What did my budgies die of?

SmulanSmiley

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Jan 30, 2018
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Hello,

I am wondering about toxic plants. Is it dangerous for budgies if their cage is standing close to a toxic plant for example lilies? I know it´s very dangerous if the eat the toxic plants but how is it if they are in the same room that has toxic plants?

Also I wonder if it´s dangerous for budgies to be close to a cumputer screen. For example a 27 inch Mac computer screen. Is the light from the screen dangerous for them?

What symptoms will a budgie get that has been poisoned by something, for example, by eating something bad or by toxic fumes from a stove?

The reason I am asking all these questions is because on the christmas holiday me and my two budgies stayed at my parents house and they had some toxic plants like lilies and poinsettias in the house. I did not let my birds come outside the cage.

The second day we where there my birds cage was standing about 50 inches from my mac computer that has a screen of 27 inches and also they where about 80 inches away from a lilies plant. At 7 pm my mother fried some steaks in a cast iron pot. She forgot to put the fan on the stove and the house smelt a lot liked cooked food. She did not burn the food.

2 hours later at 9 pm my female budgie Smulan 4 years old threw up a little and then pretty fast she was not able to sit still and went all over the cage and I could see she was not feeling good. She did not want me to touch her at this time. She ended up on the floor in the cage and she was breathing fast and it looked like she did not have any balance because she fell over many times. Finally I took her in my hands and she calmed down and was laying in my hand and just looked at me. After a while she made a little sound and then she died. All this happened in 30-45 minutes.

2 hours later just before midnight the same thing happened to my male bird Smiley 9 years old. He lost balance and could not grip on the perches anymore and fell to the ground in the cage. He moved around a lot on the floor and stopped at times. 30 minutes later he was gone. I am so sad. This was a chock for me. My budgies was my babies and I have been crying everyday for 5 weeks now and I am devastated. I miss them so much and I need to know what happened to them.

They where all healthy and playing around the whole day and being happy as always. They ate organic cherry tomatoes and pea sprouts and lettuce peas that day and they had the same vegetables the day before. This was their favorites. I can’t imagine something was wrong with the vegetables.

If anyone have any information about this please let know.

Thank you.
Helena :blue2:
 

Anansi

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Hello, and welcome to the Parrot Forums family. I am so sorry for your loss. My heart goes out to you losing two of your dear fids in one night.

The only way you might ever have known for sure is if you had brought them in to an avian vet for a necropsy within 1-3 days of their passing. At this point, I'm sorry to say that you will never know for sure. It could have been anything. All we know is that it was likely something acute to have affected both in such a short span of time, which makes the most likely suspects compromised food, ingested foreign objects, cooking fumes if they were sufficiently heavy and the ventilation was less than adequate, overheated teflon, or heavy aerosol/scented candle usage.

Again, I'm so very sorry for your loss. And I wish I could be of more help giving you the answers you seek.
 

LordTriggs

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my money is on non-stick cooking utensils. The fumes released by them when cooking is lethal.

Either that or say, air fresheners, deodorant, perfume ETC ETC

Sorry to hear about their passing
 

Terry57

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I am so sorry for your loss of your babies:(
The first thing I thought of was the pollen from the lilies possibly getting into their food or water. My Aunt always had lilies at Christmas, and I remember the pollen spreading everywhere.
 

Allee

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Helena, I am so very sorry for your loss. It sounds like you shared a deep bond with your little sweethearts. As mentioned above, without a necropsy there's no way to be absolutely sure but my guess is also toxic fumes from non-stick cookware or appliances, aerosol sprays or cleaning agents, candles.....

Deepest condolences.
 

Kentuckienne

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I'm so sorry for your loss. I know what a big space these tiny birds make in our hearts. May I ask, what kind of food they were eating? And did they have their usual food at Christmas, or were they eating something different since they weren't at home?
 

Scott

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RIP Gandalf and Big Bird, you are missed.
My deepest condolences, Helena, for the loss of your beloved budgies.

The likely causes have been mentioned, sometimes we never know. Necropsy by a certified avian vet may have provided clues, particularly if you wish birds in the future.
 
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SmulanSmiley

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I'm so sorry for your loss. I know what a big space these tiny birds make in our hearts. May I ask, what kind of food they were eating? And did they have their usual food at Christmas, or were they eating something different since they weren't at home?


Thank you.
They got the same seeds that they had been eating for weeks. December 24 I gave them a new millet but they ate this both Dec 24 and Dec 25. They died in the evening of Dec 25. They got the same vegetables both days. Dec 25 I gave them a crispbread that my parents had. They have been eating this many times before.
 
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SmulanSmiley

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Helena, I am so very sorry for your loss. It sounds like you shared a deep bond with your little sweethearts. As mentioned above, without a necropsy there's no way to be absolutely sure but my guess is also toxic fumes from non-stick cookware or appliances, aerosol sprays or cleaning agents, candles.....

Deepest condolences.

Thank you. Yes I had a very deep bond with them. I´m always home as I work home with my webshop (4 years) and they where always hanging with me outside their cage. So I spent a lot of time with them. I live alone so they where my babies.

We had no candles or aerosol sprays. In all the years I have been at my parents house with them they have been close to the kitchen and every christmas my mother have all the christmas plants and they have been fine. They are never outside the cage when they are there. In November when I was away on holiday they spent 14 days there and my mom cook everyday.

I have had budgies for 38 years and this was so horrible. These two babies was very special budgies.
 
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SmulanSmiley

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Hello, and welcome to the Parrot Forums family. I am so sorry for your loss. My heart goes out to you losing two of your dear fids in one night.

The only way you might ever have known for sure is if you had brought them in to an avian vet for a necropsy within 1-3 days of their passing. At this point, I'm sorry to say that you will never know for sure. It could have been anything. All we know is that it was likely something acute to have affected both in such a short span of time, which makes the most likely suspects compromised food, ingested foreign objects, cooking fumes if they were sufficiently heavy and the ventilation was less than adequate, overheated teflon, or heavy aerosol/scented candle usage.

Again, I'm so very sorry for your loss. And I wish I could be of more help giving you the answers you seek.

Thank you. I was so devastated after this happened and could not eat or do anything. I was just laying in bed and cried for 3 days. My parents live in a small village and there are no avian vet close by. I live in a larger city and we only have 1 avian vet and it´s almost impossible to get an appointment there. I miss them so much. It´s very hard without them now.
 

Dopey

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PLEASE have things checked out at your parent's house. It may be none of that.

I visit a store A LOT and one day a sad little girl and her dad walked in. Both of the parakeets had died while she was at school. The owner of the store replaced them. It had been less than a week since he had sold them to the customer. The store owner advised the customer to keep his eye on things at home. He was pretty sure the daughter had done nothing to kill the birds. The replaced birds died too. Customer found out there was a gas leak under the house. PLEASE have things checked out at your parent's house.
 

Anansi

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Very good point, and well worth looking into.
 

eagle18

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I have one Umbrella, a Bare Eye, and two budgies.
I am so very sorry for your loss. Budgies are very special indeed. I got three seven years ago by a friend of mine. The female died in a manner of a few weeks and I was told by the vet that she had a backed up colon. She was nine years old, the oldest of the trio. May I ask how old your budgies were?

Again, I am so very sorry.
 
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SmulanSmiley

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Thank you. There are no gas in my parents house but maybe something else. I will ask my parent. Thank you.
 
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SmulanSmiley

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Thank you. The female was almost 4 years old and the male was almost 9 years old. Both where healthy and full of energy. It´s been 5 weeks now and it´s very empty without them. I am so sad. They where the light on my life. Always so happy and made me happy everyday. Even if I had a bad day I just look at them and all bad went away. They have saved me so many times by just beeing there for me. Miss them so much.
 

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