What to do about mites?

[Diane Porter]

A gourd has mites. I picked up a baby, and yikes, specks were running up my arm like crazy. Tomorrow I am going to do something, but not sure what yet.

Walmart sells bags of "cedar mulch," which sounds like it's too coarse, but I thought I'd put a layer of the cedar mulch on the bottom, then a layer of pine needles like I put in before the season started, then some elm leaves, which is what most of the martins are lining their nests with.

Maybe rub Absorbine Junior or Deet on my arm first, and wear surgical gloves, and clean out the gourd as fast as possible and dispose of the old material in a big ziplock baggie with a squirt of bug killer in it. Seems like I'm still going to end up with a load of mites on myself, and I am not cool with that, even if they don't bite people.

Is Sevin in the bottom of the gourd a good alternative? Will it cause the martins to eat poisoned mites?

[DebA]

I would put a quarter teaspon of Sevin in the gourd under the nest or split it between two sides down the outside of nest and call it good. It will take care of the mites. I don't nest change unless a nest is wet. I don't know if they eat mites but I assume they don't...because there wouldn't be any.
Deb

[ChrisM]

Just today, Deb A, there was a martin sitting on the porch of my Conley 2 Troyer Gourd, pecking and pecking something on the porch. I am not certain, but quite possibly mites. So far I have 21 babies, including 4 maybe 1-2 wks old, and 4 eggs. The rest are in various stages of growth. I hope we have a late summer. The martins are going to need it in this part of the country anyway.

ChrisM
NE Kansas

[art]

I did a nest check yesterday in wood housing. Young about 12 days old. This is my second nest checked with well grown young and I've not detected mites. We are still bone dry out here as are the nests in my housing. Is there a correlation between nest moisture/air humidity and mite infestations? Seems most of the mite posts involve colonies in the humid eastern states. Just hypothesizing.

[John Miller]

Art

yes...damp nests and humid conditions seem to cause more mites. Sometimes they "erupt" after a heavy rain gets the nests wet. But you can have mites anytime, and by the time most babies are 10 days old, you have some and nests are crawling with many insects.

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The PMCA recommends nest changes at 10 and 20 days. Some people don't want to use a small amount of sevin and will experiment...

I tap one-fourth teaspoon or so of sevin into the sides of nests, and sometime work it under nests just a little in house tray nests. A compromise may be to pull out the nest and add a tiny bit of sevin in the bowl or tray before adding fresh nest material -- at about 10 days and this may negate the need for a nest change at 20 days,. but officially, sevin is not recommended and nest changes are the only tactic we know that's totally safe and effective. we do know that mites in excess will weaken babies and cause them to jump prematurely.
John M

[tonyg]

I added Sevin when I saw leaves being brought to the gourds and housing..nest check today, 468 nestlings and all housing mite free...