Hills

I don't know, but it says on the bag not to breath it in. I have breathed in small amounts too and not suffered any ill effects, but it would be best to wear a face mask in future, just in case. :bow: Aha!!! Is that why!!!!

Ah I see, that certainly describes his behavior! Is there a typical time of the day for each mood or does it vary from budgie to budgie?

We've never really interacted with our budgies before as much as we do with Ernie, so i'm not all that familiar with tame budgie behavior. When we go to get Ernie out for a fly sometimes he seems really reluctant and just continually steps up and then as soon as you move your finger away from the perch he hops straight off. When you do finally get him out, he just sits on your finger the whole time. Whereas at other times, usually in the morning he hops from perch to perch right in front of the door, and as soon as you open the door, zoom!!, he's out and flying up and down the hallway. After a few minutes he lands somewhere, usually on a picture or on someones head and is then happy to be held or put back in the cage. My question is, are all budgies this good at communicating their desires and why would he be so different at different times. Is it just he knows when he has excess energy and needs to burn it off and other times he just wants to chill out?

It would pay to level it out with a very slight slope so that any water will drain away rather than pool. (unless of course you want a bird bath in there :question: )

Good luck!! Don't breath in the cement dust its bad for you! :question:

Only because I had been using it as a base for paving and had some left over. I think it might pack down a bit firmer than sand, hence the reason its used for a paving base. If you've already got sand in there definitely use that but I think you'll have to stay off it until it goes off, whereas I could walk on the dolomite straight away.

I mixed cement and dolomite sand together to make a hard floor in the boys rabbit cage as rats were burrowing in, but I kept the rabbits out while it dried. I only used one bag for a cage about 1.5m x 1.8m with about 7 cm deep dolomite. It did the job, I could see the rats had burrowed underneath it from the outside but couldn't get up through it. I mixed the dolomite and cemet together in a wheel barrow before I put it in the cage, but didn't add any water until it was on the ground.

Yeah that's great service Sunnie, you're very lucky to be close to her! When we had to get our last Bull Terrier, Tessa, put down at 13 years of age, the vets at this hospital sent us a card saying they were sorry for our loss and that Tessa was lucky to have had us as owners. That's why we keep going back there and also the reason I hope they are able to look after Ernie as well. I know they genuinely care.

That's no good Elly!! That's exactly the situation I want to avoid. If they diagnose without taking any tests then I'll seek a second opinion from an avian vet. Haha, thats a long way to us near city dwellers, splat.

Thanks Elly & Kaz, yes I did see those and if its not urgent and I can get there during office hours I will use either I J Hough or Pin Needham in town. Our local Vet hospital is only 5 minutes away and they're available 24 x 7, so I was wondering what experiences people have had with general vets compared to specialists. Do they typically resolve most issues or do they often misdiagnose and make the situation worse. I guess Neat aswered this though, if its an emergency after hours I'll go straight to the hospital and see how they go. It can't be any worse than waiting till Monday morning and seeing the specialists. Thanks for the replies!! :question:

Great I'll let Ernie know he has a sibling :rofl: Well I can certainly recommend those budgies to any prospective pet budgie buyer!!

Absolutely!! He's in tip top condition, I just want to be prepared and not have to panic at the time. I like to have action plans in place, I'm a bit anal about things like that...

Thanks Neat, I did see those. I suspect I J Hough would be who our vet would refer us to. I guess no where in Adelaide is "too" far :rofl: but they're not as convenient as our hospital which is only 5 min away.

Hi Liv, I was searching SA avian vets and saw this. What was the outcome and who did you end up seeing?

I phoned up our local veterinary hospital today to see if the vets there are avian vets. We know all the vets there really well as we own a bull terrier who has had more visits than the average dog over her 11 years and we trust them completely with her. The vet nurse, who is also really good, said they're not specialist avian vets but do treat a lot of birds and are familiar with the common illnesses and also know enough to refer us onto an avian vet if they are unsure of the problem. Unfortunately I'm finding it really hard to find a local avian vet and the one we used to see in town is no longer there. Would you recommend I just take our budgie there if he's unwell or should I continue to seek out an avian vet to be sure? What experiances have other had with general vets and their budgies? As we're up in the hills our vets have to see a lot more than just dogs and cats, so I suspect they would be more multi-skilled perhaps than your typical suburban vet. EDIT: Oh the other thing is they're available 24x7.

Are they Ernie's parents?

Welcome! Pardon my ignorance (as you can see I'm only new here ) but what is a parrotlet? Do we call them something different here?

HAHAHAHAhahaha!!! That is definitely your best signature Jimmy!!!

I want a yacht

Here he is. As you can just see Ernie is listening intently

Thanks all, I must admit my 10yo son Angus has really stepped up and is doing a great job looking after Ernie. every night before we cover Ernie, Angus pulls up a stool and reads him a bedtime story for about 10 minutes. I took the cutest photo of them doing this last night. I think this has been a great experience for him, as well as the rest of us!

Yeah we had a female called Candita that was nuts. i didn't want to say anything to Liv & Tam, but she looked alot like Bumble. She used to hang upside down on her perch and would nearly take your finger off if you put it close to her. She was part of the reason I wanted to get our next one from a breeder as I assume she was an avery bird that never really adjusted to a cage. We ended up putting her in an avery too and she was still nuts, but I assume a bit happier.

Ah that explains it, oh well, no hurry.

Thanks Sunnie, that would be great Yes an aution would be very interesting, although I'm a renound impulse buyer so it could be a bit dangerous.