lil_fuzzy

I'll definitely try that. Just good to know it can possibly be fixed:) Thanks.

The last few days the birds have taken to this extreme screaming for hours every day. I have to block my ears to be able to be in the same room as them (which I am a lot because they are in my office) and I regularly have to leave the room to get away from them. I'm sure my old budgies never made this much noise for so long.. the occasional scream obviously, but not like this... Occasionally they will sit and gently chirp and groom each other and that's cute and comfy on the ears, so I hope they'll start doing more of that and less of the screaming when they settle in a bit more... Please tell me it's a settling in issue...

We use laser pointers for the cats too:) They love it. They recognise the little click when we turn it on, so they instantly start looking around for the red dot:)

Thanks:) They have room to actually fly a bit now, before they could only do a little hop between the perches. They also seem more relaxed somehow. Around this time normally they'll be getting sleepy, and every night I found them both hanging off the side of the cage, refusing to move until I covered them up. But tonight they're on their favourite perch, asleep, and they're not covered yet:) Makes me feel a bit better about removing them from their big aviary too:)

We bought a cage for the new budgies last week, it cost $45 and was a little small I thought. So yesterday my partner said 'why don't you just get another one and merge the two?' And this turned out to be a good idea. Two of the small cages cost $90, while getting one cage which is the same size as the two merged ones would have cost $160. We also bought they heaps of new toys:) Here's the old cage: And here's the new and improved one:

Just talked to our friend. Apparently the landlord came by a couple days ago to pick up the birds. Our friend wasn't home, but his housemate was, and she just said 'dunno what's happened to them, we haven't had anything to do with them' and because of the big lock on the aviary he had no reason to think otherwise. Apparently he also commented on the water in the aviary being low, which we filled up a week and a half ago, and there was no water or food at all when we did that. The birds woulda been dead now without our intervention, so I can't say I feel bad about taking his birds.

I spoke too soon:) My partner moved the millet from where they perch at night to just above the bowl with the seeds, and a few minutes later the male was having a taste:) He then started eating his seeds, so I dunno if he liked the millet.. Then my partner made a sudden move, making the birds jump, and one of them accidentally pushed the dangly toy with a bell on it, and then stared at it for a few seconds before pushing the bell again:) So I guess they'll figure it out:)

My birdies don't like to experiment much. They haven't touched the toys, they won't touch fruit and veggies, and they won't even touch the millet spray I put in yesterday. The ones I used to have as a teenager liked to experiment and were curious of new things, but these will only eat seed and the rest of the time they just sit there chirping and socalising, showing no interest in things around them... I thought budiges were supposed to be inquisitive? They have settled in nicely tho, they don't hide in a corner as soon as they see me like they used to. They'll even sit and eat when someone's in front of the cage. And they used to freak out if there was a cat in the room, even if it was at the other end of the room and not paying any attention to them, but now they just look at the cat as it walks in and then ignores it, which is good. Would be nice if they got into the toys and food tho, would make their lives more interesting I reckon..

Cool, no rush then:) I'll try to get something asap, but I don't know if any vets are open today.... Will check, if not I'll just get something next week. Thanks:)

I don't know what they were thinking when they decided to leave them:( I haven't treated them for anything yet, does the ivermectin also do worms or is that a seperate treatment?

Here are some more photos. You can see the little bump above the eye in this one, and also the poo: Same bird again: And the other one: About the mites... are they infectious to other animals, say cats?

I'm starting to think that one is a male too, I was looking at their ceres this morning and that one is a completely different colour... Where would I be able to get ivermectin? Pet store? Vet? And you know how when they do a poo it's supposed to just drop? Well for the one I now think is a hen (the one with suspected mites) it just kinda hangs out of her for ages, without dropping.. what does that mean?

One of them has a tiny lump above its eye, which reminds me of a photo I saw in here of a birds which had mites... I can't get a photo of it because they get spooked when I point the camera at them... But how would I treat that?

Yeah, I like them They've settled in really quick, I must say. They've been chirping away half the day and moving around, and whenever they hear budgies outside they have fits of very loud screaming... They get a bit spooked when I'm near the cage, and when there are cats in the room, but they'll get used to that. I also tried giving them some veggies today, mixed in with the seeds, but I don't think they touched them at all... will keep trying. They do this weird thing where they 'kiss' occasionally.. what's that all about? And I also saw one of them kicking the other, is that a dominance thing?

Yeah, the other one has the same colours and pattern. The aviary had about 10 breeding boxes so I'm guessing they were left to breed with whoever they wanted...

Here they are: They've started moving around a bit more and making some noise:) Photo isn't very good because I didn't wanna freak them out with the cam..

Thanks:) They still seem pretty freaked out, but that's to be expected:) They're covered on 3 sides and move around a bit occasionally but mostly stay close together in a corner...

The cats are very interested (we have 5), but they are not allowed anywhere near. The cage is covered with a sheet at the moment and 3 of the cats are lying on the floor just staring at it and jumping every time the birds make a sudden noise. It's quite funny:) I am of course supervising them very closely

We have picked them up:) They are prettier than I remembered them. They are yellow and the tips of their wings are white and there's some blue/green spots on their tummies. Will take photos later, they're a little freaked out at the moment.

Thanks:)

Thanks:) If they don't settle in very well I'll get them an outdoor aviary, but for now the indoor cage is the quickest and easiest solution..

We got a cage today:) That means we will go and get the birds later this afternoon. I feel kinda bad for them going from a fairly big aviary to a small cage, but I guess they will adjust... And once they settle in I'll let them out in my office as well. Now I just have to figure out somewhere in my office where there is room for a cage... If it wasn't for the 4 fish tanks there'd be heaps of room..

Cool, I have a shoe box

Thanks:) Went to the pet store today to check out their cages. It only opened a couple days ago so they only had one big galvanised type cage with stand, and some very small ones. Nothing had any prices, so I asked but was told that she had no idea, and I'd have to ask the manager. So I said 'okay, can you get her?' And she said 'no, she's in the grooming room at the moment' so we said 'fine, we'll wait' and we waited and waited and it took ages and we finally decided to leave. The big one looked too expensive anyway, and the small ones were too small. So I will look at a different pet store either tomorrow or Wednesday. At least I gave the seeds to our friend so the birds have something to nibble on for a few days. What do you use to transport them in? Can I get a little box or something at the pet store do you think?

Thanks:) I have decided to go for the indoor cage, something along the lines of the BF2 from JJ Aviaries, or possibly something a bit bigger, depends on the price and what the pet store just down the street has available. Will hopefully be able to get the birds today. Thanks for the advice:)