Kakariki Mites
Moulting kakarikis
Moulting can be very severe in kakarikis and even cause them to behave more cautious than usual.
These abnormal strong feathering disorders are probably often due to infection by a mite.
These mites live, invisible from the outside, on the calamus and near the follicle and were first described in 2011. These mites have so far (with one exception) only been found on kakarikis. Some cases of feathering disorders, especially in the head and neck, of our own birds, or birds known to us, were caused by a mite infection. But this is not always the case.
Common diseases in kakariki:
Mites in the area of the quill
Lately we received more and more inquiries regarding kakariki suffering from feather problems. Some animals had been treated unsucessfully for years in a row.
Mites are very difficult to detect by human eye but can be seen clearly under a microscope. But one can suspect an infestation by a close inspection of a dropped feather. Before we continue on this subject we should consider 2 different types of mites can be found in kakariki.
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Feather shaft mites
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Mites of the neocnemidocoptes species.
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Feather shaft mites
These live mainly in the large flight feathers and are probably not the cause of severe featherloss. Their life circle almost always takes place near the short, proximal, unfeathered section of the quill, called the calamus. Most birds are infected during nesting period.
Neocnemidocoptes-mites (this species)
These can live at the base of any feather. It's habitat is located in the area of the follicle hole. Their habitat is covered by the upperskin and this way they are invisible from the outside. They are the cause of severe feather irregularities. In cases of heavy infestation a bird suffers from severe loss of feathers in the head and neck area.
Because the small feathers drop faster than the large ones, this kind of loss helps to spot infestation sooner. But again: for a correct diagnosis it is still necessary to spot living mites under a microscope! These mites are even smaller than the above described kind. Max 0.4 mm. It probably spends the majority of it's life cycle in the horn like and somewhat thickened part of the quill. The part which is connected to the skin.
This type of mite prefers kakariki as a host and was found only with an exeption on one other parrot species.
Depending on the stage of development and gender it can be either immobile to extremely mobile thus infecting more feathers. Here too the infection of a bird is possibly in the nestling period during the gathering under the wings, first symptoms occur only during or after the sexual maturation of the parakeet.