Aussie Finch Forum

Should I give my zebras their worm and lice treatment every 3 months or 4? (The worm and lice treatments are separate.) I currently do it every 3 months. I just drip a few drops of medicine into my finches' drinking water for their worming and spray them with a spray that gets rid of lice. Is it better to catch the finches and feed them the medicine?
Also, they don't really drink water. Is it because that they are suited to living in the desert?

If you grow your own grasses and vegetables for the birds, or get them from areas that are not frequented by animals or wild birds, and you keep the cage clean, then you don't need to treat them repeatedly.

A lot of people treat them for worms once a year.

I use to treat all new birds in quarantine then not bother with them unless they got sick and a vet said they had worms, and that never happened

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As for lice, if you treat all the birds at the same time and clean their cages, and then quarantine any new birds and treat the new birds before they are added to the main collection, you shouldn't need to regularly treat them for lice either.
Lice are introduced with new birds so quarantining them for several weeks before adding them to your collection will stop parasites and diseases from infecting your birds.

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I used a medication called Ivermectin, and it was available from vets. I put 1 drop on the birds beak and then added some to the water and it treated worms, mites & lice. These days there are other medications but you need to have a chat to a bird vet to see what is available in your area.

All Australian finches drink but if they are given lots of green feed (fruits & veges) they get a lot of moisture from those foods and they drink less. If you don't feed them greens on the day you treat them, they will drink the water with the medication in.

If your avatar is how you house your birds(cage and inside) why do you need to treat your birds for worms
they don't come in contact with the worm hosts so the cycle does not happen.
Also unless your birds are kept in dirty conditions and don't have access to a bath then the chances of lice infestation
will me minimal. Very few birds have Lice problems, most have some but they are controlled by the bird preening and
bathing.

I give them bath water every day, so there is a low chance that they will get lice. Wish that they could control their pooping lol. They always spray their poop in places I can't reach.

Hi all,
I actually haven't treated my birds yet for Lice and Mites, I am about to look at treatments and was hoping to get some guidance from here. For a start, catching all of them in the aviary to put the treatment on them is daunting and I worry about the stress it will cause. I recently asked my vet if there was an oral treatment for lice and mites and she said no... But I just read someone uses Ivermectin and gives it orally? I am hoping for your guidance?

Thanks in advance!

holabee wrote: ↑05 Feb 2019, 19:10 Hi all,
I actually haven't treated my birds yet for Lice and Mites, I am about to look at treatments and was hoping to get some guidance from here. For a start, catching all of them in the aviary to put the treatment on them is daunting and I worry about the stress it will cause. I recently asked my vet if there was an oral treatment for lice and mites and she said no... But I just read someone uses Ivermectin and gives it orally? I am hoping for your guidance?

Thanks in advance!

Moxidectin can control lice and mites, and is administered in water at 5ml/L. We sell moxidectin through the forum, but are currently awaiting new stock. Should be here next week.

Coopex (an insecticide) sprayed through the aviary is also quite effective at disrupting the life cycle of lice and mites, thereby preventing re-infection.

Oh wow, how would I purchase some Moxidectin through here?