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My First Budgie


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Today is my two week "anniversary" as a budgie's human. I've never owned one before but as a kid always had other birds (chickens, ducks, geese, turkeys, sometimes phesants and quail) but never any tame birds as pets. I'd been thinking about getting a pet bird for a while and made my final decision after visiting a friend of mine in Parramatta, NSW and seeing his scaley-breasted lorikeet.

 

I was not able to find a breeder here in my area so I ended up buying my budgie, Aristotle, at a nearby pet store. The cage was very clean and all of the birds seemed healthy and happy. Aristotle is your typical green budgie with a yellow face, black-striped wings, and blue tail. His green feathers vary from an almost fluorescent green to a lime green. I am guessing he is less than 5 months old, since his eyes are still totally black and he still has some stripes on his head.

 

He's still not too comfortable with me, but I think he's getting more comfortable with the idea of this huge scary thing being around him all the time, haha. I work all day, but do get to spend some time with him early in the morning before I leave- we have breakfast together usually. In the afternoon, when I get home, I usually sit and talk or read to him, haha. He seems to like it, but still gets nervous when I put my hand inside his cage. I've been slowly placing it inside and just leaving it there without moving aroud a lot or doing anything that might scare him. I'm hoping that he'll eventualyl become hand tame. I do leave the radio or television on for him during the day while I am gone. Occasionally he will chirp when I come into the house, but not always.

 

I am taking him to the vet this Saturday to get him checked out. I have a feeling that will be traumatic for him since I'll have to get him out of his cage and put him in a small, travel cage, that I bought for him.

 

 

What are your opinions of playing bird "noises" for him? I've got a few CD's of natural bird sounds- bascially recodrings made in forests, jungles, etc with ambient noise and birds. I've played them a few times for him, but I'm kind of concerned that it might interfere with our "bonding" and if I overdo it, he'll never really become tame enough to be comfortable around me. He will chirp along with the bird songs and seems to enjoy them. I'm not going to be upset if he never really becomes fully tame, but I would like for him to get to the point that he's not afraid of me.

 

 

thanks!

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Hi and welcome. What a delightful name, and it sounds like he really landed on his feet coming into your home! Your doing everything right, the only thing I would add is, when you sit by his cage, close your eyes for a few seconds. Makes you look like no threat, if you were going to attack him you wouldn't shut your eyes. I'm glad he's getting a well bird check up. Is it an avian vet? As you probably know, with your background, most normal vets are at a bit of a loss when faced with a bird.

As far as the bird sounds, well I don't play them for my birds. Having said that, I do have aviary birds, both front and back yard, as well as 4 budgies and a lorikeet (rainbow) in my house, so they spend a lot of time 'talking' to each other. I think it's a personal thing, but if you want him to talk, I wouldn't suggest it.

 

Lorikeets are pretty hard to come by here too, but I have to say I prefer my budgies! They don't bite as hard, do not wait until they are sitting on your shoulder to screech, and temporarily deafen you, and are generally less aggressive. Constant problems with the lorikeet over who actually runs the house :(

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Congrats on that 2 week point :(. Lin said everything that had to be said, she is awesome. As for the bird noises, I don't do it. I did it once to hear the different sounds, and Pretty was there and just flipped out flying around, looking for the other bird it was not good. Now as for different kinds of music absolutely especially if you are not at home during a certain period of time.

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Thanks for the replies, ladies.

 

Yes, the vet I am taking him to is an avian vet (http://www.vetpets.net)- he's a member of the Association of Avian Veterinarians. I was able to find a couple in this area that accepted birds, but this one is the only one that is a member of the AAV and it's close to home. They also board birds if I have to leave town for a long period of time. They have a "Bird Annual Wellness Plan" that covers all of the normal exams and vaccinations as well as some discounts on other services. They also run a service called EARL- "Exotic Animal Rescue League".

 

 

 

Hello! Great advice there!

Try millet in your hand too when you offer your hand to him in the cage. Don't leave it in all the time,just use it as a bribe!

 

haha, well, I've been trying that but so far he's not shown any interest in Millet. This moring I broke off some small pieces and placed it in one of his food dishes. He inspected it carefully (with an expression of "hey, that's not the stuff that's supposed to be in that dish") for a few minutes but hopped off to the other dish for his "usual" breakfast. I've been feeding him KayTee's "Fiesta" food for parakeets, since that's what they were feeding him at the pet store. I'm working on getting him to accept fresh foods, but so far he's had no part of it. I am also going to try to get him to start eating pellets. I just don't want to try and get him to change too many things all at once.

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A bird that won't eat millet! :(

 

haha! well, maybe he'll come around one day :)

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Guest pixie25

welcome to the forum - your doing a great job with your new budgie :)

 

ive never tried a bird tape before. when my first budgie casper was a lone budgie he used to get very stressed out hearing the wild birds outside in the garden. its not good for him being able to hear another bird but not be able to interact or play together. its the same sort of principle for a mirror i would say - i only use mirrors for introducing new foods and i take them away once the have accepted the food.

 

i usually just leave the tv on for mine, they dont like the radio so much. they like watching cartoons :)

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Well, Aristotle got a reasonably clean bill of health from his vet this morning. The doctor did find Aristotle had a bit of a problem with yeast overgrowth and also a mild gram negative bacteria problem. Neither was serious enough to warrant medicine, but he did ask me to start giving him Prime Vitamins which include beneficial bacterial supplements.

 

Overall the visit was not too traumatic for him, haha, though he did have a couple of flights around the examination room. The doctor trimmed his nails and beak a bit and also properly clipped his wings. The pet store trimmed them when I bought Aristotle, but did not do a very good job. Right now he's resting here at home in his cage, haha. I think he's still a bit miffed at me but I think he'll come around soon, hahaha!

 

I am not sure how old he might be and I asked the doctor for his guess. He was not too sure but thought he might be as old as 4 yrs. His leg band has "TF", "01" sideways, and "136" stamped on it. THe doctor thought the "01" might indicate he was born in 2001, but I am not sure he is that old. His eyes are still totally black and his head is still striped. The vet did say though, that he did not think the pet store I bought my bird from sold birds that old so the information on his leg band is probably just information for the breeder.

 

I placed a picture of him in the gallery ... I'll get some better ones once he's feeling more like posing for the camera, haha.

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