Reptile & Amphibian Forums

today i awoke to find my parakeet had died. when i went to berry her i noticed she had lost lots of weight because on both sides of the bone(not the ribs) that supports her chest were concave. she ate but still lost weight. she had plenty of water. for the past few days she had her feathers ruffled up and appeared cold. at first we thought she was about to moult. it also looked like she was breathing hard but i did not notice any discharge.

I am very sorry for the loss of your feathered friend.

There are many things that could have caused this. Without doing a necropsy it is impossible to elimate it down to just one. It could have been a fungal infection, a parasite infestation, bacterial infection, respiratory infection (even without discharge, they can hide symptoms quite well). I have also known birds to seem as if they are eating well when sick when in actuallity all they ae doing is hulling the seeds and tossing them on the floor or making a dust of the pellets and scattering it around. In the wild birds are prey animals especially the smaller ones and have become quite adept at hiding signs of illness. Unless you know exactly what you are looking for (and sometimes not even then) they can hide their illness until it is too late.

For everyone else reading this, at the first signs of illness or even a change in diet, attitude etc, get your bird to a vet, by the time a bird shows signs of illness it is starting to advance and should be counted as an emergency. Not every illness is detectable and even the most conscientious bird keeper can loose a flock member. Just keep your eyes open, love your birds for the time you have together and keep vet visits regular.

thank you for your input. but i would not consider her a feathered freind but more my lovable little demon bird. my mom looked around for a vet but could not find one that would take small birds, so if i ever decide to do a bird again what would be considered medium to large?

Well I would suggest looking around for an actual avian vet. A true avian vet will take in any size of bird for treatment and testing. If you need help finding one in your area let us know and see if we can come up with any suggestions.

As far as a medium to larger bird I would guess this would probably mean a conure or quaker size and anything larger. Some might include cockatiels in that size range but others classify them as a small bird.

thank you for the info. is there any bird that stays relitivly small to medium other than cockateils and budgies that is not neceserily cudly but can talk well but not be a complete screamer and will enjoy just being with the family being petted or attended to or relaxing with us? if there is such a bird what is it, how big does it get and how big a cage will it require? i was also interested in all those other parakeets that aren't budgies is there a good sight or book dedicated to them?

I can suggest many birds that may be able to talk, some of which aren't usually screamers. But PLEASE do not just adopt or purchase a bird for its talking ability. African greys are rated as the top talking bird but I have known many who never say a word, I have also known some that have quite extensive vocabularies. I have known budgies that don't say a word and some that will say several. This goes for most species of birds. I don't know of any species that are guaranteed to talk. If you purchase a bird only with the hopes of having a talking companion there is a very great chance you will be disappointed.

Green cheek conures -- can learn to talk and be understood, their voices are usually scratchy and a little quieter. They are one of the quietest of the conure family. Not all will talk and one sex is not any more likely to talk than the other.

Sun, Nanday and Jenday conures -- all have the ability to speak, some more clearly than others but are also known as being screamers. Not all will scream and not all will talk.

Senegals, Meyers, etc -- can be quite loud but aren't always. Can learn to talk usually only a few words but some will have more extensive vocabularies. May not talk at all.

Quaker -- illegal in some states. Can be excellent talkers, some say they rival the african grey in amount of words learned. Can be very understandable but at other times may have a scratchy voice. Can have a irritating scream (I don't mind it but some do) many are noisy others are very quiet.

Caiques -- can learn to talk, aren't really known for extensive speaking ability. More known to be playful clowns. Can be screamers but not always.

Parakeets besides budgies -- there are many of these some have great talking abilities others don't. Indian Ringnecks will usually learn some words and phrases but also have a scream that sounds like a car alarm. The same usually goes for the Mustached, plum headed, Alexandrine etc. Do a google search to see pictures. Lineolated etc usually aren't as loud but I also haven't heard as much on their talking abilities.

After doing a google search (look in the photo gallery for owners with these types of birds or on wikipedia for pics for care, abilities etc of a certain bird or species I will be happy to suggest some sites and books if I know more of which types you are most interested in.

thank you for the info. i wasn't going to adopt based on talking ability, i just thought teaching/having a bird that could talk would be interesting, but if the bird i choose(if i decide to get another one) can't talk then oh well it would still be the same loving pet if it could talk.