Hi everyone,

 

This might be a silly question, but I'm pretty new to this bird thing. I think one of my budgies might have mites, his legs are white and scaly and seem to be irritating him, he keeps chewing on his feet. I want to take him to the vet to get checked out but wanted to see what people take a bird to the vet in! I feel so silly :budgiedance:

 

In the mean time, being sunday afternoon, I also wanted to know if someone might have some ideas of anything I might be able to put on his feet in the meantime, I don't want Alex to be suffering all night. Its just his feet that are affected, his cere is fine, and my other budgie, Simone, is also fine.

 

Thanks for your help!

Minna

Rub some baby oil into his feet.

You can take him to the vet in a normal cage, just lower the perch and covering it with a blanket will help to keep him calm during the trip. If you have one of the little boxes that pet shops give you to take a bird home that would do too. They are small and dark and designed to stop them from stressing while they are being transported.

 

As Kaz said, baby oil on his legs will help with the scale and he will thank you for it.

 

 

Feathers.

:budgiedance: And after you have seen the vet, you might want to temporarily wrap some secure fabric or bandaging materiel around the perches so the grip is better, scaley mites hurt! :sad: And Minna, aside from asking if my budgie needs fresh food and water everyday, NO QUESTION, IS EVER SILLY!!! The health of your budgie is VERY important and that is why this forum, aside from breeding info, is here! :sad:

I would put some oil around cere & beak.If there are mites on the legs, there ps afair chance they are around the beak.

becareful not to get the oil in their nostrils :budgiedance:. Let us know what happens at the avian vet. Mites are contagious so if your 1 bird has it your other one might too so let the vet know if you have 2 and see if he wants to treat both but see one or see both :ausb:.

You can also offer them some Eucalyptus Leaves/Branches, budgies with mites/lice go nuts over it! I think it does provide some relief. :budgiedance:

Hello again,

 

Thanks for all the advice, I went to the vet, I brought both birds with me and yes, it was mites. He treated both birds, even though Simone wasn't showing any symptoms, he said that they were probably on her too. He just put two drops of an ointment on the back of their necks and said in a month if there were still signs of infection to just get the lotion from the pet store and use that (since when have you ever heard a vet say that!). But otherwise the birds are healthy. He also said I had to throw all my wooden perches away because the mites can live in the wood, which sucks, I have a couple of wooden perches from the pet shop that I really like, but better safe then sorry.

 

The vet was really nice, it was Dr Edward Layt at Greencross vets in Wishart, Brisbane. I would recommend him for anyone living on the southside of Brisbane. And it didn't cost as much as I feared, either, which was a relief.

 

Anyways, thanks again!

 

So cute!

 

Try soaking the perches in some olive oil for a day or two. Should kill off any mites that may live on or in them.

Thanks Kaz, I'll try. There's one especially that I like that I hated the thought of throwing away. I went to the pet shop too, that I got the bird from to let them know that a bird they sold had mites and the girl asked me what that was! Hmm... I think if I worked in a pet shop I would expect at least to be told about common illnesses to look out for?

glad everything went well with the birds at the vets

Thanks Kaz, I'll try. There's one especially that I like that I hated the thought of throwing away. I went to the pet shop too, that I got the bird from to let them know that a bird they sold had mites and the girl asked me what that was! Hmm... I think if I worked in a pet shop I would expect at least to be told about common illnesses to look out for?

 

Exactly why it is never a good idea to listen to any advice from pet store personnel.