Greenleaf wrote:Hey,
I'm not an official thread member but just came in to ask for some advice, if that's alright.
I own two entirely untamed budgies, an approx. 4-year-old male and an approx. 8-year-old female named Spring and Candy respectively. I posted on this thread before, but basically my male budgie's cere changed colour from blue to brown back in October. The research I did told me that this could be a sign of sickness, so we brought Spring to a vet where he was prescribed some medicine, and where we learned he was severely overweight (46 grams) and needed a diet change.
We finished the medicine schedule a long while ago but I'm still having trouble with changing the budgies' diet from seeds to pellets. We bought Harrison's bird food pellets online since I saw they were recommended (the kind we got was called 'high potency and super fine'?), but I have gone through a whole package already and it seems my birds have been eating very little, if nothing at all, from it. I've tried all sorts of methods to introduce the pellets to them - grinding them up into little bits and putting it with the seeds, and starting in late November I have been very slowly changing out the seeds for the pellets. However, nothing really seems to be working. I have also tried feeding them kale and pepper and they have not tried it either. Spring's cere has also not yet changed back from brown to blue.
Tonight I put nothing but pellets in their food bowls for the first time and will be monitoring their droppings. However, I know I can only do this for one day at most if they continue to refuse eating the pellets. Are there any other things I should try in terms of changing their food? I know on the Harrison's site they have something called "bird bread" that they claim will help with diet conversion, but long story short, I'm still a minor and my parents are kind of pissed/apathetic that the food we ordered online doesn't seem to be working, so I don't think they'll be willing to commit to anything else without solid information. They think I'm making a big deal out of nothing and as a result, don't think anything is wrong and are also unwilling to make any more trips to the vet for advice. I'm sorry if this is the wrong place to ask this but I've been stressing out over this for months and don't know what to do.
Hi there. It's all good, feel free to come here and ask questions any time.
He does sound pretty overweight. For those who don't know, budgies should be around 36 grams. (all of mine weigh 36 or 34, which is great)
i would advise that you need to let him have alot of veggies and exercise. If he was on an all seed diet, you will have to make changes to pellets and veggies very slowly. any changes need to be made slowly.
Also, i had a male budgie given to me that his cere had turned brown. That is also a sign of cancer (in his male reproductive system) unfortunately he died later on, before i knew that he most likely had cancer in that area. He was pretty old too. But i don't think he was overweight.
Sometimes when animals get neutered or spayed they become overweight. Something could be wrong in that area. I would also advise that maybe you get him checked for cancer. I've never done that though so its up to you.
Good luck and feel free to ask any more questions
