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Of course not all vets are terrible but I can say quite confidently that the vet clinic I went to is thoroughly disappointing and pathetic. Yes the machines and that cost a lot but my bird was not x rayed or whatever. With a vet having had six years training, years of experience and calling themselves the best avian vets in nz, you'd expect them to have the initiative to know what to do. No tests were done on my bird, no blood tests, crop flush, x rays etc, no feeding through crop etc. They didn't even think about doing a poo smear till I suggested it. They found worms too. Now if i had not suggested that, my bird would still HAVE worms. And charging a 28 hour stay at the vets as a two day 48 hour stay at $70 bucks is ludicrous. I was not told about how unscrupulously they charge stays, I think that is absolutely ridiculous and sneaky. When you go to the vet, you expect them to know what to do and how to go about narrowing down the cause of the problem, especially when my bird already has a medical record, it should make it easier. This vet basically just looked at the bird and prescribed antibiotics. You don't need to go to university for six years to know that. It's just really pathetic. Did the vet consider a fungal infection? Vitamin A deficiency? Goitre or canker? Aspergillosis? No. Not at all. As far as I'm concerned, he should have tested for those seeing as he's the vet, the professional, not me. It is understandable why I am thoroughly disappointed in this specific vet clinic. My bird did not get better whatsoever and the vet won't even discuss the medication unless I pay another $34. Rip off. I have no faith in them. I think there's a good chance my bird has Aspergillosis. It would explain why the other bird doesn't. I don't have to be an idiot and just throw my money at these pathetic sort of vets to prove I value my birds life.

My birds don't eat much beside from seed because we first had the problem of them rejecting fruit and veg and later on when I did give them it Teddy got sick with the respiratory problem so I've become paranoid that it makes it happen. I have done a lot of reading about the Vitamin A thing and I think that could very well be the cause so at the moment I am giving them a lot of carrot each day (I don't know when i'll see an improvement in his health if this works though) I have also tried contacting the vet who hasn't called me back today. It's so disappointing to see my bird still sick when I took him along with his medical record to, apparently, the best avian vet in this country. the cost to get my bird not even really examined (no crop flush, blood tests etc were done) is ridiculous. As far as I'm concerned, I just threw one two hundred and fifty dollars down the drain and my bird's life is still in jeopardy. Vets shouldn't charge so much, I think it's just ridiculous when they don't even treat the animal and they prey off our good will and love for our pets.

Hi everyone, thank you for your sharing your thoughts and knowledge about Teddy's situation It's been very interesting to read them. We took Teddy to an avian vet the second time round because the first one was a regular vet and didn't completely get rid of the problem. It was interesting to read about how you say Dex can make the bird feel better without getting rid of the respiratory problem. It quite possibly could have happened because Teddy was injected with dex and baytril and his breathing cleared up immediately, however when I asked the avian vet about giving Dex to Teddy he said that they generally don't give birds Dex because it can lead to problems. I have thought about any environmental causes of the problem and I can't find any that are realistic. My two budgies are kept in a room away from any cooking fumes and we don't use any sprays around the house. The room is not susceptible to any cold breezes and they get enough sunlight a day. We haven't been painting etc so there aren't any chemical smells around to make her sick. Just to be extra sure, I also brought the entire cage to the vets to get them to check if any of the materials in there could cause problems and they okayed it. Teddy is actually going through his first moult at the moment, I'm not sure if that information is helpful? About the psittacosis, I can't think of a reason why he'd have it. We haven't bought any new birds and I haven't been handling/in contact with wild birds. Does psittacosis have an incubation period? I'm just wondering if Teddy might have contracted the bacteria when he was a chick from his parents. Another odd thing is that we have another budgie (Henry) housed with Teddy and he is healthy, bright, energetic and alert. If the respiratory problem was caused by bacteria surely it would be very contagious? I'm just thinking if the problem has got nothing to do with an infection but then again, the antibiotics did improve his breathing. The vet did do a poo smear and he said that it looked normal and Teddy doesn't have any fungal infection, which may be caused by Dex. The only thing he did find was worm eggs which is why he gave Teddy more ivermec. The vet also checked for crop infection and listened to Teddy's breathing and said the noise was mainly coming from the upper half of his breathing system. At the moment Teddy is still struggling to breathe and he's making audible wheezing noises all day. He also has violent coughing fits which yesterday lasted a full ten minutes, they were so bad that undigested seed flew out of his beak. Apart from these concerning problems he still enjoys eating and playing and his droppings are normal. I'm really clueless as to why this problem can't be treated, it's just really upsetting. It seems like healthy birds always stay healthy and sick birds are always sick =( It was like this with my canaries. Some were very susceptible to the smallest of problems (and hard to treat) and some just didn't get sick for as long as i had them. It's a lot more confusing because the other bird is so healthy.

Hi everyone, I'd like to update you all on the situation. We took teddy to a vet who gave him dexamethasone (a potent anti inflammatory), baytril and ivermec. A 1.25% dilution of baytril was also prescribed to be given to him by 0.08mls a day for five days. He got better that night and the problem disappeared completely..till about three weeks later where it all came back in it's entirety. So We took him to the best avian vet around here and this one gave him more ivermec and clavulox which is a broad spectrum antibiotic. Teddy got better by the second day although he was still struggling to breathe, so obviously, it wasn't as effective as the baytril he was given the first time. The vet told me to give teddy 0.05mls of clavulox twice daily for a week. Teddy is on the fourth or fifth day of clavulox now, and guess what? The respiratory problem is getting worse everyday which seems to tell me that this antibiotic is not working. The vet bill has already amounted to two hundred and fifty dollars which is extremely frustrating because teddy is still very sick. I did some research and apparently budgies are most susceptible to mycoplasma and chlamydophila. Now the baytril (enroflaxin) and the clavulox (ciproflaxin), which are both broad spectrum and both from the same family do kill mycoplasma. What I think has happened is that, because Teddy was given baytril first and not in a high enough dosage to completely kill all the bacteria, the bacteria has become resistant and hence the clavulox is not working. I read that baytril is generally the last antibiotic chosen to give to birds because of the fear of antibiotic resistance..so I really don't know what medicine he should be given now if that has happened. Another common bacterial cause of respiratory problems in budgies is chlamydophila, which is another hard to kill bacteria. I read that doxycycline is effective against this. I don't think that clavulox or baytril kill chlamydophila. What are everyone's thoughts on this topic?

I'm going to take her as soon as possible. What problem could just develop so quickly like that? Do her symptoms sound anything like a chest infection? Her droppings are normal, they're not runny etc and they aren't exposed to drafts. they live indoors and the temperature has been warm. what I'm worried about, is that the vet might be stumped as to what the problem is too and just prescribe some medication which won't work. We don't have many vets specialising in birds around here

My bird has suddenly become sick and I'm completely stumped as to what the problem is. Before I consult the vet, I wanted to see if anyone here has any idea what may be wrong with her. First of all, she was fine one day, had ten or so coughing fits the next day, made gasping noises which originated from her throat all day the next day and night (and coughing regularly all day), was a little better the next day and today she's as bad as the day before yesterday. She's only around six months old, I've had her for about three months. We have another bird with her in the cage and he's fine. They were bought from the same breeder at the same time, so there's no chance of him passing things onto her. She hasn't had air sac mites or anything before. We mostly feed her a seed diet with some veges/fruit occasionally and grit. We keep the cage really clean, and also their water bottle and we don't use soap or anything like that to clean their seed cups. The sound she's making seems to be coming from her throat, it's really loud and she breathes with her beak open. As I said this just happened all of a sudden and it continues throughout the whole day. She coughs loudly/violently as well. It makes me think she has something stuck in her throat but she's eaten/drunk a lot in the past few days and surely that would wash it down. I have no idea what's causing this. She can still sing/make noises, eat, drink, climb around etc, but there are obviously times where you can see that she feels unwell. Does anyone have any idea what might be causing this? Help is much appreciated.

No, I didn't as I didn't have a spare cage and I got her from the same breeder/same aviary of birds so they had already been housed together since hatching before I got them.

okay, thanks guys! =D I was always happy with "him" being a male but it'd be great to see them have chicks one day. At the moment, Henry and Ted aren't cuddly at all. They will talk to each other a bit and sometimes ted looks like she's trying to regurgitate food for henry. It's odd, but she's really quiet and placid unlike henry who is so inquisitive and hyperactive. They're both about 2 and a half months old, so I'm not sure when they'll start acting like a pair. Also, thanks so much Kaz for getting those pictures on there!

http://s417.photobucket.com/albums/pp255/r...rrent=teddy.jpgteddy i tried posting the picture but it failed, so hopefully you can see it using the link, there's another one on there too. teddy 2

A lot of the topics are about cere colours, so I was wondering if there are any general behavioural traits that can be used to distinguish the sex of a budgie? I recently posted a question here about my Henry and me thinking he was a male- I was right. His cere is very blue now and he has no white rings whatsoever =) I bought another budgie- Teddy- and I'm stumped as to whether he's a male or female. I really have no clue! A friend of mine bought a pair and they started "kissing" and acting like a couple on the first day! If teddy is a female wouldn't she and henry get along just the same? Or does it depend? Teddy's not outgoing and loud like Henry and "he" sounds like a female. Ted's really quiet, does ted sound like a hen? I know you'd all like to see a picture so I'll try and post one as soon as I can, but I'm intersted to hear your thoughts about behaviour between the sexes.

Your budgie sounds gorgeous! Mine has just started going into his first moult. He's really cranky all of the time and has spikes on his head. I'm really looking forward to seeing how he looks afterwards though!

Do budgies have more vibrantly coloured feathers after they've undergone their first moult?

I've looked in many other topics but I couldn't find any that completely fitted my question in it's context so I thought i'd start a new one. I have a 8-9 week old male budgie that I've had for 10 days. He's already quite tame and will sit on my shoulder when I walk about. I really want to get another male budgie but I'm afraid that if I do, both birds will become wild in behaviour because they'll be able to hear each other although in different rooms! Can I possibly tame up the other one and keep my current one tame in that situation? I want to introduce them when they're both tame. I plan to get the other one from the same breeder.Also, the second male budgie I want to get will be about the same age, so a chick in other words.

okay thank you all so much for your help! It's such a challenge getting my budgie to get enough nutrients. I hope he'll start using his cuttlebone one day, I know that calcium/ geting enough nutrients is important especially when they moult. I am much more concerned about his health than he is =(

Hi there, I read in books that budgies like to take baths everyday but my budgie refuses to do so. He hasn't had a bath ever as far as I know. I've put a frisbee filled with water out for him every second day but he takes no interest in it. I read a thing on this forum about putting wet lettuce in the cage but Henry won't even approach anything besides seed so I doubt it'll work. Any suggestions? That also brings me to my next question which is slightly out of the topic but oh well, how am I meant to get my budgie to eat fruit and vege on his own? It's already a challenge getting him to eat it off my finger. I just don't want him malnutritioned but I have never seen him approach his cuttlebone or any fruit and vegetables I give him!

Of course budgies are australian birds, that's why I said british varieties because those larger types were bred in Britain and not bred/ developed in australia.

thank you for your help =) Thank you for the link too, I'll try and upload a photo when I have time. How can you tell if they've undergone their first moult? and does this happen around 3 months of age? I read a budgie book that said that their cere changes and first moult happens around 3 months, but I think I read somewhere on here that someone's budgie's cere only changed colour at 8 months. Henry has been preening himself quite a bit and when he does so some downy feathers come off which makes me think that he's about to moult. He also has a few feathers growing near his neck. I read that the plumage is complete around a month so I'm not sure if his growing feathers are an indication that he's already moulted or not.. He still has the bars on his forehead down to his cere but again ,they're not very dark and it's a little difficult trying to get a photo that shows the bars on his head, the lighting always lightens the visibility of them. His cere is getting bluer each day whch makes me quite sure he's male. His wings have been clipped. I thought it was best to do so seeing as he was an aviary bird and would probably not enjoy me handling him when he could fly away, it was also a safety measure but I'm not planning to clip them after new feathers have grown back. also one thing I've been curious about is how big budgies get. I've seen some adult ones at the pet store and they are like the size of a cockatiel fledgling (they're not british varieties). I think some adult budgies at the place I got henry from was also that big so would that mean that Henry would double in size as time goes by? It's just a little confusing because books say they're fully grown at 6 months! But it seems like they an get a lot bigger after that.

I've taken a few photos but can't get them on as it says a URL is required. But my description was quite detailed so hopefully that's enough to determine whether he's 2 months old or not.

Hi there, first of all I'd like to thank the great advice given on this forum =) I bought a budgie last week and he wasn't eating or drinking anything for two days but as soon as I covered three sides of the cage (as suggested by many budgie enthusiasts on here) he started eating. It was a huge relief for me because I was quite concerned, I've only ever had finches and canaries and they're rather different in behaviour. I just have a few questions to ask concerning Henry's age and behaviour. He grew up in an aviary and the couple who sold him to me said he's around about 2 months old. I'm not entirely sure because he already has an iris. He has bars on his forehead all the way down to his cere though, although they're not extremely black and thick. His cere is also a dark violet to pink to blue colour (in layers) so it's a bit of a mixed message. I am quite sure that he's male because he doesn't bite and the cere although not blue is not pale enough to look like it'd go brown. Does he sound like he could be 2 months old? He has a full plumage although some feathers still look like they're growing. I know he's still a baby but I'm curious to know how young he really is. We've had him for about 6 days and he's been running from side to side on the floor of his cage for almost half the day everyday even though his cage is quite big- big enough for two budgies and has toys (he only plays with the swing at the moment). He's quite a lively nice bird, and looks like he's settled in a lot. He comes out of the cage for a few hours each day and he lets me give him scratches and sometimes gets sleepy on my hand (after he's been running everywhere on the floor). The only problem is that he runs around on the floor endlessly, I know it's normal for aviary birds but I'm curious to know when he'll stop doing it. Because he looks like he has a bundle of energy I generally let him out when he runs around on the floor of his cage like a maniac, I'm not sure if he'll see this as rewarding his behaviour, but he generally gets tired and quiet after I've let him out for some fun. He also calls a lot for other birds, especially when he hears them outside and he has squawked a few times but he's stopping it a bit now. I'd really love to hear him make some other noises! Does anyone know how long budgies take get out of the the screaming for other birds stage? And also, does he sound like he's 2 months old? much thanks!