Cobalt

Well, he's improved a lot, although he does get very flighty at times and very grumpy if I don't pay him enough attention. Also... he still is really scared when I hold him, I can tell in his squawking. Should I be worried? He hasn't improved at all in that area...

My little boy has manperiods. ...or so I like to say (Laughing out loud)

Mine squawks and goes nuts. And other times he doesn't care (Laughing out loud)

He also seems to prefer sitting on my head or shoulder, mainly heads, but I'm trying to get him used to shoulders. It seems he just doesn't like being handled, that might just be his personality, because once he's on me and I've let him go he's fine. ...he's on my shoulder now, By The Way. Being a very nice companion :yellowhead:

My Chester's a bit of a silly one and likes being on people's heads rather than shoulder or finger.

Not at the local supermarket, Kaz D< He seems to have calmed down a bit now, he'll sit on my shoulder for a bit (and my head). He still gets very temperamental and decides to try and fly away, but hey, they're budgies :yellowhead: He also tends to fly up somewhere high and call to me just to taunt me. Cheeky little bugger :

I haven't been able to get him near a vet that will do it yet, or get millet, which is annoying. I've tried using the mirror, but he's not interested anymore. I tried offering him lettuce, also wasn't interested. I put him on my shoulder before, and he stayed for a few seconds, which was good... I think I'll have to get his wings clipped, he's just not wanting to be near anyone. Although, I don't know whether the vets nearby will do this, and the nearest avian vet is an hour away, and my mum certainly won't drive out for something like that... I'll just have to see ;|.

I'll be sure to ask my mum to get some tonight then, and I'll see how that goes. Many thanks!

You want pictures, eh? Well I got some with my webcam, doesn't really show of his color in the light but oh well. Edit - I'm playing Coldplay's Parachutes album to him at the moment, and he's been facing the speakers and close to bobbing up and down. Same taste as me!

I don't think he cares for the bird toy, the only time he uses it is to get away, otherwise he ignores it. I don't think we've got millet on hand, I could try that. Otherwise he's being extremely hard to associate with. I can get him to step up in the cage (not via voice command yet, just nudging lightly on his belly) although this is almost always in the evening. In the mornings and when he's out he just doesn't want to do it.

Two months now, I don't know if that counts as recently. Perhaps give it three? He's a bit stubborn, which I can never really put up with in an animal |D

I used to have a similar problem whenever we had kittens XD hopefully they'll get it soon

Sounds like an ideal alternative for our situation, actually. I'll discuss it with everyone else.

Wecome to you and Chester. The mistake you made (don't worry, we all make them and learn from them) was to give him a mirror. When you removed it, he saw it as you were removing his 'mate', and that is why he gets cross at you. My suggestion would be to start again with training him. You can look up tips in the FAQ's for specific tips. You'll just have to talk to him, put your hand in his cage and take it slowly. It's best not to react when he bites, but I know from EXPERIENCE tht this can be very, very, very hard to do :budgiedance: Persistance is the key... and work at his rate, not yours. Once you can get him to come to you and step up (possibly with a millet bribe), you'll then be able to let him out and get him back eaiser. He will learn to love you again and see you as his 'mate' Best of luck and let us know how you go! maesie xxx I didn't even suggest putting the mirror in, that was my mum XD. He was nippy before that, actually, I forgot to mention, maybe he needs another toy or two... the only one's he's got now is a little plastic budgie on one of his perches and another similar toy (only a Tweety), both that he doesn't care about. I'll give it a try, tho Edit- Don't know if this helps, but he's a lot easier to manage later in the day. Maybe I should try handling then?

Yup, another person new to the world of budgies. My parents were parrot breeders and after the death of my canary Tweety two years ago I decided to get a budgie. He seems to be a violet blue color. Everyone else in my family calls him Boris despite me nagging them that his name is in fact Chester, after Chester Bennington of Linkin Park and his tendencies to screech a lot. Although I need a bit of help with him, thread can be found here: http://forums.budgiebreeders.asn.au/index....showtopic=17649 But otherwise, I'm here to stay :budgiedance:

I recently got a new budgie from a petstore (not one of those dodgy ones mind you, they're usually good to deal with). His name's Chester, he's a male, a violet cobalt color (ironically) and probably only three-five months old or so. Anyways, in the store he was a fairly co-operative budgie, fairly chirpy, etc etc. I let him have a day to settle, and then I tried to put my hand in the cage. Understandably, he tried to get away. After some time he would hop on my finger. Then we decided he was going alright so we put a mirror in there after a few days, but then came pretty attached to it, pecking at it and the sort. So we took the cage out, and over a week Chester's behavior changed pretty dramatically. The first two days or so he'd call for the mirror, and then whenever we'd try and take him out of the cage, he'd squawk angrily and start struggling, screeching and nipping. I'd put him back everytime he did it, but as time went on he just bites harder and it's impossible to not react. Chester becomes pretty anxious if I come near the cage or him when he's on a free fly around the house. Usually then I have to use a tea towel (light one, of course) to catch him, although I don't necessarily want to because now he's probably scared of it. I've taken him outside in the cage, and he seems to not be nervous outside. I can't really build an aviary for him since we have two (also fairly untame) cats that, if hungry, will take to looking for birds, especially my dear flapping little feathery friend XD. I'm not too sure what to do with the poor thing - one of our rooms has a glass wall, which he seems to have learned is bad to fly into, and he seems to go quiet when I enter the room, but never with anyone else. Help? EDIT - Also, because of his attempted escapes, he's bent two of his long tail feathers, which is a bit of a concern. They seem to be fairly loose, so there's no doubt they'll come out... he doesn't have any difficulty flying now, though... This post has been edited by Cobalt: Today, 14:21