Bird mite behaviour

[Obimon]

We have pigeons nesting under our solar panels (South of England), and periodically have seen the mites coming into the house via the skylights – I think I read that Pigeon’s breed 5 times a year so that might be the potential frequency of an episode.

What is interesting is the way they behave when they are looking for a new nest to infest. It seems to me that once in the house they tend to crawl around with a near random walk – presumably laying down pheromones… if they find something they like they may (I hypothesize) leave an ‘excited’ trail, and if not a ‘tired/bored’ trail. As there are many of them they then likely create a gradient of pheromones centered on the interesting objects and places and that likely causes other mites to head for those places.

I suspect they drop down the the skylights when they sense warmth/humidity/CO2 beneath them. For the most part that is going to put them in the carpet where I won’t find them. However, having failed to find a nest they then seem to climb up things. In particular they seem to like hard surfaces – painted wood, and to some extent bathroom tiles and porcelain… but less so emulsion painted plastered walls.

Now under one skylight we have bannisters (at the edge of the stairs) and they are often and easily found on the top of these bannisters (it helps that they are painted white). There are a few small cracks that I think they hide in. It is easy to collect/cull them with a piece of sticky tape. But there is one place where they especially like to congregate. At one end of the bannisters there is an ornament which is the high point of the bannisters and the top is shaped a bit like an acorn whilst still attached to the tree (in a cup shape). It is basically a big dome with a diameter of about 8cm. They just love to climb up that and then wander around on the top. They don’t seem to have the intelligence to drop off and try to climb up again… instead they wander around and around the top trying to find some way to get higher… until I come along with my sticky tape.

Anyway – I am telling this story because I was wondering if it would be useful as an idea for a trap of some kind or a device that could be stood in a room to reveal if there are mites in that particular room.

[johndoe]

good idea to make a trap

this climbing tot the high point reminds me of ticks or red bugs that climb sticks so as to latch on to a passing warm blooded host

ps arm and hammer powdered laundy soap 1 cup and 1 cup borax per 2 gallons of water kills them and removes them from the skin if applied head to toe for 3 to 8 minutes .

Thne rinse and I use 1 tbl coconut oil and 32 oz of water over my head to my toes ,and let it dry on me , it stops 95 pecent of new bites, I believe it because the water makes tge coconut oil soak in the skin and even mosquitos wont bite my , it is not 100 percent effevtive but about 95%

God is the healer , I prayed for years and He heard me mm praise God for ever ,,

Good talking to you,,

Bill

[Obimon]

Thanks for the tip Bill – I will advise my wife who is the one who is getting bit.

Of course the real solution is anti-pigeon netting under the solar panels – it should be a criminal offence to install PV solar panels without putting netting around them! Also someone needs to invent an inverted cone device to hang under the bird feeders so that when the finches and tits help themselves it doesn’t result in a lot of see falling to the ground for the pigeons to feast on.

As it is going to be expensive to scaffold up to the PV panels on our house I am trying deterrence next. Everyone thinks of Hawks and Owls to deter pigeons – but when they are looking for a nesting site they are more likely to be looking to avoid rats and mites. I tried making rat-scurrying noises inside the attic but it didn’t seem to bother the pigeons much (I didn’t try very hard)… so instead I printed three images of mites of various sizes on pieces of paper and taped them onto the skylights. My fingers are crossed – certainly they seem to have been quieter recently – but maybe it is just the end of the breeding season.

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