Treating Scaly Face

[Cariadlawn]

Both my budgies have the very beginnings of scaly face, and I'm trying to nip it in the bud. There's no way I can get them to the vet, as it's the weekend and the nearest one is over 60 miles away. I treated the worse of the two, Bel, with vaseline last night, and already he looks a little better - the areas that were slightly crusty on his cere look softer and smoother. My main concern with him is a patch at the corner of his beak. It looks like Buddy is developing some flakiness on her cere as well, so I will treat her tonight as a precaution (they share a cage). Should I be treating their legs/feet as well even though I don't see any problems there?

In addition, I'm planning a very thorough cleaning of their cage tomorrow! I'm wondering how I can go about disinfecting wood perches? I'm tempted to just toss them out, but they are custom fitted to the cage so it would be nice to salvage them if I could.

Any other tips would be greatly appreciated. Yes, I already know about Ivermectin, but it is not an option for me at the moment.

[Budgiekin]

While I am not an advocate for treating scaley face with vaseline, if that is your only option for the time being, then just make sure that when you apply it, you smooth it over so that it is not clumpy which could potentially block their nares. My inclination would be to only treat the areas that are showing signs of the mites. You just need to make sure you watch very carefully for any signs of the mites spreading. Ultimately, it would be a good idea to bring them to an avian vet when you can; the sooner the better. Ivermectin is not an expensive medication.

As far as disinfecting the wood perches, what we did at the recommendation of our avian vet was we first wiped them down with a damp cloth. Then we put them on a baking pan in the oven on a very low temperature (250 F) for about an hour. Now of course, this method will depend on how large your perches are and whether or not they will even fit in your oven. :p

[Cariadlawn]

Thanks for the information. I was a little wary of the vaseline as well, but I have made sure to smooth it out as you said. Bel looks even better today, so hopefully it is helping. When I was a kid I had a budgie who developed severe scaly face (I had no idea what it was or how to treat it back then), so I know how awful it can be...will definitely find a way to get them to a vet if it seems to worsen.

I think the perches will fit in the oven, so I will give that a try!

[miissemilyx33]

If they're the ones in your sig, they're absolutly adorable.

Ivermectin is a brand of horse dewormer, would it be the same thing?
I'm not saying treat them with it, I'm just curious :p

Good luck treating them.

[Budgiekin]

The ivermectin used on horses would be the same as that used on other animals like birds; just the dosages are different. In fact, ivermectin can be used on a wide variety of animals (including humans) for a variety of parasitic conditions. ;)

[Mithu]

As far as i know, when my budgie, Mitti got mites.. Vaseline didnt work.. it may have made the look of the mites go away but when i went to the vet he actually told me that its deep inside and has to be treated by ivermectin

but until you can get a vet you can keep trying to use vaseline

[Cariadlawn]

I'm happy to report that the vaseline seems to be doing the trick! The crusty bit at the corner of Bel's beak is disappearing, and his cere has remained smooth since the first treatment. He also has developed a new-found interest in baths, so hopefully that will help with his hygiene.

One thing I would mention to any would-be vaseline users though is that there is a trade-off involved. Yes, it's cheap and (relatively) easy, but it puts a lot more stress on the budgie, since you will need to handle him repeatedly. Unless you have a great technique and the budgie is accustomed to having medicine administered, he will try to GNAW on your hand, and be generally freaked out by the whole thing. Luckily Bel is very young and feisty, so he bounces right back and somehow still trusts me afterwards! I would be hesitant to put an older budgie through this though.