep us posted!

 

[RedFeather]

Crickets (even feeders from the pet store) are known in the reptile fancy to carry worms and infect the reptiles. That would be my guess...

 

[ThatDarnBird]

Crickets (even feeders from the pet store) are known in the reptile fancy to carry worms and infect the reptiles. That would be my guess...

I didn't know this. What kind of parasites do crickets have?

 

[Bokkapooh]

After you get him treated for worms please work on his diet. A seed only diet is terrible.

 

[RedFeather]

I didn't know this. What kind of parasites do crickets have?

I'm not an expert, but they definitely can carry multiple intestinal worms like pinworms and horsehair worms as well as coccidia.

 

[itzmered]

After you get him treated for worms please work on his diet. A seed only diet is terrible.

A Sparrows main diet is seed that is pretty much all they eat in the wild

I hope you get this figured out and can get him treated. Keep us posted

 

[Bokkapooh]

A Sparrows main diet is seed that is pretty much all they eat in the wild

I hope you get this figured out and can get him treated. Keep us posted

They eat worms and berries too. And in captivity they eat veggies and pellets and all sorts of healthy food

They arent "in the wild" anymore. So us owners need to feed the best and healthiest rounded diet.

My sapphire and Mimi ate a whole lot of food. It's good for them. Healthy

 

[Ankou]

I hope you get it worked out and Petrie is okay.
As nasty as this may sound, if you want to feed crickets is there some way you could breed your own? I had a friend with several reptiles in high school that bred/grew her own mealworms and crickets to prevent just this very thing (but I have no idea what sort of set up you would need or if it would even help. Maybe they would still carry parasites from their feed.)

Still, good job dealing with this. Not much grosses me out but worms coming out of Peanut's poo onto me would probably have me in the shower for the next three hours, possibly curled into the fetal position.
Ick.

Edit:
Though personally I would look into other sources of protein in the future. I have no idea what softbills can safely have though, sorry I can't be of more help.

 

[Bokkapooh]

Its easy and fun to breed meal worms. I rarely ever fed crickets to my birds. They stink! But meal and wax worms are good sources of food. They are what you feed them

 

[Birdbabe]

Meal and wax worms are good protien, but waxies have alot of fat too. Can you get him to eat pellets? My doves eat them, and scrambled eggs for extra protien. But dont over do it on the eggs. Hope he gets rid of those worms quickly.