Itchy feet?

[eastcoastjac]

Hi,
one of my "fairly new" budgies seems to have a problem - he's continually "dancing" on his perch - lifts his feet up and down all the time. His feet also appear to be quite scaly and white. Just noticed his beak also looks quite dry and flaky. Could he have mites?
The only vet around here who treats birds is REALLY expensive, so I'm hoping to be able to medicate him myself if he has a problem. I have read about using paraffin oil - is this a safe remedy? (I know I have to use it daily for a few weeks).
He doesn't eat much vegies, even though I give him fresh food everyday to try and get him interested - could he maybe have a deficiency of something?
Can I add Omega oils to his food?
Lots of Q's, I know, but I feel quite helpless!!
I've had budgies before, but they never seemed to have any problems at all!

[jayjay]

it sounds like mites.

[Tiki<3Polly]

well to me it sounds like scaley mites and i think that there is a way to go to a local petstore and there should be some cream or something for it ....Just look for something with the word scaly mites on it but i am not sure if its expensive ???:S :S :S

[ditto]

you can find a good medicine in a pet store, make sure its a common known and trusted trademark, also you should pay much more attention than normal times to keep his cage and especially perch clean and disinfected until he's ok.

[Budgiekin]

If you bring your budgie to an avian vet, you will find out that the treatment for mites in budgies is not expensive. I would hate to assume that your budgie has mites without being confirmed by an expert....otherwise you may end up treating your budgie for something he doesn't even have, which could end up doing more harm than good. I highly suggest you bring your sweety to an avian vet!:rolleyes:

[HollyT]

Self diagnosis can be deadly. Only a vet can really tell you what's wrong with your bird. Over the counter meds for birds is in general a bad idea...these guys have such different systems there's no way an inexperienced person could know what to do. VET! visit. I hate to say it but calculating health expenses is a part of being a pet owner.
It does sound like mites...but you risk infecting your entire flock trying to rid the problem yourself. Get him to a vet get him good meds, and clean out his cage and the others.

[eastcoastjac]

Thanks so much everyone. We are "in treatment" along with being a lot more careful with regard to cleaning his cage and perches. Looking much better already and the "dancing" has stopped.
Had his nails clipped at the same time, so he doesn't get stuck on the carpet when he plays outside the cage!

One more thing - I used to line the base of the cage with newspaper, but both budgies have now got very dirty tails (probably from the print). I've switched to budgie paper which vet recommended, but .... how can I get these guys cleaned up? They look really messy (both of them are mostly white in colour)
Thanks!

[Budgiekin]

That's great news! You may have to wait until they moult out those newspaper printed feathers...I too have a similar issue, but with carrot stains!