male budgies feet

Question
I have both a male and female budgie, both just over a year old.  The male, for a good six months, has had a almost constant twitching in both of his feet.  No other symptoms, just that the feet seemed to be causing him some discomfort, but he showed no other signs of illness.  There were no obvious outward signs, they looked healthy.  Starting perhaps two weeks ago, he obviously starts to not feel well, alot of puffing up, resting alot with head tucked into his feathers, no warbling or sounds at all, but I notice his feet have begun to look somewhat gnarled or even crusty (for lack of a better description), certainly looking different (and not pink and smooth as they should) then they have been.  He still eats well and preens (as well as tending to his feet) and has no trouble perching.  I've owned or had budgies since I was a kid and have never seen this before. The female's feet are fine and she appears very healthy (although over the past couple weeks she's been on the quite side, almost acting like she knows the male isn't feeling well) Any ideas?

Answer
Hi, Craig,

Could be scaly face mites.  They are very contagious, so you need to get your male budgie and likely take the female in, too, to see a certified avian vet for a medical examination.  Twitching isn't part of scaly face mites, so there could be more than 1 thing going on here.  The crusty description is typical of mites...does the area look like warts?  Get your bird to a bird vet ASAP.

Chrys