| I'm in mite hell. It sucks. Don't let this happen to you.
It started with a broody bird, Elizabeth. My poor girl decided it was time to hatch some chicks and stubbornly sat on her nest for weeks. At first I took her off the nest several times a day but it did no good. Then I decided to get some fertile eggs and let her hatch them, but I had a hard time obtaining some so the plan stalled. Meanwhile, I took her off her nest twice daily, making sure she ate, drank, and pooped. But she wasn't dustbathing.
Next thing you know, I'm covered in nasty, itchy bites from head to toe. I washed everything I own and all of my sheets in hot water. That night, I got more bites. The next day I picked Elizabeth up out of the nest box and looked at my shirt. Mites were crawling all over me. I covered the chicken in diatomaceous earth, put everything I was wearing directly in the washing machine, and took a bath in soapy water.
From there, it all just escalated. Each day, I'd put my clothes directly in the washing machine after handling the chicken, and take a soapy bath too. I washed my sheets and towels. I changed clothes and showered several times a day. At night I'd get more bites.
Elizabeth snapped out of her broodiness quickly actually. I noticed that her comb had gone pink instead of red and she had lost a lot of weight, and I locked her out of the coop so she couldn't get to her nest. Then I let my roommate's daughter spray her with the garden hose a few times. That did the trick. Elizabeth's dustbathing again, but I'm still getting new bites.
Next up for inspection was the cat. I have three, but two of them have the flea-treatment stuff that kills everything on them. The third one was covered in mites and was bringing them into the house and into my bed. She's also too fat to bathe herself properly. I rubbed diatomaceous earth all over her, and then got some more of the flea stuff and put it on her. I locked her out of my bedroom, washed the sheets and the clothes again, etc. My poor cat was miserable because she wasn't getting her usual amounts of cuddles and was locked out of my room. And I continued to get more bites.
Today, I washed the clothes again, picked up everything from my very messy floor, and vacuumed everywhere. Before vacuuming, I put diatomaceous earth on my mattress, on my sheets, and all over the floor and a large area rug. At times I've even rubbed it all over myself.
From what I've read, the little fuckers are nocturnal, unless you have a kind that feeds all day. Most articles I found on them recommend pesticides, which I had not considered using and still would not like to use. That said, I'm now wearing my "Buzz Off" shirt with pesticide in it because I'm that frantic about the whole mess.
I'm open to any advice you've got, but I'm also writing this because I figure it's worth sharing. If you've got a broody who isn't dust bathing, check her for mites and put some diatomaceous earth on her. |
