luvnscooter

Thanks for the advice! Where would you purchase citric acid crystals?

Doesn't look like any of those, but thanks for the site. It's a good one to bookmark.

Since last night I've noticed that Bella's poops are looking a bit different. It seems like the urates are mixing with her poop rather than staying in the center. Like the typical budgie poop has the outer brownish green ring and then the urates in the center. Well with her, the urates seem to be more fluid I guess and are mixing with the fecal portion rather than staying in the center. The fecal part is still fully formed, so no diarrhea, she has a clean bottom, and the urates don't seem to have increased. They are just a bit more wet so her poop comes out more of a gray-green color. She doesn't eat fresh food, so she hasn't really eaten anything that could make her droppings more wet. The urine portion hasn't seemed to increase either. It's just the urates that aren't staying in that perfect little blob. Could this be cause for concern? She is molting right now (stress?) and she's recently started eating pellets, so I don't know if either of those two factors could be attributed to it. She seems completely fine other than that. Just thought I'd ask to see if anyone had any insight.

All 3 of my budgies are very different about how they play. Scooter - LOVES toys. Bells in particular. He loves to ring them and slam them against the sides of the cage. He loves to flirt with all of them too. :(Laughing out loud): However, I have noticed that he doesn't play with his toys nearly as much as he did when he was younger. I don't know if that has to do with age, or with him having 2 other budgies to play with (he was a lone bird for the first 9 months that I had him). Sweeney - Loves toys too, but isn't that interested in bells. He'll make a toy out of anything. He likes things that he can pick up. He likes to carry little things around (balls, earrings, etc.) and then throw them. He also likes toys that he can shred. Bella - Never been too crazy about toys. Every once in awhile she may ring a bell one time, but that's about the extent of it. She loves to destroy things. That's way more fun apparently. :(Laughing out loud): Rope, palm shredders, wood...anything she can chew on and shred to bits!

My budgies do it all the time. Especially Scooter. He never shuts up (Laughing out loud). Even when half asleep. :(Laughing out loud): He'll be all tucked in with his head behind his wing and you can still hear him having whole conversations with himself. :(Laughing out loud):

Well, they weren't touching the pellets, so I ended up putting some in a bag and broke it up into tiny pieces with a rolling pin. I put some in little cups next to their seed dishes, and Sweeney has already taken an interest in it. He sat there today and ate a bit, so he seems to like it. He's willing to try anything so I wasn't to worried about him. It's Bella and Scooter that might take awhile. But I think if it's there, they'll eventually start to pick at it. They are budgies after all, and their curiosity knows no limits haha. :(Laughing out loud):

I've heard of Harrison's, but we don't have that around here. I avoid the artificial coloring too. This kind is natural with no artificial coloring. They've kinda been picking at it, but haven't really eaten any yet. I may try smashing it up into tiny pieces for them.

I'm trying to start my budgies on pellets to give them some more variety in their diet. I went to the store today and bought what looked like a good choice. It's Zupreem's Avian Maintenance Natural Diet. Is this a pretty good pellet diet to go with? I've heard a lot of good things about Zupreem so I thought they would be the best. It is the cockatiel blend though. They didn't have it for budgies. They only had the Fruit Blend in the budgie size and I don't like giving them food with artificial coloring. I looked online and the formula appears to be the same for both cockatiel and budgie blends, just with different sized pellets. Do you think the budgies would have any trouble with the larger pellets?

After I brought Sweeney home, I decided I needed a bigger cage to house all 3 birdies together. So I went out and bought a nice big cage. My family keeps saying it looks like a bird playground. But isn't that the idea? :(Laughing out loud): They still aren't quite used to it yet, but they are warming up to it and it gives them a lot more room. I've already put Sweeney in with them and all is going pretty well so far. Him and Scooter are warming up to each other rather quickly. Bella hates him, but I was expecting that. She doesn't like anyone to disturb her perfect world. :(Laughing out loud):

Scooter - Just kinda popped in my head and I thought it fit his personality Bella - Kinda came about because of her mauve color. I thought of Bluebell and Bella came from that. I also like that it is italian for "beautiful." Sweeney - Came from my obsession with Sweeney Todd :(Laughing out loud):

I'd like to introduce everyone to my new baby....Sweeney! I believe his type is clear-flight, dominant-pied, green opaline (someone correct me if I'm wrong (Laughing out loud)) and he's about 3 months old. I just brought him home today. He was born at the bird sanctuary I work at and was handraised. He's an absolute doll! He LOVES people. He's been around other birds, but not budgies, so I think he believes he's human too. :(Laughing out loud): He will happily go to anyone and will fly to you if you call for him. He loves to sit on your shoulder and nibble on your ear. Once he settles in, I'll slowly start introducing him to Bella and Scooter. He's just now starting to make budgie noises, so hopefully he'll start communicating with Scooter and Bella soon.

Thanks for the advice. I will be bringing Sweeney home tomorrow so hopefully all will go well. I'm not sure of the sexes of the other babies just yet, but there are 3 to choose from so hopefully at least one will be a male. They won't be weaned for another couple weeks, so I'll just have to wait and see. I was wanting to get another male, so it's good to hear that yall think another male would be a good idea.

So after having Scooter and Bella for a year and a half, I've decided I'd like to add to my little flock. Budgies are just so addicting! :budgiedance: I'm going to be getting 2 more budgies. I work at a bird sanctuary so they are both coming from there. We have a few handraised babies that aren't quite weaned yet, but when they are, I will be choosing one. The other is a little older baby. He's from a different clutch, but was also handraised and is just the sweetest little thing. He will also be coming home with me. So my question is, if I already have a male (Scooter) and a female (Bella), and I will be adding Sweeney (male), does it matter if the fourth bird is male or female?

Scooter gives me kisses on my nose. I'll ask him if I can have a kiss and he runs up and either waits for me to give him a kiss (nose to beak) or he'll come up and nibble on my nose. It's so cute cause he'll start purring when he does it.

Scooter LOVES to make that sound. He does it whenever he's ringing his bell. It's like he's trying to mimic the ringing of the bell. He'll hit it over and over and make that noise with every ding of the bell. :(Laughing out loud):

I have 2 budgies, as well as 2 cats. One is primarily outdoors and when she's inside, she only cares about finding a place to sleep (Laughing out loud). The other is mostly inside, so she's the one I have to worry about. I have my birds in my bedroom and I always keep my door closed. It has worked out well for me. She has come in before and she doesn't really try to hurt them, but gets on top of their cage and watches them. I'm more worried about her stressing them out than actually getting to them, but it's become a rule in my house that my bedroom door stays closed at all times. Luckily she's not as interested in them as she used to be, but I still keep her out of my bedroom.

I work at a bird sanctuary, and we have 2 tiels housed with 7 budgies. It's a pretty large flight cage and they all get along just fine. We also actually have a budgie and lovebird who are completely bonded with one another. They've lived together in the same cage for the past 10 years. But they are probably the exception to the rule.

Well, I'm happy to report that Scooter is back to normal. He's back to his old self again....singing at the top of his little lungs and flirting with Bella constantly (Laughing out loud). His poops have returned to normal and he's eating very well. I don't know what gave him an upset tummy yesterday, but he seems to be fine now. I'm beginning to think it has to do with the stress of molting. He had an episode almost identical to this when he went through his first molt, and he's currently going through his second. Is that a possibility?

No, I don't weigh him. I probably should have some type of scale to do that, though I'm not sure he would sit still long enough to get an accurate weight. He ate quite a bit after he went back into his cage and took a couple drinks of water too. He seems to be getting back to normal. He's started playing with his bells again and flirting with Bella. And his poos are looking more normal too. I put them both to bed early, so hopefully that will help. I'm just gonna keep a close eye on him tomorrow.

Today Scooter started acting different. He was fine this morning. Was singing, eating, chirping.....all happy budgie behaviors. Then later in the day he started acting really weird. He seemed really sleepy. He wasn't chirping and his poos were looking wetter than normal. The feces was still fully formed, but there was more urine. I took him out of his cage this evening with Bella. He was still very quiet, which isn't at all normal for him, and he seemed to either regurgitate or vomit up his food. He did this twice. I'm really not sure which it was. It looked like he was regurgitating (bobbing head up and down), but then he just kinda dropped the seed everywhere. Some of it came out in clumps. It didn't get all over him like vomit would, but he didn't feed Bella like he normally would when he regurgitates. He then went back to sleep for a little while. He's now starting to perk up much more than he was. He's preening Bella and himself. He's starting to chirp and play a little. His poos are still very wet, and some are just liquid and no feces. I'm guessing it's because he brought up all his food. Is it possible that he ate something that didn't agree with him? Once he threw up everything, he perked up alot. I threw out the food that was in the dish and put some new seed in there. Nothing has changed as far as the environment or diet goes, so I'm puzzled. He's not fluffed up or anything, but I'm concerned he could be sick. Should I just keep an eye on him tonight and watch him closely tomorrow to make sure everything is looking normal again, or take him to the vet in the morning?

Hi nataly....30 days for quarantine is the minimum. It is highly recommended. I didn't do a full quarantine for Bella. I should have, and I believe it is very important, but for Bella it wasn't in her best interest. When I bought her she was handtamed along with another budgie, which she had bonded with. Being alone was causing her problems. I could not keep her and Scooter in separate rooms. Since we have other animals in the house, my bedroom is the safest place for my birds. So Bella could hear Scooter, but couldn't see him. She appeared very stressed, maybe even depressed. She had runny poops, wouldn't eat, and was fluffed up constantly. After 5 days of this behavior and them calling to each other, I decided I would let them be together. I knew that there could be consequences if she was sick, but with the background I had on her from the petshop (she had been with them for awhile since they tamed her themselves, had no visible health problems, and it was the same shop I got Scooter from) and the fact that I have a good avian vet available if needed, I decided it was the best thing I could do for her. It was love at first sight for both of them. She became a completely different bird. She started eating like a horse, was playing with toys, and within a couple days her poops returned to a normal consistancy and she was no longer fluffed up. I've had her for over a month now, and I have 2 very happy, healthy budgies. In my case, I may have just gotten lucky with having a healthy bird, but I feel the stress she was under from being alone could have made her sick. So I would suggest to you, that if at all possible, absolutely quarantine your new bird. It's very important. They need to be kept in separate rooms. Scooter would automatically fly over to Bella's cage as soon as I let him out. Contact like this defeats the purpose of quarantine.

Poor Scooter. He wants Bella to fly with him so badly, but she can't yet. She was clipped and her flight feathers haven't all grown back yet. Scooter was never clipped so he doesn't understand that she can't fly. When they are out sitting on their rope, Scooter will fly all around her and chirp at her, then do a couple laps around the room. He'll repeat this process several times before finally giving up and just resorts to feeding and flirting with her. I feel so bad for him cause he wants a flying buddy so badly. It's funny to watch though because he's so persistant. It's like he's telling her "Come on! You can do it!" :(Laughing out loud):

There was a little green budgie donated to the sanctuary I work at a couple weeks ago. Since we got her, her feathers above her cere have always been brown and stuck together. Now I know that it can be caused by nasal discharge from sneezing, but this little budgie never sneezes. She appears healthy and she eats well. She's about 8 years old and is bonded with a lovebird. She is molting, so I don't know if maybe that has something to do with it. So I'm just curious as to what could be the cause of this.

I got a second budgie at the end of March. So far, Scooter hasn't changed all that much. The ony real changes I've seen are that he doesn't spend all his time flirting with his toys anymore (he flirts with Bella now (Laughing out loud)) and doesn't sing as much as he used to. His behavior towards me hasn't changed at all. He still interacts with me just as before. I think I made the right choice in getting him a companion.

Name: Bella Sex: Female Color: Mauve Other Mutations: N/A