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Why is my male budgie's cere turning dark? Should I see a vet?

Updated On September 23rd, 2025

Pet's info: Bird | Parakeet | Male | 5 years and 6 months old

My 5-year-old male budgie's cere is turning a dark color. My Google searches indicate this could be iodine deficiency or a testicular tumor. He doesn't have any other symptoms; he's playing and singing like normal, leaves his normal "deposits," and is eating and drinking. He has always refused to eat anything but his seed blend, banana peels, and spinach, so it's possible he has a vitamin deficiency, but, looking at pictures, the darkening happened since November. Should I take him to the vet?

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2 Answers

Most Helpful Answer

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Answered By Dr. Strydom, DVM

Veterinarian

Published on February 7th, 2022

Firstly, are you sure he is male? If he is young and the cere was a lighter color, he may be female and is now coming in to reproductive age which has caused the cere to become darker brown. If he is definitely male, then yes, this change is usually due to a testicular tumor - since the testicles are inside the body you cannot really check this. If you are worried you need to take him to an avian vet and have some blood testing done to check the hormone levels. There is nothing you can do for diagnosis at home. Be sure to take him to a vet that is used to treating birds. I'm glad he is seemingly fine now but that could change quickly as birds often hide how sick they are until they are very sick. Nutrition is important but an all/mostly seed diet usually causes other issues like fatty liver. You need to speak to the vet about how to get him changed over to a pelleted diet like Harrison's. Here is a link to their website. ( https://www.harrisonsbirdfoods.com ) Hope this helps. Best wishes.

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Other Answers

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    Answered By Emi Knafo, DVM, DACZM

    Veterinarian, Board-Certified Zoological Medicine Specialist

    Published on December 16th, 2017

    Hello. I’m sorry to tell you that this is likely a poor sign. The color of the cere (tissue around the nostrils) is driven by sex hormones and is why make budgies have blue ceres. A color change signifies a change in hormone levels and it is sadly quite common to see tumors of the testicles that result in cere color changes from blue to brown. I would urge you to have Kiwi evaluated by your veterinarian to make sure here isn’t some other cause of the color change and see if there may be something that can be done early. If the tumor is small, some intervention may be helpful (surgery, hormone therapy, etc), but typically these aren’t easy to treat and we try to just keep the bird comfortable. Best of luck to you and Kiwi.

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