birds get parasites quite easily. Go check out some of the bird forums on yahoogroups or around the net, they should have some quick and dirty parasite faqs.

good luck

Too late to help on the sand issue, but if you bring in rocks, sand, etc, for the bird, you should bake it in the oven for a while to kill anything off. Driftwood you'd use for a perch should also be treated - soak in bleach, wash in hot water, toss in the oven for a couple hours on barely-warm...

Time to go visit a vet - I'd recommend the Night Owl Bird hospital. We've taken the lizards there before (yes, birds and lizards are amazingly similar) and she's great with them.

Whatever you line the cage with should likely not be ingestible or possibly dangerous if ingested. That's why lots of people stick to things like sheets of newspaper... There are all kinds of products in Petcetera or similar pet stores that should also be avoided. Every lizard expert I find outlines things never to put into lizard cages, and one of them is a product popular in every pet store... lizard bark for lining cages. Lizards eat the stuff and get all screwed up inside.

I'm thinking that the best bet for a bird might be a "strainer" at the bottom of the cage - a mesh bottom with a space under it and a removable pan where anything offensive ends up. Thus, bird's walking in it options are cut back a bit.

Oh yeah, and for baking things, make it hot enough so things can't live - I'm thinking 300 degrees Farenheit would do that, but I'm sure that it doesn't need to be that warm. ;)

I would chime in with a visit to the vet too. However, before you do, I would see if there was a general purpose bird de-louser on the market. Just a quick peak in the pet store.

Oh... and that's a great idea about baking sand. I would never have thought of that.