LJS

Hi there everyone, I was wondering if its okay to have grevillea leaves left on my budgies perches. I put new ones in when he has stripped the old ones of bark but have always pulled off the green leaves. Is it okay to leave the leaves on, will they hurt him if he eats them? Thanks for the feedback

Thanks so much Libby

Hello everyone, I have posted a thread on Livs tiel forum a couple of days ago but as yet have had no replies. If anyone on this forum also has tiels could they please maybe have a look at my posting on Livs forum and maybe give me some advice or suggestions as to the aggressive behaviour of Sunny, my mums tiel. Thanks very much, my posting explains all background and behaviour of him. Lisa

Hi there, We may be adopting a tiel that has been found by friends of ours if they cant find his owners. We have 1 budgie who is only a few months old. Could someone pleasae give me any experiences of having a budgie and a tiel together out of their cages. I would not house them in the same cage as my budgies cage would not be big enuff for both of the birds. Would my budgie be safe as far as fighting with the tiel? I have never owned a tiel before so i am not familiar with their behavour. Any thoughts and comments will be welcome. Cheers

HI again, followed all your advice. This morning i bought Cheeky 2 new dishes, one for seed, one for water. I didnt even realise you could get dishes that clamp on the inside of the cage. How perfect. Put these in this arvo and i am so happy to see him pecking away at his seed, right near his top perch. YOu can tell i am a novice at all this cant you? I am still persevering with the fruit and vegies but still no go but its early days yet. I also got him a ladder for his cage with little round thingys on it. He actually pushed the ladder out of his way to get to his new seed dish. Can you please suggest any other toys that budgies really take to that i can put in his cage to keep him active during the day when no one is at home? There are so many to choose from and i dont want to clutter his cage too much. He lets us put our hand in the cage and give him a scratch on his neck and head but to get him out of his cage we have to hold him. Out of his cage he will walk from finger to finger and even perch on a shoulder for a very short period of time but then he takes off. One wing is clipped so he cant get far or fly into anything. I have found that he likes to sit on our small DVD book shelves which are close to where our lounges are. He will sit there very quietly for as long as you let him, sometimes tweeting away. I think he likes it because he feels sheltered there. Its only just on a week that we have had Cheeky now so i dont think he is doing too badly, and even better with his shiny new dishes..lol...will keep you up to date on his progress. Cheers...LisaOh nearly forgot, is it okay to put bottle brush twigs in the cage? And do i strip the leaves off? Not sure about this. Thx Thanks

Hi again everyone, i thought i would just let you know what i have been trying as far as getting him to eat mixed seed and not just the millet sprays. Well i have no possible way of raising his seed and water containers as they are the type that fit into a large gate at the bottom of either side of the cage. Why do they make cages like this? I now realise they are not really suitable...and yes it makes sense to raise his food but i have no way to do this. So this morning i lowered both his perches to seed and water level. Now, i really do understand that a budgies natural instinct is to be as high as possible and i felt really awful lowering his perches because of course he immediately started climbing and hanging off the top of the cage. Oh dear! Well i figured he couldnt hang there all day so i kept placing him on the perch that is now right in front of his seed, its always been in front of his seed but the other was higher up. I lowered the higher one right down as well. Yay....he ate some mixed seed. And i actually saw him drink some water. Now it is bed time...and yes of course he wants to be up high to sleep. So I have put one perch back up high for him tonight, im guessing tomorrow i am going to have to lower it again to encourage him to be down near the food again. Is it okay to do this? I dont want him stressing out by moving his perches daily but cant work out another way around this. I am still offering grated apple and carrot but he is not tempted at all but i will persevere with the fruit and veg. By the way my daughter named him Cheeky, yes the other was Cheeky as well...but she loves the name so much and it really does suit him. Would like to post pics but am afraid my camera is on the blink, but will when possible. Thanks again and hope i dont sound too much like a rambling loony but its great to be able to post concerns and get opinions. Cheers Lisa

Thanks Ellly, i will try this as of tonight, but i do see one little hiccup. This little fellow has not even ventured to the bottom of his cage to where i have seed in a dish for him and also he has seed in a feeder which he has not moved to either, infact he tends to stick to the top perch and hasnt moved to the lower perch or bottom of the cage. So the millet sprays are hanging from the top of the cage directly within his reach. I have put him on the bottom of the cage to show him the other seed but he immediately jumps back up to the top perch. Also i have placed him on the seed feeder and he jumps back up to the perch. Hes a good jumper...lol. The only time he is off this perch is when we take him out of his cage..but then maybe i should remove the perch high up to encourage him to be lower in the cage? Would that be an option do you think? Thanks Lisa

Hi Elly, yes im sure he is not touching the mixed seed or hulled oats. The only seed he is touching is the millet sprays. I would love to be able to blow the husks off of the top of his seed but he hasnt touched it since we brought him home which is a few days ago. He strips the millet sprays very quickly though. I am trying carrot and apple and getting him to nibble only a tiny bit. That is okay i know that comes with time but at the moment is the millet sprays enough?Oh by the way if your wondering why i am replying at 2am in the morning, its cos i just got home from work and thought i would have a quick look at any suggestions before bed....yawwwwwn. Hmmm will check tomorrow. Thanks guys Lisa

Hi again, i apologise if this is in the wrong topic but still finding my way around. After my last post about our sick budgie i should say that i did take him to the vets and he was diagnosed with canker but unfortunately we lost him. I have now got another baby budgie for my daughter. He is taming up very quickly and really are pleased with his progress but i now have a different problem. He came from a pet shop. He was eating hulled oats and mixed seed in the shop. Saw him eating this myself, food was on the bottom of the cage. I have the same food in his cage at home but he wont go near it. I then tried the seed sprays in the raw form and he strips these very quickly but that is all i can get him to touch. I am trying fruit and vegies and realise this is a gradual process but just wish i could get him to touch the other seed as well. Any suggestions? Thanks Lisa

Hi everyone, I am new to this forum. Have been searching the internet to see if i can come up with any answers in regards to my daughters budgie. We have only had him approx 6 weeks. When we got him his cere (?) where the vents are, was nearly all blue. Now the colour of this area except for a tiny tiny portion up the top is and the only way i can describe it seems to be nearly a bruise colour, like that really dark purple. Its not black and its not brown. Now in the feathers that grow directly at the top of the cere are brown and stiff to touch. I went to where i got him and was told it sounded like an upper respiratory infection. So i got an antibiotic to put in his water, did this for 7 days and its made no difference. Since then i have spoken to an ex vet nurse who now works in a different pet shop to where i got him and she said she would bet her dollar on it that it sounds like scaly face mites. I said it doesnt really look crusty to me or flakey or scaly. She has given me a small bottle of benzal benzoate and liquid paraffin. Told me to paint this on the cere, and to check his lower beak area and legs. okay, i have searched the internet on information about this scaly face mite and all the information and pics i see of it doesnt look like what my budgie has. Cheeky is eating and pooping okay. Although can not get him to touch anything but seed and hulled oats. Sometimes i think he looks a little miserable. Can anyone please give me some idea if scaly face mites does have different looks and i am reluctant to start painting this stuff on. what if its not scaly face mite? will this stuff hurt him? and also what if it gets in his vents? I am not experienced at having to actually hold a budgie to do this although i have had several that lived happily and healthily for many years..my daughter loves this little guy and i really want to get this problem fixed. I have been to several vets but they are reluctant to see small birds. I do have the number of a fellow that lives a considerable distance from me and charges an arm and a leg. I live at Robina on the Gold Coast. Is there anyone out there that can help me with information or suggestions? Really dont want to lose this little guy. Thanks Lisa