Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Sometime in 2006, we rescued a lutino budgie, Sponge, from my stepfather's relatives. The younger brother of her owner constantly tortured her, so naturally she is a bit shy and "cries" if we touch her. She gets along well with the other budgies (9 of them) and gets preened, stuff like that. She always stays in the cage during free time, but what worries me is that there is a deformity on the right side of her cere. It looks like a horn and slightly covers the right nostril. She also breathes with her beak slightly open, with a wheezing sound. Otherwise, she is perfectly healthy. She eats seeds, fruit, veggies, spray millet, special treats, and uses the cuttle bone. I'm not entirely sure what the deformity is, if it could maybe be a result of the abuse? I don't want to take her to the vet unless absolutely necessary, because like I said, she shies away from hands and gets very stressed if she is out of the cage. If anyone could help shed some light on this I'd be really grateful.

I have heard of budgies developing tumors or cysts but have not had experience with one in the area of the cere, depending on the bird, the cyst/tumor etc they can be sometimes removed by laser surgery. The only other problem I could think of might be something like mites, although they usually just create holes in the cere area they can sometimes swell around the infected area making an abnormal growth (this would also be contagious to the other birds you keep) Whichever it is or even something completely different, if it is causing trouble breathing then the vet is definitely needed. I realize it could stress her but any disorder that effect respiration needs a vets help. Sorry I couldn't be of more assistance.

Thank you very much! I'm pretty sure it's not mites, but it might be some sort of growth. I'll take her to the vet to be sure.