kwonyong

We have only had budgies since the start of the year. The first one dropped dead after a month (and a huge vet bill). We got her/him from a breeder, and the breeder offered us another budgie about 3 weeks ago. It was very kind of her, particularly as she didn't charge us for Snudge. Anyway Snudge is about 9 weeks old and as soon as we walk in the room he starts begging to come out. As soon as we open the cage he either walks up my arm onto my shoulder or flys straight onto my shoulder and thats where he stays for a great deal of the time. He goes from one shoulder to the other and spends alot of time preening whilst there. He really only leaves if he sees a higher shoulder, then he flys across to it. When its time to go back in, he is easy to catch, But I usually need to catch him in my hand. I would prefer that he step up so I can put him back My question is how do we train a bird like this? We haven't found a food yet that he loves enough to use as a training aid. We don't need to encourage him out of his cage by using millet, patience and step up. As soon as the door opens he is out (and not to escape) he seems to love people and much prefers sitting with people than on the top of his cage. Or do I need to train him further....? My son has vision of teaching him tricks, but I don't know how to go about doing that. I would love any advice or do I stop worrying about training and just enjoy owning this gorgeous cheeky little budgie.

Hi all. I have been lurking for a couple of months reading up on keeping budgies and about 1 month ago I decided it was time. I purchased two beautiful 6 - 7 week old budgies from a breeder which with the info on the forum I successfully hand tamed. The whole family loved them. Then yesterday I noticed one of them Elly was looking a bit off, so I took her straight to the vet. The vet kept her to try and do some tests, and this morning I got a phone call to tell me she was dead. The entire family is devasted. We don't know what we did wrong. The vet said she didn't have worms or a bacterial infection. The only real symptom she had was runny poo's and then no poo (only urine) (apart from looking a little off). the vet also said she was a good weight, so not underfed. We were also really careful about not stressing them, or having them in a draught etc. I am watching our other budgie like a hawk if I see any signs of a problem I will rush him off. What I was wondering though is what is the mortality rate amongst pet budgies? I don't want to put my family through attaching ourselves to another bird if there is say a 50% chance that it will drop dead within a couple of months and all we'll be left with is another big vet bill and broken hearts. Are budgies really fragile or have we just been unlucky. Thanks everyone.