I think these birds have worms!

[3kids4me Super Moderator and Super Mom Find all posts View Profile Close 3kids4me]

You may recall from here that we are parakeet-sitting this week.

While changing the water, I have noticed, several times, there there are little brown worms (alive) in the bottom of the dish. This is completely grossing me out. Are these worms going to remain in my house once these birds go back to their owner? (I'm sort of wondering where the worms are that didn't end up in the water dish...could they be crawling around my house? Ewwww.)

Advice appreciated!

Sharon

[wackymother Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close wackymother]

The food! They're in the food!

Check the food. Birdseed and stuff like that is like some sort of freakish worm-magnet. We always used to buy the tiniest boxes and they still sometimes had worms, ick. Hamster food was the same way.

[chemteach Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close chemteach]

Gross! Sorry to hear about that.

[Glitter Brunello Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close Glitter Brunello]

Note to self: no birdsitting

[3kids4me Super Moderator and Super Mom Find all posts View Profile Close 3kids4me]

Note to self: no birdsitting

You're so right about that one....

The food they gave me is in a giant tupperware....so maybe they have had it forever. The tupperware is clear, but I can't see anything crawling around from the outside, and I sure as hell won't be poking through it to check! (It's a pourable container.)

I did completely clean out the food bowl in the cage and dump it in the trash...now I'd better go put my garbage out....

Ick.

Sharon

[wackymother Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close wackymother]

Sounds like they bought a big bag of food and then decanted it into smaller containers. The food could have come with bugs or aquired them later.

I think the birds are picking up the worms with the food and then accidentally dropping them into the water--birds drink a lot of water with their food, so I think that's more likely than the birds consistently pooping into their water bowl, although they do that. (Veeeery nice.) If the birds had intestinal worms, you would see worms everywhere they had pooped, I would imagine. Although now I'm trying not to imagine any more of this.

Also the worms sound like ordinary meal worms. Ick. Just toss the food and buy some fresh from a store that has a lot of turnover.

[3kids4me Super Moderator and Super Mom Find all posts View Profile Close 3kids4me]

Will these worms get into my house, do you think?

[wackymother Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close wackymother]

No, I really doubt it. They were sealed in a Tupperware container, presumably near the birds and away from your other food, and only in your house for a few days. They're the kind that get into pasta and flour. They turn into those little moths eventually...but you'll never know about that, because they're out of your house now!

[ArtsieAng Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close ArtsieAng]

Note to self: no birdsitting

I'm making the same note.