Our Bird Mite Story/Nightmare

Our Bird Mite Story/Nightmare

Our story begins in Jan of 2012. My husband and I did some repair work to our fence behind our 30 ft Leyland Cypress trees. After that day our house was infested!! We unknowingly brought an army in after fixing the fence and the nightmare ensued. That evening my husband broke out into hives all under his arms, groin, waist band and back. Now keep in mind he was wearing a shirt tucked into jeans, a thick pullover on top of that and a leather coat. So just passing his reaction off as being irritated from the Leyland is ruled out.

He went to the doctor the next day and they told him he has hives, gave him some antihistamines and sent him on his way. Over the next few months my husband received 3-4 steroid shots due to lips and eyes swelling. He was put on a daily steroid treatment for a few weeks. The bites/hives went away until the meds ran out.

He went to the doctor- several doctors in the following months. They all ran blood work but it all check out ok. No matter how much he protested that this was an external force not an internal force they would not listen. ALL of the doctors treated the symptoms not the cause.

My husband was the only one in the house experiencing hives but we all had small bug bites. Our theory is that my husband had the worse reaction to them in the house because he is from Canada and the rest of us were born in the south. We have some immunity to them although I still feel all the crawling, pinpricks and sometimes have welts. Our baby also experiences welts after crawling around on the floor. We treat our animals and yard for fleas so it’s not fleas causing the welts. We even told the doctors he’s not the only one in the house experiencing it and the doctors’ reaction?? Shrugged his shoulders!!!

So we took it upon ourselves to fix it. We had an exterminator come and spray the yard. This did knock them back a bit but considering we have 15ft holly bushes lining both sides of the yard and 30 ft Leyland in the back the monsters came back.

Our dog was the main source since she is a puppy and was exploring any area she could fit into of her new backyard. I suggest you walk your dog on a leash until you get the mites under control in the yard. If you have indoor outdoor cats, I suggest bathing them and keeping them indoors for awhile as well.  

FINALLY after 4 months of hell for my husband he begged the doctor to prescribe Stromectol. This is for Scabies but can work on bird mites. He took the pill and the hives went away, all he got were tiny little bites because the Stromectol paralyzes the biting bug thus killing them-internal issue huh?? He still exerienced small bites because it only killed them after biting him instead of biting and feeding. At that point we realized we’re on our own. No doctors would help.

We did TONS of research and found that Tea Tree Oil is a known natural miticide. So we ordered a gallon of it. It's not cheap, $400, but still cheaper than the fogger systems they have out on the market. If you do go this route be careful with the tea tree. Over exposure to dog’s and human’s can cause liver issues. Now by our experience this is only if you bathe in it. My husband has sprayed himself down with an alcohol and tea tree mix for months now and is fine. Dilute the solution for your critters. Typically 80% Alcohol and 20% Tea Tree. Don't over saturate their fur either.  She gets maybe 3-5 sprays from the bottle (max of 8 on really bad days but she doesn't get it again for a few days) for her entire body. She's approx 60 lbs. We spray some in our hands and rub it into her skin and fur. We use it more as a mite deterrant for her instead of treatment.

We used the tea tree oil in our steamer, not our rug steam cleaner, we purchased a steamer just for treating all surfaces. The tea tree worked!! My husband religiously sprays himself down in the morning and evenings. If he starts to feel the crawling he sprays down and it goes away. The doctors kept saying the crawling was a histamine reaction not bugs. So why is the crawling and pinpricks stopping after we spray down???

We have finally gotten to a point 8 months later were we don't bag our clothes, change the bed sheets everyday, vaccum everyday and wipe all surfaces daily. I am terrified though that now all of the babies have left the nest that they are going to come back with a force.

They are still in our yard big time. I moved some brush we have yet to burn and felt like I was crawling all over. A sensation I haven't had in months. They are still here, I don't think we will ever get fully rid of them but they are manageable.

We even used a yard fogger filled with tea tree and alcohol (20-80). This is something that’s totally against all of the warning labels on the fogger, so proceed at your own risk. We decided to break the rules and try it. We sealed off the bedroom vents, doorways etc and excessively fogged the bedroom. We fogged it so much we couldn't see 4 ft in front of us. Have a plan before trying this and research research research info on tea tree. Know all warnings regarding tea tree. We would strip the bed, position the pillows up on the headboard (exposing both sides), clear all clothing from floor and prepare a fan next to the window for airing it out later. Once it was all ready we would fog in the morning and let the fog sit in the room for hours. Once we were ready to air it out we would take a deep breath, run into the room, open the unlocked window, put the fan in to air it out and then leave for at least 30 mins. Try not to breath the fog. Just because it's all natural doesn't mean it can't hurt you. After the first fogging we noticed an immediate change in population. We also used the fogger for both of our vehicles. All you do is open a door fill the car and close the door for a few hours. Be sure to air out the vehicle well before use.

We had used the steamer on the bedding and such and it did help but they bury themselves deep into the mattress and framework making it imossible to steam all areas. We choose the outdoor fogger because it creates a fine fog allowing it to seep into all the cracks they hide in.

My suggestion to those fighting these things is tea tree! Pure Tea tree oil in the steamer, tea tree/alcohol in a spray bottle (80% alcohol. 20% tea tree), if you don't have a steamer but have a rug cleaner put it in there too and wipe down all surfaces with it. We also sprinkled borax on the carpets, let that sit for an hour or longer then vaccumed it up thourghly. Borax creates a very fine dust so be sure to wear a face mask to prevent breathing it. Once it settles into the carpet I don't see nor taste it in the air.

The only way we are getting rid of them is to remove all bushes/trees from the yard preventing the nesting and infesting. This is something we prefer not happen since we like our bushes but if it means the bushes or us...it's the bushes.

We tried all of the products available for mites, bedbugs etc. Tea Tree was the only thing that saved my husbands sanity.

Good luck to all if you have any questions regarding our system of mite removal drop me an email.

All I can say is, You’re not going crazy and must base your infestation off of how you feel. If you are still feeling crawling or pinpricks they are still there. If you have critter that go outside observe them. Are they laying peacefully and then jumping up like they got stung? Are they extra itchy with no fleas? Our dog constantly would nibbler her legs, before the tea tree.

We have a professional microscope and could not find a complete sample after months of looking, daily. We did get pieces of them here and there but after months of looking we actually only found one dead adult. We even purchased pocket microscopes from ebay to find these boogers. They are so small, without professional equipment you will have better results finding a needle in a haystack.

Above is an image of the Adult Mite we captured with our microscope (100X). Notice the body cavity is collapsed inward? We assume this is either becuase of natural exfoliation of the exoskeleton or forced sheding by the pesticides. We prefer to believe the latter.

Yes we were very creeped out after finally seeing the monsters!

Tea Tree is an excellent natural miticide, gotta love mother nature. But be careful we have used it frequently but we understand all of the warnings with it. We have not had any problems with it but we respect it.