Where do you buy dried fruit/ veg and treats?

[Parakeet88]

It's a long story, you don't have to read the whole thing, the main question is at the bottom, thanks!

So I started buying golden gourmet treats from my safe bird store. My conure loved the dried green beans and all of my birds love the granola from them. Lately I have been finding bugs I the packages of treats. First I found them in a bag of dried peas. I live in an old apartment that is prone to bugs so I gave them the benefit of the doubt and figured they might not have been from the store. After that I found the bugs in a bag of granola that had only been open a few hours. The packages do not reclose so I always put the original bag into a ziplock and thankfully that keeps the bugs in. At this point I contacted my safe bird store just to give them a heads up. They sent me new packages of peas and granola which was nice but the new granola also had bugs in it. My birds don't really like the peas so I didn't even bother with them and threw them out. I checked all the bags of other treats from golden gourmet and they all seemed fine. Yesterday I went to open my ziplock of green beans to give to my conure and a moth flew out. I quickly closed the bag up and there were multiple other moths/ larva in the bag. I decided to stop buying from golden gourmet but my birds love a lot of thier products and I'm having a hard time finding something similar. I mainly use the dried foods as foraging snacks to keep them busy whenever they have to be in thier cage. I also use the red peppers, coconut, and star anise in thier chop.

I need some suggestions of where I can get some dried foods/fruit/veggies for treats and to put in their chop

Thanks!

 

[finchly]

If you freeze the bags as soon as you get them, it helps cut down on moths.

That said, I bought MSBS "Bountiful Harvest Blend" to try about 2 or 3 weeks ago. Hubby just told me a moth flew out of the bag so he put it in the freezer. Ugh. We've had the whole moth invasion thing and I really don't want to go through it again!

No suggestions as I am looking too.

 

[Parakeet88]

So do you think this is a brand/ company issue or is this just something that happens?

Putting the food in the freezer just sort of "deactivates" the eggs right? I still don't know if I want my birds eating dead bug eggs lol

Thankfully my conure Ben is really good at helping me catch bugs lol I guess one of the moths got out and I had seen it fly past my tv a couple times. I figured it would just die eventually and didn't bother to catch/ kill it. The next night Ben started screaming so I looked up to see what was wrong and there was the moth. Ben wouldn't take his eyes off it. I tried to kill it with a towel but I lost it so I sat back on the couch. A couple minutes later and Bens yelling again. I look up and there's the moth. I think I killed it that time. Bens like an 8 year old girl when it comes to bugs lol

 

[finchly]

Oh I know. Bugs are major emergencies!

Yes but it will kill them if you leave it 3 weeks (they say). I'm not usually 3 weeks ahead on my purchases. I did buy a freezer just for bird food after the Invasion of the Moths. This food wasn't in there cause I didn't buy that much.

What I've read says it's something that "just happens ". Because we don't want insecticide in their food or ours, this is the price we pay.

Also those stupid moths can get into packaging even when it's sealed up.

I'm going to contact MSBS and get their take on it.

 

[Mizzely]

I buy Goldenfeast from their website, the Just Veggies from Drs Foster and Smith, or individual stuff from NorthBayTrading.com

Nuts.com has fruit too.

 

[Wasabisaurus]

If you freeze the bags as soon as you get them, it helps cut down on moths.

That said, I bought MSBS "Bountiful Harvest Blend" to try about 2 or 3 weeks ago. Hubby just told me a moth flew out of the bag so he put it in the freezer. Ugh. We've had the whole moth invasion thing and I really don't want to go through it again!

No suggestions as I am looking too.

That's unusual. I've never had a problem with them.

If you have a nearby natural food store like we do, check there.

 

[Parakeet88]

What I've read says it's something that "just happens ". Because we don't want insecticide in their food or ours, this is the price we pay.

I never thought about the lack of pesticides but it does make sense that that's why there's bugs in the food.

Since this seems to be common and mostly unavoidable what do you do to solve the problem? I know freezing the food helps but if a moth does get out what do you do about it? I feel like once one moth is out it could potentially contaminate other food and then if those moths get out you've got a big problem. What are bird safe ways to get rid of the moths? Thankfully I only know of the one that got out and it seems to have stayed in the living room until I killed it. I really don't want this to escalate because there are so few options for getting rid of bugs with how sensitive the birds are.

Even being pesticide free you'd think MSBS and golden gourmet would be more on top of things and working on alternative ways to cut down on the bugs that get into their food.

 

[Mizzely]

One of the problems with the way that MSBS does it I think is that they are using bulk bags, mixing them up, and then resealing. So there are multiple avenues for contamination.

I have never had an infestation. I always freeze everything before I feed it. I also freeze everything in about 1 month portions, so that there is less time for bugs to thaw, hatch and live if anything does manage to get that far. They do sell Pantry moth traps that are basically glue traps, so those are safe to use provided that the bird has no access to them. Amazon.com : Black Flag 11038 Pantry Pest Trap, 2-Count, Pack of 1 : Home Pest Control Traps : Patio, Lawn & Garden

 

[javi]

I had a huge infestation of moths years ago that took weeks to get rid of. Since that time I freeze every bird food that comes in. There was a study done where someone bought cereal and left in package for a couple weeks and when opened there were moths or beetles. They are made from grain so bound to be in there. So yes I freeze my cereal also even though it is usually eaten quickly.
Have you thought of buying a dehydrator? I am thinking of getting one so I can do fruits and veggies just to add as a mix in. Though it may be overkill since my birds already get so much fresh food.

 

[Parakeet88]

Have you thought of buying a dehydrator

Since having this bug problem it has crossed my mind but I haven't really looked into it yet. Can some foods be "dehydrated" in the oven? For example if I cut some zucchini into slices and layed them on a baking sheet? I do rely a lot on dry food/ treats to use in foraging toys because they don't go bad so quickly. I also use some of the foods as dry ingredients for chop.

 

[expressmailtome]

These member vendors sell them: Avian Organics The Largest Selection of Organic Parrot and Bird Food Online Bird Bread, Bird Mashes, Cage Blends, Bird Treats , The Parrot Shop: Canada's #1 Online Discounted Parrot Store - Parrot Supplies l The Parrot Shop , Things for Wings Canada's Online Bird Supply Store for Organic Parrot Food, Toys & Parts, Accessories , and TNT Toys - Dry Mix .

 

[Parakeet88]

Wow I will definitely do some more looking around on the sites you linked. Some of them have foods I've never seen before and they have most of the food I regularly use as well. Super excited to get some new foods for the birds to try. Thanks!

 

[javi]

Do you have a store called Sprouts near you. That is where I get all my stuff to sprout for my birds. They do carry dehydrated fruits and veggies, some are even in the bins. People buy so much that it is always fresh. Still recommend freezing though

 

[Parakeet88]

Do you have a store called Sprouts near you. That is where I get all my stuff to sprout for my birds. They do carry dehydrated fruits and veggies, some are even in the bins. People buy so much that it is always fresh. Still recommend freezing though

No I don't have anything like that near me. I wish I did because my birds are obsessed with sprouts

 

[cosmolove]

You can buy them online at some of the vendors. I do really like that dr. foster and smiths you can order specifically what you want but it seems a little pricey to me and I like to mix a lot of things at once. So the amount I'd have to buy to mix what I want would be a big pain. Thankfully there is a local bird store near me that has some food. I buy a lot from them because I can mix exactly what I want right there.

 

[javi]

Feeling thinking I want to order a dehydrator. Would be cheaper in the long run and no preservatives.

 

[finchly]

@Parakeet88 We did have a complete infestation. They were in every bit of the bird food, all the kitchen cabinets. Disgusting. I thought it would never be over. here's what we did.
1. Threw away every single thing with moths and stringy things (the web or whatever) in it.
2. Bought new food and put in freezer immediately, now we get food from there in smaller quantities straight into the Rubbermaid containers (a few cups, some are smaller like 2 cups)
3. Collected the stupid larvae every single day and removed nests every day (walls, ceilings.)
4. Vacuumed constantly (finches throw seed everywhere) and removed all food after a few hours. Got rid of 1-cup finch food holders, they were breeding in there.
5. Sprinkled Diatomaceous Earth on the trays beneath their grates and under all the cages.

We think it was collecting larvae and the constant cleaning that did the most good. We did miss a couple of foods in the kitchen and had to start over there. I have never been so grossed out in my life.

I think @Mizzely has it right, the food at MSBS is getting repackaged and the contamination is able to move around.

 

[Parakeet88]

Yeah I really don't want to deal with a whole infestation, luckily only the one moth ever got out and they are still only in the golden gourmet stuff, they haven't gotten into any of my food. Whenever I see them in the bag I put it in multiple ziplock bags and throw it out on my way to work.

I will definitely start putting everything in the freezer and I'll try some other websites.

The whole thing is really gross. The moths, the larva, the webs, ugh. And I work in a hospital lab where I deal with all kinds of bodily fluids on a regular basis but these bugs really gross me out

Thanks for all the help!

 

[CrazyBirdChick]

These member vendors sell them: Avian Organics The Largest Selection of Organic Parrot and Bird Food Online Bird Bread, Bird Mashes, Cage Blends, Bird Treats , The Parrot Shop: Canada's #1 Online Discounted Parrot Store - Parrot Supplies l The Parrot Shop , Things for Wings Canada's Online Bird Supply Store for Organic Parrot Food, Toys & Parts, Accessories , and TNT Toys - Dry Mix .

I was going to suggest TNT dry mix too! My guy loves it!!!