Hello! I'm new and I had to ask for help, as I can barely sleep thinking something might happen to my Gigi.

 

I got Gigi in 2003, he's a very unique-looking white budgie and has never been too close to anyone in the household apart from my father (there are three of us) with whom he plays. He was never eating too much, he's pretty careful when it comes to food and the only health problems he had were of mental nature, at least according to the doctor, he was self-harming and had to be put under blue lamp and have vitamin B given a couple of times in the last 2 years.

 

For the past 2 days, Gigi has been acting weirdly. He's not eating his bird seed at all, he comes to it, takes a sniff and changes his mind. Yet, he's consuming more sepia (is that the right word?), minerals, lettuce and water than ever and he is playful and definitely not quiet, but even his schedule is weird: he sleeps for one hour, then goes mad for the next hour, then sleeps again. He's obviously moulting and his feathers look slightly weirder than usual, but he's not hiding on the bottom of the cage as a bird who's seriously ill or dieing. He's just...acting strangely.

 

The vet told us to put the blue lamp above the cage again and not to worry, that he's probably "protesting against something". I don't want to believe that because it seriously sounds stupid, so I thought I'd ask here as well. Any help would be appreciated.

 

picture:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/supersonic_squirrel/504454107/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/supersonic_squirrel/309879154/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/supersonic_squirrel/235285534/

Update.

 

At this moment, he's not biting me as hard as he normally does (he's not really friendly and he can really hurt people), he's even letting me take him in his hand (though he protests and tweets pretty angrily) and I don't think his body temperature is lowered but still, I'm not an expert. My dad, on the other side, thinks his legs are a bit colder than what they normally are.

 

The vet is acting as if she didn't know much about birds, I am asking her if I should bring Gigi so she could have a look at what he's doing, check his body temperature and so on, but she's pretty nonchalant and saying that I should only come myself and pick some vitamin B from her, as that's supposed to make Gigi's apetite stronger.

 

Any advice? Please? I'm desperate and I don't want my bird to starve. Should I switch vets? Should I give him something else to eat?

Yes I think you should go see an avian vet. Any significant change in behaviour is a sign that you need to see a vet.

Most vets don't know much about birds you best bet would be to find an avian vet around you even if your nearest avian vet is an hour way it is worth the drive for peace of mind. Avian Vet Locator (from BBC FAQS), click on the link to find your nearest avian vet.

 

Now getting back to nutrition lettuce is a no no for birds it is way to harsh on their stomachs it is even said that rabbits known to love lettuce should not be giving it. The fancier lettuce like romaine is okay but Iceberg has no nutritional value and is the worsest. I would take him off all his veggies that you are giving him and do a day with just see and see if he goes back. If he does then he is preferring the veggies over the seed which is okay but only if they are nutritional veggies. Click Here on Good Nutritional Diet for Budgies and you will see what is good and what is harmful.

 

If you find that there is no improvement and he still doesn't eat then I would schedule the avian vet appointment. You can see if he is eating seeds buy lightly blowing on the seed and the empty shells will go flying off. Budgies hull their seed which means they remove the outer covering and eat the inside.

 

Keep him warm at least 80F until you see his behavior improving. Moulting is a stressful time for a budgies so optimal nutrition during this time is important, a cuttlebone, Vitamin A, calcium.

 

One of the BEST foods you can give is brocolli and carrots for Vitamin A which keeps the respiratory lining healthy in their lungs which can be affected by changes in the envirmoment, tephlon, fumes etc...

 

I would wait to do any food changes until he is back to feeling his old self.

 

Adding: can you explain the sleeping pattern again? Is this during the day because budgies are known to take naps and then wake up with energy. If this is during the night then are you covering him. Also make sure during this time he is getting 10-12 hours of darkness because if he is going through a hormonal stage then this will curb it. I am not sure your weather but we are going into winter right now but when we go into the spring time birds tend to get ornery and hormonal because this is the time in nature they would start to mate and start a family. Not that you need to provide this but so you can understand the behavior and how to control it .

Edited November 19, 200717 yr by Elly

Sailorwolf, thank you. That's one thing I definitely have to do, as I'm also questioning this woman's ethics and her actual interest in helping Gigi.

 

Elly, thank you so much for such a long and obviously helpful response

 

The avian vet locator has nothing for my country (which gives me an idea to help with that sometime, so other people wouldn't go through this with vets who basically care only about dogs and cats!), but I've found a list of vets in my city and, well, I do hope that among two million people there's at least one decent avian vet. And there's always the vet faculty and their ambulance.

 

I meant to say cuttle when I said sepia, I apologise. At that moment I could not remember its exact name in English so err...I used the Latin name and even made a spelling mistake (it's sephila...). Yes, he has a cuttlebone and he's biting it more often than ever.

 

I shall try to give him broccoli and carrot (which he usually ignores) and see if anything changes. My dad tried to hand-feed him with seed, which I did not know when I was updating the post as I was in the other room, and he ate everything in my dad's hands. I am guessing that's an improvement. Same goes for the fact that he's just bitten me really hard, which he wasn't doing this morning and yesterday, when he was behaving like a nice normal bird (which he is not, unless when it comes to my father).

 

As for the sleeping pattern, yes it's happening during the day. He goes through a phase of being really furious, more and usual, he fights with stuff in his cage and lets sound that's more similar to the things some big carnivore birds "say" than his usual tweeting and then he spends the next hour with his head under the mirror and among his feathers, as if he was not an actual living creature. Of course he has moments when he sleeps during the day, but they usually don't switch with the hyperactive ones THIS OFTEN. O_O That's one of the things I noticed first when he started acting like this.

 

We also have winter here, as we're in Europe, northern hemisphere. It actually started snowing the day he changed his behaviour, but I doubt it matters. He usually sleeps from ten in the evening to eight in the morning.

 

At this moment it's 3:30 in the afternoon, the sun is setting and Gigi is singing pretty loudly and playing with his bell and mirror, as if nothing was wrong...but the food in the food bin is still untouched, as I don't see any peels.

 

If there's any more information that would explain things, ask and I'll say it

well I have to say I saw a key element you typed is "mirror" which have can cause a lot of frustration in budgies or any type of bird. Mirrors and having one in their cage can be debated but here is my theory on them.

 

Many people will say too have one but just as many say not too and this is why and I agree with them. Budgies are flock animals and are very social they love to be with their own kind or you as their human. We think it is cute when they see their reflection and they bang or feed the pretend budgie but in all reality it is very frustrating to the bird. Can you imagine talking to someone and they don't respond back to you so you get frustrated and ack ack at the mirror, bang it around and hope that they will respond back.

 

Take the mirror out and if you want only give to him when he is out of his cage or not at all. Any toy that is reflective such as a bell is just as bad because they can see their reflection. His biting is hormonal and he is showing signs of being simply frustrated.

 

Rearrange his cage around 2x a month, switch his toys, take out bells and mirrors and only give as treats or if you can reintroduce in 2 weeks but when you notice the bad behavior just take it out and keep it out.

 

A lone budgie is a very happy budgie with his human when they spend the time as you indicated you do so if you should get another budgie is not the question (not that you asked but many do). Merlin is a lone budgie and he is very happy but he does get hormonal and bite as yours does. When he bites don't' react and say OWHHH and make a big deal what I do is remove him from my hand where he wants to be and he gets the point that he can't be on my hand if he is biting.

 

Is your budgie biting the hand when you are close to the object that he loves such as his mirror if so he is protecting his "so called mate".

 

I believe you will find that once you change the cage around, taking out the mirrors, make sure he has at least 10-12 hours of darkness you will find a more lovable budgie and the one you used to know.

 

Let us know what happens if you make the changes.

 

Just a note budgies usually only eat heavily in the morning and in the evening around dusk so if he hasn't eaten that is very normal for their feeding pattern in the wild and as a pet. Do you have any millet sprays or any other snacks in this cage all the time that he could be eating instead of his food? If so those need to be removed because they should only be given 1x a week so your budgie doesn't get over weight.

Edited November 19, 200717 yr by Elly