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1 budgie dead 4 missing - help Please (1 Viewer)

SCF0086

New member
Australia
Hi,



Recently we put 2 male cockatiels and 2 budgies( male and female) in a relatively large cage (3m length, 2.4meters high and 1.2 meters wide) with 1cm hole mesh covering it (my pinky finger doesn't fit through it) and shortly after the male went missing without a trace and the female we found dead on the floor with two puncture wounds on its chest as you can see in the picture and we know whatever happened happened overnight. I then looked inside the cage and could not see any escape or entry holes.



Then after sometime we decided to move 4 canaries, and 3 finches in with the cockatiels (non aggressive, very friendly) , and all was well, until 2 days ago that we noticed one of the finches is missing (happened over night) and today we discovered 2 canaries are missing.



This was such a mystery that today i went in for a closer inspection and noticed a 3cm gap under the door of the cage, and my first reaction was that they escaped, but then i remembered if they escaped then why is it happening over night only and what bit the budgie, which only left me with one answer that something was coming in at night and snatching them. Whatever it was it would have had to climb up the mesh 1.8m at least to get to them. Only possibilities are blue tongue lizards (which i saw on youtube they cant climb for nuts) or maybe a snake. I live in south australia and about 500m from a walking treck/large golf course and have seen brown snakes there before (even though its a busy area with many people letting their dogs loose, many wandering cats and wild birds() not to mention plenty of rats. When you walk into the streets there is many houses and pretty much every house has a cat, so whilst not impossible the snakes would have to go through a lot of dangers and houses (not to mention whatever the snake is looking for it will find long before getting to my house) and we have never seen a snake anywhere near our house. Only a wild animals in our backyard is rats and lizards.



I think the clue lies in the dead budgie which i took a picture of and was wondering if someone can identify what bit it.
 

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I'm very sorry about your birds but I have to tell you that BirdForum is for wild birds and wildlife. Not about captives.

You might want to do a google search of pet birds forums and see if that will help you out.
 
Rats are very possible. I'd say weasel, but Australia doesn't have those. Blue-tongued skinks aren't predators, and a snake wouldn't cause a bite like that.
 
Rats are very possible. I'd say weasel, but Australia doesn't have those. Blue-tongued skinks aren't predators, and a snake wouldn't cause a bite like that.
Thank you....its quite a mystery for us

Rats seem to be the most likely suspect, but there was no attempt to eat the budgie it looks like a death blow and the bird food which the rats like to eat is 1 1 meter bellow the perches, and also the 3cm gap bellow the door i guess is enough for the canary/finches to escape, but if thats the case why would they only go missing over night?
 
I'm very sorry about your birds but I have to tell you that BirdForum is for wild birds and wildlife. Not about captives.

You might want to do a google search of pet birds forums and see if that will help you out.
Sorry i didnt realise as i was just desperate for answers, specially if it happened to be a snake
 
No worries. If perhaps some time in the future you start watching the wild birds around you we'd love to see you back!
 
You'll want to find a forum for pet birds, as the people there would have experience with predators of those birds. A forum for backyard chickens may be worth a try (just google "backyard chicken forum"), too.

Possibly invest in a motion-sensitive nighttime camera like hunters use. Strap it to somewhere near the cage and see what comes in.
 
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