krosp

Hi everyone, I haven't been on here for a really long time. I'm very sad to say that about an hour ago, we came home to find Piccolo dead on the floor of his cage, with spots of blood all around the floor which seem to have come from his mouth. He had shown no signs of being sick prior to this and we were only out for about an hour, he was totally normal when we left and dead when we got back. Cosmo seems fine too. Unfortunately we really can't afford to take Piccolo to the vet for an autopsy right now (does UQ do it for free?) I haven't really had a good look at Piccolo yet but I suppose I will examine him for cuts or tumours etc. What could have caused this? Is it likely to be something contagious - to other birds, or to humans? We have a 6 month old baby so that is my main concern about disease but of course we will do all we can to sterilise the cage and feeding dishes and everything so Cosmo is unlikely to catch it too. I know you can't diagnose but any ideas at all will be a great help and starting point for me, thank you.

I think it is a boy. I've never had a bird with scaly face myself but know that it won't go away on its own, so I recommend following the others' advice on this.

The seed poos is one thing I have always liked about having budgies as a pet... you know, how they don't smell, and they're usually easy to lift off when wet or dry. So take that away and they become far less appealing haha

My boys have been converted to pellets for nearly 2 months now at the avian vet's recommendation. I have ready all the opinions against pellets on here but decided to go with what the vet was saying. I like knowing that even though it's not a natural diet, there are apparently more nutrients in what I'm feeding my birds, and less fat.... however.... PELLETS MAKE THEIR POOS SO DISGUSTING!!!!! I just can't stand it anymore. I have been avoiding my birds because I gag when I smell their poos, I'm very sensitive to smell and so it is just building up a negative association with my birds now. It's just making the house stink, and is ruining their cage. Although it is great not to have husks. But I feel a bit bad about it... Not really much point to this post as it's not really a question. I'm thinking of trialling half half for a while.. but first their cage needs a serious cleaning. We've been cleaning it as often as usual, it's not like we're leaving it to fester... it's just that seed poos can be easily cleaned off and these are like big brown sloppy ones Any relevant tips or just comments on diet, cleaning cages, conversion, etc would be appreciated.

I'm so sorry :(

awww I don't think she's very old at all.

Is it really going brown like the crusty hen brown cere, or is it more a darkish purple brown wash-over colour?

Here we go.... this is what they look like a lot of the time.

My budgies are so strange. They've been together since about August last year... normally Piccolo was more friendly to Cosmo but Cosmo would biff him away and they had a bit of a hierarchy, they would be friendly on Cosmo's terms but usually Piccolo couldn't get too close... The last week or two they have become completely inseparable! They are always sitting on the same swing, in sync-- both with one leg holding the side of the swing. They now always eat from the same dish at the same time whereas they used to eat at the same time but from different dishes. It's not like they're preening or being really bonded, they're just always in the same space as each other. I will put up a photo of them on the swing when I'm on my own computer. Strange little creatures.

Hehe yep it is.. I used to have one called Maestro after Seinfeld too

And today their poos have changed so we definitely know it's being eaten and not just chewed

It is not unusual, in fact I don't think I have ever brought a budgie home and seen it eat straight away. They are a bit too stressed and it takes some time for them to trust their food source. That is why it is a good idea to minimise stressful things around him, then he will settle in faster, that is really all you can do to get him to eat.

Woohoo-- they are officially eating the pellets!!! Victory!! I will keep them on pellets only for maybe a week until they're very used to it and then reintroduce small amounts of seed and balance out the diet again with lots of variety. Will let you guys know if we see any health improvements from this as the vets predicted

Cosmo taught Piccolo to talk, for sure. (By the way, does my Cosmo share the same namesake as your Kramer? )

Hmmm... I still don't think they're eating the pellets, but at least they're digging around the pellet-covered seeds. I think adult budgies are so stuck in their ways they are very stubborn haha

Well... we did get the place!

I think most evolutionists would say that we didn't "come from" monkeys but that humans and monkeys have a common ancestor at some point. I struggle to think that birds "came from" dinosaurs though. Actually I think that birds are so much smarter than they should be if they are supposed to be related to reptiles

Thanks for the link you gave Amy.. it is a much better technique than the one the vet had me doing

Woohoo - it is working!!! They are eating the pellet/seed sludge!

I was thinking it would be good to have them near the aircon simply because that area is tiled and the rest is carpeted but I guess we can just put them where we currently have them (further away, but on the carpet with a plastic sheet over it)

We are trying to buy a townhouse (identical to ours) except the spot where we would probably put the budgies has an air conditioner immediately above it. It is a very big living/dining room area with just the one air conditioner. So when we do use it (would probably not be often) where would be the best spot for them? The whole room will feel it when it's on... so are they better off as far away from it as possible, or are they okay directly under the actual aircon unit? I'm assuming we should avoid them being in the draught of it (ie next to or opposite the unit) We may not get it anyway but fingers crossed!

I've only just seen this! I'm so sorry for your loss and the stress this is all causing. Hope your little ones all get better :sadsorry:

Thanks Amy. Maybe I will try that - the pellets seem to me like they would be a lot harder to eat than the seed... they might have had a go and just found it too hard to break, or noticed that it didn't have the same shape/texture as seeds and just ignored it. I had thought about doing something like this but wasn't sure so I will think about doing that some time in the next few days. They are still both doing fine - not eating the pellets, but not losing weight anymore, they both gradually lost 3 grams and have now plateaued for a few days. They still eat their small handful of seed and plenty of veggies every day.

The vet nurse said to slowly ease it out from bottom to top but I was just wondering if anyone else was familiar with this or had any experience with it to get another opinion. Normally I don't squash it out and it still goes away on its own. The vet told me that he does it because of stress/anxiety and that it is just a habit that some parrots get into. But I've never heard of it in budgies before, so I was just curious about what others on here thought. Other than the air sucking he seems pretty normal and the vet couldn't find anything wrong in his bloods.

Does anyone have any insight or tips on air sucking? Cosmo has a habit of sucking air in to his crop and swelling up like a balloon. But it does seem to go down again after some time, so is it okay or should I be trying to do something about it? I have tried carefully pushing the air out and it seems to help a tiny bit but not sure if I should just let it go if he seems okay.