Sammy- Green Cheek Conure- Added info

Question
Hi Again,

Thank you for the information yesterday about sammy.  I took him to to vet last night and he does not have an infection or anything else.  But when I came home my pionus was dead at the bottom of her cage.  After searching everything and tending to sammy, we found little bugs in their food that I just purcahased a day ago.  They are called Granary weevil.  Are these pests deadly to birds?  I have another bird at home with no signs as of yet and they two that I have left living have another appointment with the vet tonight. If you could give me any information about these Granary weevil's I would greatly appricate it. I just don't know what to do.
Thanks

Answer
Hi again, Melanie.

I'm glad to hear Sammy is OK afterall.  However, I'm concerned about Sammy now that you say your pionus died.  I'm so sorry.  Perhaps your pionus was sick and Sammy started to get the same, but was able to fight it off with his own immune system.  I suggest you take your pionus to the vet for a necropsy in order to find out why s/he died.  This is to ensure your other birds don't get the same if it's a bacteria, virus, etc.  

Evidently, you have your birds on a seed diet.  This is where the granary weevils are hiding.  See this article:  
http://www.ipm.iastate.edu/ipm/iiin/ricewee.html
There's many websites regarding these pests on the internet.  Use "granary weevils" as your search string.  Not harmful to birds.  In fact, in the wild, birds eat insects and such.  

Not only is seed bad for parrots, but it can harbor aflotoxins and other nasty things.  When you purchase seed off the shelf, you have no idea how long that seed has been for sale.  In fact, these pests could have been in the seed since the seed was being grown.  Sometimes, seed can harbor mold, etc., which make birds sick when they eat it.  I'd highly recommend you switch your birds to a more healthy diet, leaving seed as a treat or reward and use only high quality seed.  Buy any seed from reputable sources and check the seed out before buying to see if you can see any bugs in it.  Some seed contains moths, which are also harmless to birds...aggravating to us, but harmless to birds (you can find these same moths in flour, dry cereals, etc.).  My website can get you started on converting them over.  Here's the URL if I haven't given it to you before:

http://www.angelfire.com/falcon/birdinfo/index.html

Keep me informed and if I can help you any further, let me know.

Chrys