new hand reared budgie

[jewel]

Hello,

I just brought home a hand reared budgie yesterday. He is about 12 weeks old. I started getting a little worried about him after spending the last two days... He has been very quiet. He doesnt move around much in his cage. He will move to eat every few hours or so but will not drink any water by himself unless i give it to him... The rest of the time he just sits there! He wont chirp much either. He wont eat the seed bell or the millet spray.

Im starting to get worried about him....... he often shivers, not sure if he does this because he's scared? or cold? and he doesnt sit up vertically. he's slouched on a perch....sort of horizontally...and his tail moves up and down as he breathes heavily/shivers.

his eyes are clear, and so is his nose. his feathers arent really puffed up. he'll just sit there blinking slowly, sometimes with just one eye and sometimes sits on one foot. is he just resting?or is something seriously wrong?

i havent seen him sleeping as such with its head in its back.

overally he looks like a gorgeous little budgie.... although his feathers look a bit messy. but still healthylooking (cept for his tail, which looks dirty, with just a few feathers). im not sure what the person i brought the budgie from did to his tail, maybe the feathers fell off or something and are growing back.

he's very very verrrrrrry friendly and tame. he doesnt bite and he doesnt get startled at all. he'll just sit and watch us...he wont even run away to the other side of the cage wen i try to gethim....im not sure whats going on with him, so if anyone can help that'd be great!!

thanks

[Rob_B]

If you have just had him a couple of days then he will just be adjusting to his new environment. We had chalky about 2 weeks before she started doing anything! now she is so lively and we cant shut her up!
You are lucky in the fact he is tame and that you can go near his cage as that usually takes time :)

The only thing i would be concerned about is his dirty tail, is his vent also dirty? if so then that is something to keep an eye on.

[avril]

he is getting used to his new home and as you have only had him for a couple of days give him time to settle in.

Keep an eye on him as budgies are notorious for disguising illness. Make sure he is in a draft free area, with plenty of clean water and seed, even though you are not seeing him drink he does.

In the wild they find water in eucalyptus leaves and puddles or whatever water is around.

He sounds like he has been handled often so keep that up and he will then realise that you are his new partent and you will enjoy him immensly

[jewel]

Hello again,

His vent is clean.... its got like fluffy feathers around it (whitish) and today i found that his droppings were stuck to it - twice, and i removed them. but most of the droppings have been falling down without being stuck to him. i suppose it was just position?

its good to know that hes just being quite becasue he is settling in - thats a huge relief! i was also wandering why he stays down so low on the perch? he's sitting up high, but he's sitting low/laying but still standing on his feet/horizontally. his head is as low as the perch almost.

thanks again

[Joey]

Any Pictures?:)