has merlins behaviour changed at all Tegz?

 

I remember some one coming on this forum sayin that their budgie had a tumourwhich released female hormones and he (the budge) had begun getting moody and over eating and stuff. i was really awful becasue i thought it was a joke and it was a male being sexist. But it turned out that twas infact a genuine post i repeatedly appologised and felt terrible.

Edited July 26, 200520 yr by budgeover

Nope, infact, he's nicer than ever! We shall just keep a close eye on him and deal with it if it is the case.

Wow, I have never heard of this kind of stuff. Like you Budge, I would have thought a post like that was a joke! oops TeGz, I wish you all the best with this little puzzle of a bird that you have. Tiny body, huge problem, because it appears to be unique! It does sound like there is no tumour, hope that's the case.

I would have said female from looking at your last picture there. The blue around the nostrils is much lighter than everywhere else. But who knows? The tumor that causes the cere color change is a testicular tumor, so for it to be a tumor causing the change Merlin would have to be a boy, but if s/he is only 8 months old, that cere looks like it could be a normal 8 month old budgie hen cere too. Sexing budgies is so difficult when they are young!

I queried with the vet again and this is what he said this time, that in order to get colours they are trying for these days sometimes it gets so muddled up that you are unable to tell the sex of the bird by the cere but that going by the blue compared to the brown Merlin is a boy.... soo

Edited July 27, 200520 yr by TeGz

Is this a bird only vet?

Sure is. The vet who thinks it could be a tumour actually worked for Merlin's breeder at some point, and the guy who has that odd theory also knows his breeder...

In old age when a male budgie can no longer be fertile his cere will change to white or pale brown,It is a hormonal thing,

As this has happened to a young male it really is a health issue,

It could be a tumour or thyroid, Kidneys, any number of things but its defenatley something for youre vet to look into.

GILL. :yellowhead:

hmm...budgie cere changing colour? Its very confusing to me. Don't think birds can decide what they want to be.Maybe there is a health issue underlying somewhere.

I'll tell you a little story here, trying to be brief as possible. Last year, when I decided I wanted a pet budgie indoors again, I went and bought a little blue male from Wyevales, and called him Alfie. Wyevales have their birds in an aviary, which is nice I always think. Anyhow got him home, and it was obvious he was used to being handled, was immediately tame enough to want to get on my finger, come out of the cage, play on the floor with me with toys. He already had the white iris rings, and the black had gone from the beak, and the bar-head had moulted out, so I guessed he was at least 12 weeks old.

 

Move on another 6 weeks now. I had been a bit suspicious to be honest, the only other budgie that I had before with attitude and this amount of tameness turned out to be a hen. As I so wanted a cock bird that would talk, and with the season turning from summer to autumn, I knew I had to make a decision if I was going to put him out in the aviary in time to acclimatise to the temperatures etc before the winter set in. So in the end, I decided to get another male (Chippy) and put Alfie out. When I went to buy Chip, I also bought his sister, a beautiful grey hen. I put this grey hen into the cage with Alfie for the night, and ALfie was beside himself with excitement, and attempted to mate the hen instantly! I then thought, oh no what have I done.

 

Anyhow the deed was done, and Alfie and the new hen were duly put into the aviary, and Chippy became my beautiful talking house pet that he is today.

 

When Alfie was about 8 months old, the cere began to pale, and I feared he was ill. Not so. I have got to the point at last. Alfie is a hen, a very healthy, dark browned cered hen. So in my opinion, he changed sex. Make of it what you will, but maybe it can just happen.

Edited July 27, 200520 yr by Chippy's Mum

It's so confusing though potter and gill... the vet cannot find any tumour at all and are both actually beginning to question it being a health problem, as i've spoken to them since about it as it's confusing the heck out of me.

 

He got a clean bill of health the other day, and is behaving and eating better than he ever has.

 

Chippys mum, thats quite interesting that your budgie changed particularly the age too.. the vets say it's possible as other birds have done it but they've never seen it. I honestly hope its not a tumour, he's gone through enough.

 

Guess i'll find out one day :yellowhead:

What excellent news, a clean bill of health. It would be nice to know what is happening and why, but the main thing is you have a healthy bird.

I think you will find the second Vet is right. Sorry

When my Ted's cere changed to Brown after 2 years, it was not until months later when I noticed he was acting strange or different to normal, and the Avain Vet did tests and the poor fellow had testicular cancer.

Apparently with that cancer the hormones change and they take on the females colour in the cere.

So Please have him checked out, as there are treatments for it. I am afraid I left mine too late, I should have taken him to the vet as soon as his cere changed colour.

 

Cindy

Thats cool Cindy. Like I said, they currently can't find anything, and looking back on photos it's been the colours it has since the end of May. If it changes in the near future he'll be off to the vets before he can squawk but for now we have to wait and see...

Could you get him dna sexed so you know for sure?

I had the weirdest conversation with my auntie last night... Her Jacks cere starting changing around the same age that Merlins did. She spoke to a breeder about it, and he said that he had changed into a girl and it was possible. When he died and they took him to the vets they did an autopsy to find a tumour, but they couldn't find one...

 

So our theory is that Merlin IS most likely changing because he and Jack came from similar breeding stock and this breeder has had it happen before So it will be interesting to see..

Merlin really needs to decide which way he's going to go!! He can't keep swinging back and forth from boy to girl!

Far better that than a tumour though!Years and years ago I was told that a budgie can change sex,

Julie