It's not severe, but I was looking at the pictures located on the website HealthesaurusRex left in one of my posts and...my budgies' ceres have the beginnings of it. According to this, I can treat it with paraffin, i.e. mineral oil in these stages. I'm off to get the mineral oil now, and I gather I'll have to wash the rope and switch out the perches once a week until they clear...though, is there a way I could disinfect the wood so I wouldn't have to dispose of it? The mites only live on the body and not the cage...?

Thanks for any and all help.

No, I think the mites live on the cage too.
So I would advise taking the whole cage and turning the hottest water or steam you can in a tub. Mix that with vinegar and soak the cage in it.
That should kill all mites.

I gather that works for the wooden perches too? I treated Snow's beak with the mineral oil, but I couldn't do much because he kept biting the q-tip end with the oil on it...I don't want him to get diahrrhea (sp?), so I'm going to get my boyfriend to help me distract him later. I'll do that as a precaution, I don't want my budgies' ceres eaten away!

Right now the bathroom is under construction...the shower sprung a leak and they're trying to fix it. I'm hoping they get done tonight so I can go ahead and soak their cages.

Anyway, Snow's cere already looks ten times better, and I didn't even do a thorough job.

yeha because the parrafin or vasolene suffocates the mites
sounds like you're doing well
also all the wood needs to be trown out unfortunately, the mites live in the wood.
Make sure you keep an eye on his cage mate

HEATHERsaurusREX - could she "bake" the wood to kill the mites
I have done this with pine brances & pine cones (they love to chew on both) out of my yard to kill any hidden bugs. You put it in the oven on 225 for 25 min., then shut oven off, DO NOT OPEN THE DOOR, and leave them in there for 2 hours. I got this tip off of another website for making homemade perches.

i guess so, i dunno, im just saying what i read on websites about scaley face
by all means try baking the perches, just keep an eye out for symptoms of scaley face coming back, if it does come back you'll prolly need to replace the perches

I hope your birdy feels better soon!

ACKKKKKKKKKKK..........No more scaly face vibes coming your way. So sorry your baby is having trouble with this. Good Luck! You are doing all the right things, so he should be on the mend soon.

Thank you so much everyone!

I will bake the perches as suggested. I also ordered this stuff called SCATT, which is based on moxidectin. Apparently it's non-toxic to the birds, and you just put a drop in between their shoulders and after a few treatments, the mites are gone.

So this in combination with vigilant cage-cleaning should work.

The mineral oil is making a huge difference for Snow! I'm so happy, and they're all being so much more social! AH!!! I thought I was a terrible keet mom! They're all in the floor now playing with each other, even Biskig! Biskig has NEVER been this social!

I'll post pictures in a bit, I've got to upload them.

I know I may seem a little nutty, but budgieboos aren't huge around here.

It's nice to know there are people out there who are as nuts about them as I am.

*squee*

*squee*
That made me laugh!
Hehehe.

And everybody here is/are as crazy as you about them!

Budgieboos are the best. :]

SOOO good to hear he is doing better!! Keep us posted!!