Foot issue?

[apolloaer]

Hey guys!

So I got a new budgie today to keep my other budgie company. The pet shop employee told me it's a hand fed 2 month old baby.
Anyway so I took it home and then I noticed that it's right foot doesn't have a good grip or something and also sometimes bites it's nails.
Here are some photos maybe they help.

any ideas?

Thank you!

 

[EllenD]

Welcome to the community!

Your new Budgie is very cute, though probably around 4-5 months old, definitely not two...It's way too young to tell the gender, they need to be closer to a year old so that their Cere stops changing color, and whatever color it is around a year old will indicate it's gender...You can tell the age by the black stripes on it's forehead and how close they are to their Cere. Budgies usually fully-wean between 8-10 weeks old, so around 2 months, and this Budgie is definitely around 4 months old at the youngest, but still quite a young baby. Congrats!

Your Budgie's feet actually look a little red/swollen to me in-general, both of them. That may be the photo and just the shadowing/coloring, but both feet and all the toes look to be very red and swollen, which is indicative of a posiible infection, which could be due to them chewing on them all the time, that's pretty common...Usually when a bird is constantly chewing on their feet it's due to stress/anxiety, just the same way people chew on their fingernails...I have a Quaker Parrot who immediately starts chewing her toenails as soon as she does somethiing she knows she shouldn't, lol...So your new Budgie could be chewing on it's feet simply because you just brought him/her home and he/she is in a totally new environment with new people and another Budgie that he/she doesn't know...So it may pass as he/she settles in, it may not...

Have you made an appointment for his/her first Wellness Exam with your Avian Vet yet? If not, you need to do that ASAP, it should be done to all of your birds once a year at a minimum and it needs to include a Fecal Smear to test for infection, parasites, and to make sure they have enough beneficial bacteria throughout their GI Tract. They are too young/little to do blood-work yet, but next year that should be done once yearly too...I would get him/her to a Certified Avian Vet or Avian Specialist Vet immediately for both their Wellness Exam and Fecal Test, and to have his/her feet checked out, because if they are infected it needs to be addressed immediately...Hopefully that isn't the case, hopefully it's just nerves and anxiety due to being in a new home...

***Something else I'd like to touch on...You said you bought this Budgie as a "friend" for your other Budgie...Did you put them together right away, or did you keep them in separate rooms for the first 30 days as you should for a quarantine? If not then there's nothing you can do now, but realize that if you didn't do a 30-day quarantine then anything this new bird has such as infections, diseases, illnesses, etc., your other Budgie is also probably going to have as well...Always do a 30-day quarantine whenever you bring home a new bird, and make sure the new bird's cage is in a totally other room with the door shut away from any other birds you already have...

Also, did you just put the new bird into your current Budgie's cage, or do they both have their own cages and set-ups with their own toys, dishes, etc.? Because that also could very well be your problem...You should NEVER just bring home a new parrot and put it inside of the same cage with your current parrot...First of all, you have no idea whether they will get along at all or whether they will be violent or aggressive with each other...Birds form relationships like people do, sometimes they like each other, sometimes they love each other, sometimes they just tolerate each other, sometimes they hate each other, and sometimes they try to literally hurt or kill each other...And if this new Budgie is being dominated/bullied by your other Budgie, or the other Budgie is trying to over-preen the new Budgie, or if this new Budgie just simply doesn't like the other Budgie and is feeling very, very stressed and anxious because he/she is in the same "territory" as another Budgie they aren't comfortable with, then that is most-likely the reason he/she is chewing her/his feet all the time, out of anxiety, stress, etc.

The best thing you can do, in addition to taking him/her to your Avian Vet for a full Wellness Exam within the first 30-days of bringing him/her home, is to make sure he/she has their own cage with their own toys, food and water dishes, etc. Birds need to be introduced very gradually, so after the 30-day quarantine in a different room, then you can put their cages in the same room and next to each other, so that they can see each other and talk to each other, and slowly get used to each other, and only let them out of their cages together totally supervised, and be ready to have to separate them if they start to fight...Slowly, over time, you'll start to be able to tell what type of relationship these two birds are going to have as adults, you can't tell right now because this is a baby, and it's new to the entire environment, and new to you and is not yet bonded to you...Once this Budgie bonds to you it may not want anything to do with the other Budgie, or vice versa...Or the two Budgies might enc-up bonding to each other and neither will want to be bonded to you any longer, you just don't know what will happen if you put them together...But they can NEVER be put in the same cage right away, because this will almost always cause severe stress and anxiety in both birds...

So if you haven't already, you need to get a second cage for the new Budgie along with toys, dishes, etc., and get them out of the other Budgie's cage ASAP if that's what the situation is...And then watch he/she after you separate them and see if their anxiety level seems to be going down at all and the chewing of the feet stops...If it does, then you have your answer. And they need to be separated immediately anyway until the new bird settles-in and you see how they are really going to get along...If the foot chewing doesn't stop at that point and they still seem red and swollen, then you'll know something else is going on, such as an infection, mites, etc. and the Wellness-Exam with your Avian Vet will be the next step.