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Urgent Constant foot tapping

Nami

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One of my budgies has been constantly tapping his little feet while perched, I've looked at the bottoms of his feet and they look normal and clean and I'm not sure what it's caused by or what to do.
Ever since moving I haven't been able to find the pellets I usually feed, I tried ordering it through a pet supplies store and received the wrong thing so I've had to re-order. So my budgies have been eating crappy food for about 2 months now and I'm worried it might be a vitamin problem? Maybe his perches aren't comfy enough? Is he stressed?

My initial reaction would be to take him to a vet but I've spent $500 on vet bills in the past few days on one of my other animals who has pneumonia and I have $3.75 in my bank account.

I found this video which is exactly what he is doing just in case my explanation was too vague:

Is there a way I can make a nice comfy perch for him? Any ideas? :( I feel like the worst bird mum
 

Hankmacaw

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I know very little about Budgies, but with Eclectus the toe tapping is generally diet related. In the video the bird has bitten at his foot a couple of times. Does yours do this? Biting at the foot/leg can mean frustrated aggression or it can mean that the bird is in pain. Have you picked him up and inspected him very carefully.

I'd change his diet right away to straight seeds and some lettuce. That should counter anything that he may be allergic to in his current food. What do you normally feed them?
 

Hankmacaw

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Are you absolutely sure that the bird is a boy. Sometimes in the process of laying an egg, the egg can press on nerves around the pelvis. Inspect her/him for eggs.

If you aren't sure it's a boy, post a picture of it and there are people on the forum who can help you with sexing it (not me).
 

Nami

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I inspected him very carefully and couldn't note anything other than his nails being a bit long, I'll try get a picture and a video. I haven't seen any foot biting but I need to watch him a bit further to see for sure.

The current diet he's on is just seeds, it's the same diet the lady who had them before me fed (Trill). The food I usually feed in Roudybush.
 

Hankmacaw

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Hopefully, some of the Budgie people will come on to help you soon. My knowledge of Budgies is woefully inadequate.
 

Nami

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I'm pretty positive he's a boy, he's a juvenile. Here's an unfiltered version of my avatar
 

Crazy4parrots

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Looks like a girl to me girls can have pink cere depending on mutations and she have white around the nostrils.. boys have purplish cere. And slight tinges of light blue hues around the nostrils.
 

Nami

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I've had multiple avian specialists tell me different genders at different ages so I'm really not sure :blink: Nimbus seems to be eating and drinking fine and isn't fluffed up at all, what symptoms would come along with egg complications? I'm starting to think it might be dietary?
 

Denice

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Aww hope he/she gets better so adorable
 

Monica

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Nimbus is definitely a male! :)


I haven't seen any budgies do the foot tapping. So many different reasons why they could do it.
 

Nami

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So after some exchanged emails with my vet we have ruled down what it could be caused by. She has concluded that she suspects he's either stressed/bored or it's dietary. Since my budgies have been cage bound (we're dogsitting at the moment) I think it could easily be because he hasn't been able to fly or mentally stimulate himself, I recently moved and couldn't bring his toys interstate so his cage isn't too fun at the moment either.
I secluded off a room and let him out for a bit and he stopped with the foot tapping while out his cage so I think he's just been bored :( My boyfriend was kind enough to help me out and spoiled them by buying them some awesome foraging toys so hopefully he is back to normal in no time. My paranoid mind is finally at rest :angel3:
 

Crazy4parrots

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So after some exchanged emails with my vet we have ruled down what it could be caused by. She has concluded that she suspects he's either stressed/bored or it's dietary. Since my budgies have been cage bound (we're dogsitting at the moment) I think it could easily be because he hasn't been able to fly or mentally stimulate himself, I recently moved and couldn't bring his toys interstate so his cage isn't too fun at the moment either.
I secluded off a room and let him out for a bit and he stopped with the foot tapping while out his cage so I think he's just been bored :( My boyfriend was kind enough to help me out and spoiled them by buying them some awesome foraging toys so hopefully he is back to normal in no time. My paranoid mind is finally at rest :angel3:
Interesting is good to know this kind of information!
 

JLcribber

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So after some exchanged emails with my vet we have ruled down what it could be caused by. She has concluded that she suspects he's either stressed/bored or it's dietary. Since my budgies have been cage bound (we're dogsitting at the moment) I think it could easily be because he hasn't been able to fly or mentally stimulate himself, I recently moved and couldn't bring his toys interstate so his cage isn't too fun at the moment either.
I secluded off a room and let him out for a bit and he stopped with the foot tapping while out his cage so I think he's just been bored :( My boyfriend was kind enough to help me out and spoiled them by buying them some awesome foraging toys so hopefully he is back to normal in no time. My paranoid mind is finally at rest :angel3:

I suspected it was just a coping (stereotypy) behaviour but I have no experience with budgies experiencing this kind of behaviour so wasn't sure. Lots of space and flight time will remedy the situation.
 

karen256

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He looks like a young make budgie to me.
The toe tapping in the video looks a bit different from the unconscious toe tapping that is seen in eclectus parrots that get too many vitamins/processed foods, so it might be unrelated. But budgies, like eclectus, are birds that do best on a non pellet based diets as pellets can be too rich for them and the extra vitamins and minerals can eventually cause kidney problems. So if he is getting a mostly pellet diet, you should try also providing some seed - as well as all the veggies and leafy greens he will eat. Pellets are great for rounding out a diet and helping to ensure he doesn't suffer from any major deficiencies, though. If it were me, I would give him about 3/4 to 1 teaspoon of seed a day and just leave pellets and other foods available.

The toe tapping could also be from something unrelated of course.
My budgies will occasionally move their feet like when they are actually scratching their bellies, but they only do it for a few seconds, not continuously like that.
 
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Lwalker

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Good news!
 
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