kirsty226 Posted September 7, 2016 Share Posted September 7, 2016 I think our cat is bringing redmites into our house. We have a small colony (?) of redmite in the chicken coop which I am trying deperately to kill off, but am only really succeeding in keeping the numbers down. However, we have a long haired 1 yr old cat who loves sitting on top of the eglu and watching our 2 chickens. I think she must be bringing them into the house on her fur, then jumping on the beds because over the last 3 days, my children and I have beeen getting bitten in bed. Today, my eldest said she found a couple of tiny pale grey bugs on her, during first lesson at school and I had the same this morning - 2 tiny bugs on my arm. They looked like red mite before they've eaten. I'm frantically googling, and have found that redmite can indeed infest human homes but there is little to suggest what treatment would be safe for our beds. I'm getting the kids to strip their beds as I write and I intend covering them the beds not the kids!) with dichotomous earth then hoovering it off before bedtime. I'd thought about hte smoke bombs but we have tropical fish and they're pretty sensitive to insecticides etc..... Any other suggestions??? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eggshell Posted September 7, 2016 Share Posted September 7, 2016 DE isn't good to breathe in. I wouldn't use it indoors. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beantree Posted September 8, 2016 Share Posted September 8, 2016 First thing to do is positively identify what is in the house as it may be something else completely, like head lice? Unlikely the cat is bringing them in, as red mite stay hidden in the daytime as short a distance from their 'hosts' as possible. As said DE is toxic stuff in the form of airborne dust and we don't use it at all. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Dogmother Posted September 8, 2016 Share Posted September 8, 2016 Ditto the above; I would get a professional pest control agent in to identify the problem and properly fumigate the house. With this humid weather, you'll have an infestation in no time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luvachicken Posted September 8, 2016 Share Posted September 8, 2016 As said DE is toxic stuff in the form of airborne dust and we don't use it at all. I read this on another post and wondered how is it safe for chickens if they breathe the dust once it has been put on them ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Dogmother Posted September 8, 2016 Share Posted September 8, 2016 Prob me who posted that IT can be very dangerous to both humans and birds if it is inhaled... that's why we no longer dust birds. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luvachicken Posted September 8, 2016 Share Posted September 8, 2016 Prob me who posted that IT can be very dangerous to both humans and birds if it is inhaled... that's why we no longer dust birds. Thanks Dogmother, I think it was you but that's fine I will use mine for killing slugs in future then - it's quite effective at that. What should I dust my girls with instead ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Dogmother Posted September 8, 2016 Share Posted September 8, 2016 I wouldn't bother dusting them - it's not very effective and very messy - read up on the posts about spot-ons instead - much better way to go. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luvachicken Posted September 8, 2016 Share Posted September 8, 2016 I wouldn't bother dusting them - it's not very effective and very messy - read up on the posts about spot-ons instead - much better way to go. Will do, thank you Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chickabee Posted September 9, 2016 Share Posted September 9, 2016 I've had red mite on me before and never been bitten. Have you got a felt roof on your coop? If so remove it and destroy it they just love living in and under that. Then once you've cleaned and treated the coop replace it with another form of water proofing. Good luck. It's making me itch just thinking about it. And good luck with whatever the critters in your house are Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chickabee Posted September 9, 2016 Share Posted September 9, 2016 Just read you've got an eglu. Sorry. Have you taken it all apart and jet washed it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chooksRCute Posted September 10, 2016 Share Posted September 10, 2016 A word to the wise, move your eglu well away from the run area if you are jet cleaning to remove mites. Otherwise you'll just wash them out alive & then they'll make their way back in! USE Poultry shield or Total Mite kill in a pump sprayer if you can't move it - these both kill mites on contact & no need to rinse off Good luck Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kirsty226 Posted September 16, 2016 Author Share Posted September 16, 2016 Thanks for all your valuable comments and advice! To update, I took a mite to the vet who thought it was a harvest mite, which apparently lives in the garden and which the cat could very easily be bringing into the house as she likes to lie in long grass etc. So we banned her (the cat, not the vet!) from the house apart from the kitchen, and we fumigated the rest of the house. No more bites for us. But I wasn't overly happy keeping the cat out all the time, and neither was she. I'd thoroughly cleaned the eglu but there wasn't really a major infestation there - there are a few red mite but they're generally kept under control with regular clening, spraying, and I do use DE in the corners (but not on the chooks). BUT when it came to emptying the kitchen bin into the wheely bin outside I was horrified to find a massive infestation in and on the wheely bin!! Thousands of grey, hungry red mites inside!! Apparently they will bite humans and pets if there are no birds around for them to feed on. I had put some old bedding, bagged up, in there after spraying the eglu with mite spray, so I can only assume there had been some survivors who have multiplied beyond anything I could have imagined! Eurghhh. So the cat has been sitting on top of the bin, as they do, and getting them in her fur. Mystery solved and sorted, and I am now an expert in mites. Unlike our vet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chickabee Posted September 16, 2016 Share Posted September 16, 2016 Yuk . I really didn't know they could bite. I've had them all over me. They make me itchy but I've never been bitten. I've just had the summer from hell trying to get rid of the little blighters from my cube. Persistence wins. however the last few days I've been coming in with a few on me, they're in another coop nowhere near the cube. So the battle has begun again Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Dogmother Posted September 16, 2016 Share Posted September 16, 2016 I know it sounds weird, but it's worth undressing on the back doorstep and putting your coop cleaning clothes straight into a very hot wash. Then shower using a dog flea shampoo, which usually contains permethrin. This will stop them.infesting your house. Harvest mites, sometimes called chiggers, are small orange critters which leave a tiny blister-like bite. They can be carried into the house on pets,but it is unusual to get them unless you are surrounded by arable land. One of my lurchers likes to hunt mice in the fields at harvest time; she ends up with chiggers in her ears and has to put up with me using Thornits on her! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bramble Posted September 16, 2016 Share Posted September 16, 2016 Kirsty226 I've just read your post about the wheely bin and got a strange sense of deja vu!! I didn't know we had red mite, I've been doing my usual anti red mite routine and I certainly haven't spotted any red mite in the cube, but having emptied the old bedding into the compost bin at the weekend I went out yesterday to find the lid of the bin a solid mass of something (I'd assumed they were lice, but perhaps they were red mite that haven't fed yet?). They were all zapped with TMK and obviously I will use it over the coming days to mop up any stragglers, but I have never come across this before, so I was actually quite relieved to read your post and find I'm not the only one! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Dogmother Posted September 16, 2016 Share Posted September 16, 2016 If you are able to burn the litter, that's best. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
