Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Greetings all. I have owned and loved my parakeet/budgie "Flik" for about 5 1/2 years now. My girlfriend and I are very good about offering him fresh fruits and veggies to snack on. Most of the time he manages to get some stuck underneath his lower beak. Often times we'll get a napkin under there and clean it off. Recently, we came across an odd growth which we initially thought was some leftover food. Despite some wiping at it with a napkin it didn't want to go away. Upon closer inspection we noticed it was an actual growth. You'll need to have a look at a macro picture I took of it, but to describe it simple put it appears like it's a small cyst attached at the same point where the skin holds the lower beak. It's been there for a little while now and we're afraid it is going to lead to future health problems. It has grown but ever so slightly. Does anyone know what this thing is? Thank you so much in advance for your assistance.

- Eugenio

Do a search for "bird cyst growth under beak" there is a very informative site the Hamilton and District cage bird club society or something close to that which has a nice article on growths, cysts and tumors on budgerigars and other birds. I glanced through it quickly "so could have missed something" It looks like that it is not exactly common but does happen that budgies/parakeets will get a fibrous tumor on or around there beak that can sometimes be related to scaly face mites. It is not a symptom but seems to happen at the same time. There are also "bone" type growths that can be either malignant or non-malignant in the same area. I cannot tell if the growth is soft or hard, from the picture it looks "bone-like". Either way I would get it to a vet. It may be nothing serious but either of the above mentioned things could be serious.

Again I have never actually seen this just read on that site so if anyone else has actual experience with this type of growth please feel free to answer!!

Stephanie

Stephanie, thank you for your response. I will read through the H&D site and see if any of the descriptions fit this odd growth. I have added another picture from a different angle to give a different view. To address another concern, the growth is in fact soft tissue. You can see where there is a divot in the underside of the beak where the growth was kind of sitting. This is the third budgie I've ever owned but only the first time I've ever dealt with an exterior growth.

Thanks again.

It doesn`t look like anything related to scaley face mites to me... And without a new bird being introduced to the house, there`s very, very little chance of your budgie suddenly coming down with scaley face after so many years.

But I have no idea what it is. I would say call an avian vet for advice, at the very least. Personally, I think I`d make a vet appointment.