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Tiny tiny bugs in pet food

clarousel

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Hello everyone,

I'm getting a bit paranoid about this because I can't figure out why it keeps happening.

It started with my bottles of fish food. I don't have many fish so one small bottle lasts a super long time UNTIL I find tiny tiny bugs in it and I bin it. When I say tiny, they look like food dust and I only notice them if I stare my eyeballs out of my head at them and see them moving really slowly. This has happened twice now and I'm guessing they're some sort of mites that just appear, like when you have really old books and see something crawling on it...

I have two small containers for seeds and pellets so I reduce how many times I open the original bags. I found the tiny bugs in these containers too so in my panic I scalded them with hot water, washed with soap and sprayed with F10.

Has anyone experienced this before? If yes, how do you prevent them? Is it a cleanliness issue or something to do with the age of the item? I may just store all my pet food products in the fridge now! :sour:
 

Ulis_Beast

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I keep all of my pellets frozen after the original package has been opened and not unlike you take a few days worth out at a time.
Sounds to me you have an infestation of some kind. And considering you wash the storage dishes every time.. The nasty tiny creepers are in your cabinets most likely :(.
(They may have been in the fish food or somwhere else originally but have since spread).
I would try to figure out what exactly it is and clean the cabinets thouroughly, throw away all the non-sealed foodstuff and add some kind of bird safe traps if possible...
Keeping all of your foodstuff refrigerated for the time being is a great idea.
God such a nightmare!
I wish I could be of more help.
 

clarousel

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I keep all of my pellets frozen after the original package has been opened and not unlike you take a few days worth out at a time.
Sounds to me you have an infestation of some kind. And considering you wash the storage dishes every time.. The nasty tiny creepers are in your cabinets most likely :(.
(They may have been in the fish food or somwhere else originally but have since spread).
I would try to figure out what exactly it is and clean the cabinets thouroughly, throw away all the non-sealed foodstuff and add some kind of bird safe traps if possible...
Keeping all of your foodstuff refrigerated for the time being is a great idea.
God such a nightmare!
I wish I could be of more help.
Doesn't help I live next to a foresty bit and currently with construction it gets dusty. No idea what flies in or lives in the walls :jawdrop1: I'm wiping down surfaces weekly and trying to clean as much as possible. I think they tend to appear when its dusty/mildewy. Ugh this climate drives me nuts.

Yes I'm gonna check the pellets and hopefully they're okay. Gonna fridge everything although it's a pain since the kitchen is downstairs and outside. I just don't get what they are or where they come from... I'm creeped out!
 

Shezbug

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Try to find out exactly what the little bugs are so that you can find the best way to treat the issue. Next time you see them in fish food or where ever you see them try to get some pics with a decent camera so you can enlarge them and find out what they are. Lol, I once thought Burt had mites and contacted his vet about treating them while I was in a guilt ridden panic that I had done something wrong or not careful enough but it turned out that the old fancy container I re purposed to store his molted feathers in had some weevils or larvae in the lid creases when it was given to me- the only affected feathers were the ones I was storing there and after a few questions and a good inspection I found that things were not as bad as I thought they were. Then there are others who see one tiny moth and think nothing of it till they find some dry food chewed to bits and full of webs and crud and realise they have a full on pantry moth infestation. Knowing what you are dealing with makes getting rid of the problem so much easier. I am guessing they are not pantry moth or weevils going on your description and I am thinking it is best to know exactly what you have so you can tailor your efforts at completely ridding your home of them rather than guessing and throwing out stuff non stop but still having the bugs.
Until you can find out what they are you can store all foods in air tight containers in the freezer to stop any further damage or loss. I know it sounds gross but a few bugs here and there will not normally harm your bird (probably not the fish either) so I would not panic too much. Just try to find out what they are so you can deal with them in a way that causes you the least amount of time, cost and effort.
 

clarousel

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Try to find out exactly what the little bugs are so that you can find the best way to treat the issue. Next time you see them in fish food or where ever you see them try to get some pics with a decent camera so you can enlarge them and find out what they are. Lol, I once thought Burt had mites and contacted his vet about treating them while I was in a guilt ridden panic that I had done something wrong or not careful enough but it turned out that the old fancy container I re purposed to store his molted feathers in had some weevils or larvae in the lid creases when it was given to me- the only affected feathers were the ones I was storing there and after a few questions and a good inspection I found that things were not as bad as I thought they were. Then there are others who see one tiny moth and think nothing of it till they find some dry food chewed to bits and full of webs and crud and realise they have a full on pantry moth infestation. Knowing what you are dealing with makes getting rid of the problem so much easier. I am guessing they are not pantry moth or weevils going on your description and I am thinking it is best to know exactly what you have so you can tailor your efforts at completely ridding your home of them rather than guessing and throwing out stuff non stop but still having the bugs.
Until you can find out what they are you can store all foods in air tight containers in the freezer to stop any further damage or loss. I know it sounds gross but a few bugs here and there will not normally harm your bird (probably not the fish either) so I would not panic too much. Just try to find out what they are so you can deal with them in a way that causes you the least amount of time, cost and effort.
Preeno has been eating pellets with bugs cause I just checked the bag and they're in there :(

I tried taking a pic but they are tiny pin sized, so just a tiny moving dot! Gonna try google and find out. I wonder if its the oils they're attracted to? I have a jar of seeds and no bugs. But the container of oily seeds had bugs.
 

Shezbug

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Put them all in the freezer for a few days to kill any bugs that are now on them. You will still be best to actually find out what they are so you can best deal with the problem and avoid feeding it or providing it with a happy environment in the future but do not stress yourself out about them being there, if they were a problem then Preeno would be avoiding the food like it had something yuck on it and my guess is that he is still happily eating it??

Preeno will be fine....... Burt catches and eats bugs a fair bit lol.

I would still freeze what foods and grains/ seeds you have for a few days to kill off anything in it so they do not get out of control.
There are so many microscopic pests we can get in our food and unfortunately pet food and grains seem to be a favourite of many of these little invaders. I think you will find that the most dangerous thing about them being in the bird or fish food is how you think and feel about them- I do not believe that too many of these critters are harmful to our pets. I have a habit of buying bay leaves in HUGE bags so I can spread them all through my food cupboard, I also put them in my linen cupboard and any other area that little bugs might like to make a home- many living creatures avoid bay leaves for some reason.
 

clarousel

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Put them all in the freezer for a few days to kill any bugs that are now on them. You will still be best to actually find out what they are so you can best deal with the problem and avoid feeding it or providing it with a happy environment in the future but do not stress yourself out about them being there, if they were a problem then Preeno would be avoiding the food like it had something yuck on it and my guess is that he is still happily eating it??

Preeno will be fine....... Burt catches and eats bugs a fair bit lol.

I would still freeze what foods and grains/ seeds you have for a few days to kill off anything in it so they do not get out of control.
There are so many microscopic pests we can get in our food and unfortunately pet food and grains seem to be a favourite of many of these little invaders. I think you will find that the most dangerous thing about them being in the bird or fish food is how you think and feel about them- I do not believe that too many of these critters are harmful to our pets. I have a habit of buying bay leaves in HUGE bags so I can spread them all through my food cupboard, I also put them in my linen cupboard and any other area that little bugs might like to make a home- many living creatures avoid bay leaves for some reason.
I'm running to the store now to get more pellets! Will google a bit more about the bugs when I get home.

What bugs does Burt catch?! That sounds so handy :roflmao:

Yes he's been happily eating it but I don't trust the bag now. It's been opened for a while now too. Will freeze my seeds and millet later. I'm thinking of taking out a small portion of the new pellets to fridge and freezing the rest.

Yes I read that grain mites can come in packaged food already. Yuck!
 

Shezbug

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Burt catches any little bugs he can get to, ants, fruit flies, mosquitoes, tiny moths, bugs I am not familiar with too lol. If they taste non offensive or good then he makes a little sound like he is happily amazed but if they taste no good then he spits them out and shakes his head. He only really does not like flying bugs if they enter his cage uninvited, if that happens then he screams the house down like the tiny bug is going to eat him :laugh:
 

clarousel

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That's hilarious and so cute! I don't like flying bugs too so I can relate with Burt :roflmao:

Gosh just been to the store and fell in love with Tiels all over again! They had the most gorgeous baby white faced ones snoozing from the cool rainy weather. I told myself I've seen enough to be satisfied with not having one but I'm definitely wrong! Back on the dream birb list!

Ended up buying Mazuri and Zupreem naturals (again so Preeno doesn't freak out about new pellets). How long can opened packets of pellets last in the freezer?

Edit: sorry to ramble but going to the bird store is always the highlight of my day oops!
 

dollfish

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I often get weevils in the kitchen and I feed the infested grains to my quails because I think the little crawlies might add a little extra protein? The droppings may be somewhat toxic but they are so little in amount but I'd be worried about fish because they are only teeny tiny.

Just they drive Astro insane because they grow into little moths that fly around the house and Astro literally screams when she sees one flying around her head. I know she didn't learn that from me... :roflmao:

I would think you have some sort of a mite problem becasue you said small and slow moving. They can be nasty to get rid of but I doubt they will cause any problems to birds even if ingested? Please someone more knowledgable enlighten me if they could cause some sort of harm.
 

clarousel

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I often get weevils in the kitchen and I feed the infested grains to my quails because I think the little crawlies might add a little extra protein? The droppings may be somewhat toxic but they are so little in amount but I'd be worried about fish because they are only teeny tiny.

Just they drive Astro insane because they grow into little moths that fly around the house and Astro literally screams when she sees one flying around her head. I know she didn't learn that from me... :roflmao:

I would think you have some sort of a mite problem becasue you said small and slow moving. They can be nasty to get rid of but I doubt they will cause any problems to birds even if ingested? Please someone more knowledgable enlighten me if they could cause some sort of harm.
We've been getting lots of weevils recently. No idea how they appear in flour too?!

Yeah grain mites seem like it and there's not much you can do than store food properly. I have yet to read up more.

Also if you freeze your pellets, do you need to defrost them?
 
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TaysonPete

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Hi there, I had probably the same problem but with the food of my parrot. I found there little bugs in his food very often. And I want to say that now I also keep his food in the fridge and it helps.
 

TaysonPete

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Hi there, I had probably the same problem but with the food of my parrot. I found there little bugs in his food very often. And I want to say that now I also keep his food in the fridge and it helps. You should be very careful with these little bugs because they can reproduce very quickly. Once I did not immediately notice them and they appeared in our usual food. And I don't know how but then I found bed bug bite at my son. It was awful. We called an exterminator and he cleaned our house. After that situation I am very carefully with different bugs and I always check all food and lockers.
 
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