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Post by elysianblight on Jul 22, 2020 0:51:40 GMT
I've mentioned before the Cypress is kind of a klutz sometimes.. he has missed his perch and tumbled into weird places on many occasions. Behind a bookcase, behind the couch, into the "mailbox" that sits on our mantle.. and frequently falls off one side of his play gym by my computer, where he ends up on the windowsill behind the desk. He has a ladder there now specifically so he can climb back up.
As I type this I realize the reason he falls there so much is because they like to hang upside down over the edge of the play gym to chew the bark on the base. They both do it, but Citrine doesn't fall off. Cypress' other tumbles have all been from bad landings or slipping off edges of perches/gyms, too.
He doesn't fall in the cage or anything, unless Citrine gives him a shove during a squabble. He does get a bit nervous moving from perch to perch though.. he takes a longer time and a lot of rocking to gear up for a hop that Citrine does without a thought.
Again, I figured he is just.. different.
Today I started working on getting them to hang upside down from my finger. While Citrine was perching there I tilted my hand a little, clicked and gave a treat.. it worked great. I was able to progress all the way to getting him completely upside down for a second!
But with Cypress I couldn't even start. As soon as I slightly tilt my hand he loses his grip and does a panic flutter. I don't know for sure if this is actual lack of ability, or his own nervousness.. but it made me pay attention to the fact that his grip on my finger is definitely looser than Citrine's.
I've also been working on getting them to perch on my shoulder (they dont like to chill there, but will do it on command) and Cypress slips off my arm alot. Citrine doesn't.
Are any of your budgies natural klutz like that...?
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Post by Hezz on Jul 22, 2020 2:18:34 GMT
That doesn't sound like a klutz; that sounds like some sort of defect, to me. Does he do better on a thin or thicker perch - try with your finger and with something the thickness of a pencil. Is it just one foot or both?
If it is really a problem, I suggest you see a vet, but if he still gets about okay, flies around and just has the occasional bad landing and you are not overly worried, you could try doing some strengthening exercises with him, although just what, I'm not sure.
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Post by elysianblight on Jul 22, 2020 3:02:23 GMT
Shoot, that's what I was afraid someone e would say. Poor little guy. I examined his feet today and couldn't see anything physically wrong from my layman's view.. also didnt notice one foot being particularly weaker than the other. Seems to be both. He holds on well enough for me to walk around with him.. but I can easily kind of move or lift each of his toes individually while he is perched on my finger. Couldn't isolate a problem to any one toe though  The difference with Citrine is I can definitely tell that he is actively using all his toes to grip and I feel his nails on my skin. I'll have to test this with different thickness of perches. He doesn't fall off something every day, maybe once a week on average.. so I guess he gets around ok. I've also seen him climbing sideways on the bars of the cage, so I know he can at least cling enough to hold his own weight.. but then, he can have some trouble getting down. Actually just saw that earlier today. He was climbing the cage bars above the door, trying to get to me, and then fell off when he went to switch over to gripping my finger instead. I'll definitely talk to the vet about it if I ever get a chance to see her face to face. Darn covid. |
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Post by elysianblight on Jul 22, 2020 3:33:02 GMT
I was looking at buying them some little footie toys anyway, just kept talking myself out of it as a waste of money since budgies don't tend to use their feet as much as other birds...
Guess this is my excuse, maybe if I can get him interested I'm holding things it will help with strength.
Edit: Come to think of it, I did notice day one that Citrine's feet are always warmer on my finger than Cypress'. Hmm.
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Post by Hezz on Jul 23, 2020 0:28:55 GMT
So he might have not such good circulation. A good massage will help towards that to some extent. I'm not sure foot toys will work for a budgie, either. As you say, they don't use their feet as hands in the same way that the bigger birds do.
Just another thought ... do any of his toes NOT engage? If he has a toe or two that don't bend around he might have broken his toe(s) at some stage. My little disabled hen has had a broken toe and that toe now sticks straight out - she has no grip with it at all. I can bend it down, but she can't. What with her other disabilities, it makes one foot a bit useless.
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Post by birdguhl on Jul 23, 2020 0:37:58 GMT
Is Cypress an older bird you have rehomed or is he a youngster? The reason I ask is if he is older and been on unsuitable perches he might not have developed the strength and flexibility in his feet and the neural connections which would enable him to use them fully.
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Post by Hezz on Jul 23, 2020 1:00:16 GMT
Is Cypress an older bird you have rehomed or is he a youngster? The reason I ask is if he is older and been on unsuitable perches he might not have developed the strength and flexibility in his feet and the neural connections which would enable him to use them fully. I'm fairly sure he is only a young bird, but good points, birdguhl. |
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Post by elysianblight on Jul 23, 2020 2:45:50 GMT
Is Cypress an older bird you have rehomed or is he a youngster? The reason I ask is if he is older and been on unsuitable perches he might not have developed the strength and flexibility in his feet and the neural connections which would enable him to use them fully. Oh sorry! Good question  Hezz is right, he is very young. Both Citrine and Cypress came to me from the same breeder at the same time. They are around 5 months old and both in the middle of their first molt. I did NOT see the breeder's aviary because she also works with endangered birds and has strict regulations with her license, but ever since they came home after weaning they've have a pretty good variety of perches. I know their little feet can change temp with their mood, but yeah.. his are always kind of "neutral" while his brother's are very noticeably warm. From what I can tell all his toes work. When he wraps them around the cage bars and none of them cross or stick out funny. They're just weirdly weaker than his brother. I'll work on getting him to let me give a foot massage! Thanks guys. Hopefully it's just not early signs of a hereditary kidney disease or something. Bleah. |
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Post by Hezz on Jul 23, 2020 20:20:14 GMT
Good luck with him. Maybe get him up and flying around more as well - more exercise, more blood flow happening. It might just help, especially if you can somehow help him stick his landings. Padding things he may land on such as tops of cages etc??
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