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?

Edited November 8, 200816 yr by lil_fuzzy

Vet for the ivermectin.

MB is right about the "kicking" ....its male trying to mate with female.

DF dom pied boys have two colours on their cere and thats why it can usually be confusing as to their gender.

The poo thing with the hen...means she isnt all that well and needs treatment.

Edited November 8, 200816 yr by KAZ

I also agree that one looks like a boy and the boy has scaly face. ivermectin can normally be gotten from a vet. i am yet to see it in a shop. most breeders have some, perhaps one near you can give you some

Edited November 8, 200816 yr by **Liv**

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?

Edited November 8, 200816 yr by lil_fuzzy

Wow, they're beautiful! Have you wormed them?

I don't have any tips on the health unfortunately...

 

I can't believe they took all their birds and left such a beautiful pair behind! How strange.

 

 

Oh and I agree that you've got one boy one girl.

Edited November 8, 200816 yr by krosp

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?

The mites are only infectious to other birds and even then they are something which isn't life threatening in the less advanced forms just more irritating. Get something as soon as possible to fix it but don't stress if it takes a few days or even a week or two to get a suitable product as it's something which will only progress quite slowly. Don't be suckered into using one of the products from a pet shop as they are waste of money. If you can find a local budgie club or a vet who will sell you some ivermectin spot on that ould be the best

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:)

Thats fine the mites do not require instant treatment, but left too long will cause the beak to deform

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..

They haven't been exposed to toys before and probably have only ever had normal seed so you will just have to give them time

Edited November 10, 200816 yr by maesie

I agree... They aren't used to having fun things to do and eat. Keep offering them veggies and having their toys in the cage. They'll get used to them after awhile

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:)

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.