Last weekend, I found an ad on Gumtree for a free budgie.
I jumped at the chance seeing as my boyfriend accidentally let out my last budgie, Butters.
The ad stated that the owner wanted to rehome his budgie for free due to it having scaley face & he not being able to give it the care it needed.
I thought "Well! Nothing, I shouldn't be able to handle!" and so, I texted the available number and picked up the budgie on Sunday (22/01/2012).
I drove all the way from The Gap to Wynnum to pick him & and laughed at the fact that he probably wasn't free after using quite a bit of petrol to get there - it didn't bother me though.
A boy, presumably 16 years old brought out a green and yellow budgie.
I was so shocked!
His face & feet were covered in mites & he had an overgrown beak to match.
I asked whether he had any more budgies (mainly because I was concerned that if he had any more, they may be in a similar condition).
He said "I have 3 more that I'm trying to sell before I go back to school because I will be be busy" or something like that.
I assumed that the other budgies were probably healthier than the one now in my bird cage & so I told the boy that the budgie was going to a good home & I left as quickly as I could.
Here are some photo's I took on the night I bought him home:
Fungus himself.
Fungus himself 2.
Fungus' face.
Fungus' face 2.
Fungus' face 3.
Fungus' face 4.
Fungus' face 5.
Fungus' feet.
Fungus' feet 2.
Fungus' foot.
I assume nobody on this forum has ever owned a budgie quite this ill unless they've rescued it.
If you have a pet, you have a responsibility.
Neglect allows something as bad as this to happen to an innocent and voiceless animal.
I texted the boy the next day to tell him that I've never seen a budgie that has looked as ill as Fungus does.
I said that I'd be happy to take the other budgies off his hands & suggested that he buy some cuttle fish & treat his birds for mites ASAP if he was going to keep them.
I could've strangled this kid looking back now.
He appeared not to care that his budgie was in obvious ill health.
On Monday, I booked an appointment with my local vet, Jenny White.
She trimmed his beak & told me what medications to use (as I have seen her for my budgies health issues before) that I already had ready at home.
She also suggested that I give him alot of fresh foods too because he is terribly thin (you can feel his breast bone).
He is so small & skinny that he looks as though he's still a chick learning to take care of itself.
So far, I've given him a treatment of Ivomec on the back of his neck & have also mixed up some Ronivet & water for him to consume.
I also put some lettuce, a stalk of brocolli & a fresh cuttle bone in his cage for him (not that he knows what any of them are).
He sits on the cuttle bone & avoided the fresh veges as he doesn't know of them as food (I assume).
Anyway, he's in good hands now.
It'll be at least 6 weeks before his can join my 4 other budgies in the aviary.
If you have any tips to help me improve his condition, please let me know.
Ellie.