I noticed a few minutes ago after watching Monty going nuts.. hanging upside down and bending over backwards and doing all sorts of really weird stuff that he seems to have incredibly itchy feet.

 

He just hasnt stopped biting and chewing on them.... What could this be?

 

The place i bought them from said that they were drenched for mites... so surely it couldnt be that but i dont know whte symptoms for any birdy problems... should i be worried?

 

Please help

What do they look like? Do they look normal? Does his cere look okay? What do you mean drenched for mites? That sounds odd.

Drenched for mites sounds weird to me too. They may have used a spray on them which aren't all that good for budgies. He might have had an allergic reaction to what was used. Might need to see a vet. Can you post a clear photo ?

Edited June 9, 200619 yr by Bubbles

Hes stopped now but is sitting in the bottom of his cage with his head over his shoulder in his feathers.. is he sleeping? and on the floor? how weird!

 

The pet shop said they give their birds drops in their mouth to get rid of mites! didnt ask anymore...

 

Having looked closer he was chewing his toenails! his toes look fine, his cere is normal from what i can tell altho like i said, atm he seems to be sleeping.

 

The thing that worried me most is that he would go to the very top of his cage, hang on by one foot with the rest of him hanging below while he chewed his toenails, then he quite often had to elt go and dropped to the bottom of his cage. He has been clipped but can still fly aroudn his cage! so why would he fall?

 

Altho hes been really weird... He climbs thru the gas in his ladder and gets stuck but does it over and over again! he has been fighting with the door since he learnt how to open it himself nad i decided to peg it to keep ti closed... hes been swinging round and around on the perches... is he jsut a contortionist? or do i have a mental budgie? is he crook?

 

I did read something a minute ago about grey cockatiels chewing their toenails when they are nervous.. coudl it be something similar?

 

 

 

okay well i'm gonna post a link to a video i just took.

 

This isnt the weird part, as he tends to hang backwards with his tummy showing while hanging from 2 toes and biting the others but you can at least see how frantic he is in this movie :S

 

Monty Biting his toenails :S

 

Hes stopped now but is sitting in the bottom of his cage with his head over his shoulder in his feathers.. is he sleeping? and on the floor? how weird!

 

The pet shop said they give their birds drops in their mouth to get rid of mites! didnt ask anymore...

 

Having looked closer he was chewing his toenails! his toes look fine, his cere is normal from what i can tell altho like i said, atm he seems to be sleeping.

 

The thing that worried me most is that he would go to the very top of his cage, hang on by one foot with the rest of him hanging below while he chewed his toenails, then he quite often had to elt go and dropped to the bottom of his cage. He has been clipped but can still fly aroudn his cage! so why would he fall?

 

Altho hes been really weird... He climbs thru the gas in his ladder and gets stuck but does it over and over again! he has been fighting with the door since he learnt how to open it himself nad i decided to peg it to keep ti closed... hes been swinging round and around on the perches... is he jsut a contortionist? or do i have a mental budgie? is he crook?

 

I did read something a minute ago about grey cockatiels chewing their toenails when they are nervous.. coudl it be something similar?

 

 

 

okay well i'm gonna post a link to a video i just took.

 

This isnt the weird part, as he tends to hang backwards with his tummy showing while hanging from 2 toes and biting the others but you can at least see how frantic he is in this movie :S

 

Monty Biting his toenails :S

 

 

Hes stopped now but is sitting in the bottom of his cage with his head over his shoulder in his feathers.. is he sleeping? and on the floor? how weird! ....YES NORMAL SLEEPING BEHAVIOUR FOR BUDGIES...IF YOUNG WILL SLEEP ANYWHERE THAT IS COMFORTABLE. MAY NOT BE USED TO PERCHING YET.

The pet shop said they give their birds drops in their mouth to get rid of mites! didnt ask anymore...SOUNDS LIKE WORMING MEDICINE NOT FOR MITES.

hes been swinging round and around on the perches... is he jsut a contortionist? or do i have a mental budgie? is he crook? HE'S JUSY HAVING FUN.

 

With the toenail thing, he may have mites. He seems to be annoyed with his feet or whats on them. They wont tell you a straight story where you got him from and half the time the shop assistant who serves you doesnt have a clue what they are talking about. If he needs treatment for scaly face mite which affects his feet too, you need the spot on treatment but I would go to a vet. If he is too young he would need a different dosage than that available from my vet over the counter ( invermectin )...and really must be diagnosed. Try not to buy preparations from a pet store or listen to store advice on how to treat your budgies...they get it wrong all the time and just tell you stories to sell you things.

From that video he looks like an adult, if he is the sleeping on the bottom of his cage normally means it is sick, take him to a vet asap.

Monty

 

This is a new video i took and its far more characteristic of what hes doing. I cant really afford to take him to the vet. Its $50 per consultation and a weekend..... :S

the videos arn't working for me but you can try rubbing a little bit of diluted aloe vera on his feet and see if that helps ( i wouldnt use straight aloe as i find its kind of sticky and dont know if they would like that feeling but you dont have to dilute it)

okay.. so hes now stopped biting his toenails and is back sleeping on his perch but even so, i rang the vet and they are calling me back for a chat soon, so we'll see what they say!

okay well i heard back from the vet and they mentioned all sorts of diferent things.... mites, infections, treated perches (not the case) but ya know... but the most likely one is, i think he has a nervous disorder!

 

Everytime the kids are around him or theres a lot going on he starts chewing his feet.. i mean we chew our fingernails right? so anyway! gonna keep an eye on him... they suggested vaseline on his feet to see if it made him any better (testing for mites) but i honestly dont think it is...

 

anywya only time will tell, i'll keep you informed and in the meantime i think hes just a very acrobatic birdie with a deathwish!

 

PS. He opened his own cage today *rolls eyes*

Seems like a really active and SMART budgie to me. How big is his cage? Does he fly out when he opens it?

Seems like a really active and SMART budgie to me. How big is his cage? Does he fly out when he opens it?

 

Smart budgies bite their toenails? :bluebudgie:

 

He hasnt even been here a week yet, so i havent tried letting him outof his cage yet as hes an absolute escape artist already and i have a feeling i'd need to chase him to get him back in it and with 2 lil kids that tend to leave doors open.... maybe wait a lil while yet before doing that.

 

He has a new cage and its the biggest i can afford so until i can afford bigger he will have to make do either way. Its a nice size tho!

aw he is gorgeous!! Cheeky used to bite his feet when he couldn't get them to do what he wanted!!! we noticed it when he was hanging on the christmas decorations - he couldn't get one of his feet to reach and he kept chewing it!! Mad! Could this be the same thing??

I ended up at the vets with him when i noticed blood on his perches and on the floor. He had spent time runing back and forth across one patch of his cage over and over and some hoe hurt himself. While he was there i got him treated for mites and withint 3 days he had stopped biting his toenails, so i'm assuming it was that. His feet started bleeding again the other day tho so i replaced the surgical tape that was on his perches to see if it happened again and it hasnt but hes due to go back for more mite injection so better do that tomorrow.

 

All so confusing. Like you may have noticed tho, once he is treated again for mites i'm going to try and sell hm to a palce with an aviary so he has room to be the free lil man he is.