Hi, I am a 30 year old woman from India. No one here seems to have much information on Bird mites. I know my husband and I have a home infestation from these as we’ve seen them on our black pillow cases. They appear to be whitish in colour and are the size of about a dot. We called a reputed pest control company who said that they could help and sprayed our house twice. The result was that the day that our house was sprayed, the bugs bit even worse. So we gave up on the pest control company.
After much research, we now follow the following strategies – Iron all our clothes, including undergarments before wearing. Iron the mattress as well as the bed linen before retiring for the day. Wash all our clothes in borax and mop our floors as well. We have also sprinkled borax on the bed mattress (in the dry form). I also spray myself with Listerine in the bathroom. Despite all this, we seem to get bitten, especially me. The crawling sensation is even worse.
I finally found an entomologist in India, but not in the same state as mine, who suggested the following:
Mix 100 ml of Chloropyrifos, DDVP and Mit – 505 (a miticide) in 5 litres of water. Spray everywhere in t he house including the bed and sofa. Seal the premises. Use phosphine tablets (Cellphos) in the house and leave it sealed for at least 6 hours ideally overnight. Air out the house the next day and mop floors with disinfectant.
My question is, will all this actually help? Since catsmine seems to be a person who is aware of these critters, I could really use some kind of reassurance. If not, I do not want to try the tablets as I’ve read that they are poisonous to humans and possibly lethal in the wrong quantity.

Have all of the sources of the mites been eradicated? Bird nests need to be removed from the exterior of the building and chimneys. Any organic insulation, rodent nests, pockets of organic debris such as leaves also need to be removed and the area cleaned.

After the sources of where the mites are coming from have been dealt with, the mites can be.

Thank you for responding so quickly. Well, I haven't yet found the source. It has been two months and we have been scratching our heads as to where they came from in the first place. Our apartment is surrounded by trees. A few also house bird nests. But they are too high to reach. I do have my doubts on the vents of our building. They house pigeons. I will check and let you know. Thanks once again

You probably just named the sources. Good luck.

I have contacted various pest control officials, all of them refuse to use the chemicals mentioned in my above post. Moreover, they refuse to actually believe us that bird mites could persist for so long. I am feeling immensely depressed.

Sorry to take so long getting back to you. I was checking to make certain that the advice on Birdmite.org was safe.

It seems like a fairly good website with a lot of information that may help you.

Their Strategies page, Bird Mite Treatment Strategies For The Home (http://birdmites.org/strategies.html), has several methods that should work better for you than what has already been recommended. Just be careful with any measures you use. Even essential oils can be dangerous if over used or improperly used.

If you are still having problems, are you positive it is mites? Could it be a fungus or mold causing your issues?

Well, we've collected a few samples of the insects and sent it to one of the pest control agencies for identification. These things crawl, so mold and fungus are eliminated. The agency should take a couple of days to tell us what this is. I had studied the birdmite.org website quite thoroughly a while back, tried a few things, not all of it though, but nothing seems to work. In the meantime, the guy from the agency who visited our house, did not sound too hopeful of being able to use pesticides to eliminate the problem. He said we would probably have to wait and watch whether these things disappear on their own. He also asked us to keep everytihng from bed linen to the mattress in the sun for the longest time possible.Thanks for responding, will keep you posted.

I too have sent some samples off to a lab through a doctor that thinks I'm dilusional! (We've seen 5) I'm appalled that the medical community doesn't know more about this. We have been miserable since March. We go through great lengths to try to stay ahead of them - even to the point of getting rid of our upholstered furniture (which helped a great deal!) Lab results should come back this week. I could write a book on the misery associated with these mites! Good luck with anyone that has this. I will update later.

Hey manamana. I am sorry to hear your plight. To be honest I don't think there is any good way to get rid of them. I am still not free of them and suppose never will be. I did visit a dermat in the course of time and the histamines he has prescribed do help alleviate the symptoms a little and I don't feel itchy throughout the day. My dermat believes that I am allergic to them and hence feel them the most. In the meantime, I have also changed a lot of my lifestyle just to have a good day and a good night's sleep. Do let me know of the results as well as the course of action taken by you. May you get the strength...

I did find a bird nest close to my gate entrance last night slightly above head level and where I walk from the front of the house to the back yard. Go through that gate all the time. I had looked before but missed this one. It was in a bush and not a real tree. I zapped it with poison and all kinds of things flew out. I am hoping that this was the culprit. I sealed the nest in a double ziplock bag and didn't even take a pic before discarding. Within 10 minutes, they were biting at me worse than ever, but in the meantime, I'll keep doing what we've been doing by washing clothes in hot water, changing the sheets every single night and mopping floors, etc. Still waiting on the lab results but am excited that I might have found the host. You have to treat your automobile as well. Will let you know. I think www.birdmite.org is a great website.

You're not alone... We've been to 5 docs and they think we're dilusional. Look for a bird nest! You HAVE to find it and get rid of it!

Pigeons? Got to get rid of them too!

I'll keep my fingers crossed for you. If eradicating the nest solves your problem, nothing like it! :)

Went to a dermatologist who was treating us and then on second visit when we produced whatever we found on our body, he labeled us dillusional. If at all possible, don't carry in a bag of anything. They suddenly get a glazed look on their face like it's the 60's and we're on drugs! Good luck to everyone.

Hey mamana, is your problem solved? Did you get any results from all the measures that you'd taken? Do keep me posted of any developments.