Bird Mite Control across Cape Town

Most bird mite cases in Cape Town come from nests built in roof spaces, under eaves, behind gutters and in air conditioning ducts by feral pigeons, common (Indian) mynas, house sparrows and European starlings. The mites involved are usually the northern fowl mite (Ornithonyssus sylviarum) and the red poultry mite (Dermanyssus gallinae), both of which are barely visible, around the size of a full stop, and pale or greyish until they have fed, when they turn reddish. They cannot complete their life cycle on people, but they will bite while searching for a bird host. On smallholdings in the Boland, the same mites can move from chicken coops into nearby houses. Rat mites from rodent nests in the roof cause very similar symptoms, so we check for rodents at the same time.

Bird mite cases are usually a puzzle by the time people phone us. Someone has changed washing powder, seen a doctor, washed every sheet twice and sprayed the bedroom. The answer is nearly always above the ceiling, and the kind of roof you have changes where we look.

Where bird nests hide in different Cape Town homes

City Bowl and Atlantic Seaboard flats

Pigeons favour ledges, window boxes, the gap behind an air conditioner condenser and the tops of old drainpipes on apartment blocks. A nest on a ledge sends mites in through the nearest window frame, so one flat can be miserable while the rest of the building has no idea anything is wrong.

Older Southern Suburbs houses

In places like Rondebosch, Claremont and Plumstead, clay-tiled roofs have often had decades to shift. Cracked ridge mortar, a slipped tile or a rotten bargeboard is all a myna or sparrow needs. Old ceilings with gaps around cornices and light roses then give the mites an easy route down into the rooms below.

Newer homes in the Northern Suburbs and Blaauwberg

Estates in Table View, Parklands and Brackenfell look sealed from the street, but many have open eaves between the rafters. On the windy West Coast, birds pick the sheltered side of the roof, so the nest is often on the side of the house away from the prevailing wind. Roof-mounted geysers and solar water heaters also leave gaps where their pipes pass through the tiles.

Thatch in Constantia and the Helderberg

Thatch gives sparrows and starlings nesting room in the roof itself, and a nest tucked into the bundles can be hard to spot from the garden. We look for droppings and nesting material inside the roof space, along the wall plates and at the gables, rather than relying on what is visible outside.

Bird mites or something else?

The crawling, prickling feeling is real, but birds are not always behind it. Before blaming mites, rule out a few common causes:

• Fibreglass insulation. If someone has recently worked in the roof or laid new insulation, loose fibres drifting through downlighter holes can make skin itch and prickle.
• Winter skin. Cape Town houses are often cold and damp, then heated hard. Dry skin, hot showers and heaters can produce an itch with no marks at all.
• Something new against your skin. A different washing powder, fabric softener or body product can cause a reaction that feels a lot like bites.
• Fleas. Bites clustered around the ankles, and pets scratching, point to fleas rather than mites.

If we inspect and find no nest, no birds and no mites, we will tell you plainly. That is a useful result too, because it sends you back to your doctor with one possible cause already ruled out.

What helps us before the visit

Send us photos of the roofline from the street and the garden, especially any spot where you have seen birds coming and going during spring. Let us know whether there is a hatch into the roof space and how easy it is to reach, and whether neighbours keep chickens, pigeons or an aviary nearby. If you are seeing tiny specks on a windowsill or white basin, press clear tape over them, stick the tape onto white paper and keep it for the technician. That small sample can save a lot of guessing. It also helps to know when the symptoms started and which room is worst.

Once the nest is out, the gap it came through needs closing, so read about bird proofing in Cape Town as well. Our bird mite control in Cape Town page explains the treatment itself, and the suburb list below has local notes, such as Rondebosch and Table View.

Quick answers

Bird Mite Control by suburb