I am concerned about my 6 year old male budgie, Charlie. He recently began losing feathers off the top of his head. At first I wasn't concerned and thought he was just moulting or something but it kept going down and down his kneck so i took him to see a vet. The vet at first thought it was mites and gave him 2 doses of ivermectin over the course of 2 weeks. I am booked in to see her again in 1 week ( last visit was a week ago) and she said after one week he will be ok to go back in with my other budgie (he normally lives in a cage with another male budgie but I seperated them when I became concerned). His feathers are growing back but I am unsure if I should put them back together- I dont want to do the wrong thing. I really would like them to go back together ASAP as they have lived together for nearly 6 years and they are both very unhappy. It is really hard to guage if Charlie is sick or not because he is so unhappy- he is still eating, drinking and sleeping normally but during the day he seems very miserable and does not play with his toys, if he hears the other bird chirp he starts to pace up and down frantically looking for him. I
The vet mentioned other possible causes of feather loss, such as diet, sleep problems and behavioral issues and so I am trying to look into those things as well. Dietary wise, Charlie is a good fruit and veg eater, and I give them some budgie seed which I buy in bulk from the breeder where I bought them which is supposed to be better than supermarket seed. Charlie is a very greedy eater and may eat too much- he eats tons more than my other bird but he is also much bigger. He is also very territorial about his food and gets annoyed when the other bird dares to eat! He seems to pick out only his favorutie types of seed from the mix. He does do a lot of exercise from flying, playing and climbing.
Sleep is also an issue. the boys each have their own swing that they like to sleep on and once they are covered, its play time. My other bird gets very grumpy at night and wants to sleep, but Charlie prefers to get down from his swing and play. I started to remove toys at night to encourage him to sleep, but it doesent really deter him and he really annoys the other budgie by climbing up to his swing and trying to play with him. After about 40 mins, he usually settles down and climbs on his swing to sleep, but some nights I really doubt he gets enough sleep!
His behaviour is extremely territorial. He is funny about sharing food sometimes, although he likes to feed the other budgie. He is obsessed with the other bdugie and spends a lot of time feeding him and cleaning his head. he gets very fixated on his toys and hates new toys- if I so much as rearrange the toys in his cage he freezes like a statue initially, then avoids touching anything for the rest of the day. If a new toy is introduced, he avoids it for several MONTHS. He is reasonably tame, but mostly he just tolerates me, he much prefers the ocmpany of the other budgie whereas the first budgie is extremely affectionate.
Based on those things, do you have any suggestions for how to improve?
And do you think it would be unwise to put them back in together?
Thanks
