krosp

Sorry! I thought it looked a little big, but I had the setting on my photobucket to shrink it so I assumed it must be the right size. Here we go....: Hehe.. I'm glad so far nobody has challenged my opinion that he is a boy

He's been going really well today. He seems to really like it when we come to the side of the cage and talk to him. We were out this morning, and when we got back, he had emptied his entire seed tray onto the floor underneath him because he was so desperate to burrow his way out of the cage. (Luckily we had covered the floor with a clear plastic tablecover thing haha). Our cage has this whole front section that can be opened, so we decided to let him out if he wanted to. He went down to the floor and started eating all the seed that he'd tossed there beneath his cage. He seemed happy for us to be around him and talk gently to him, and when we got down to his level on the floor and talked to him he didn't run away from our face, but sort of fluffed up and seemed to be listening - we just had to be careful not to get our hands too close still. He did peck at a string of paperclips that I was holding in my hand, after he got the courage to approach me and play with it a little. Curiosity got the better of him haha... A friend of mine told me that they tamed their budgie by teaching him to step up onto his ladder that they were holding first of all, before introducing their finger. So I decided to try that today but the only thing I had was the long piece of wire thing which closes the front section of his cage. He was a bit wobbly on it because it was so narrow, but he actually stepped onto it surprisingly easily, and let me move him around on it. That was how I eventually got him back into his cage. I was really happy about that because I was expecting to have to grab him with a piece of cloth or something to get him back in and I didn't want to frighten him. But if I can use a ladder or stick thing to get him up on then it will be a lot easier to get him back into the cage, and we might try this little bit of supervised play time again. I guess this next step might have been a bit too fast, but he seemed to be handling it well. The first thing he did when he was back in the cage was tuck his head between his wings and have a sleep. I think he's getting more comfortable with us around.

Thanks maisie - I've read that and found it really helpful. I'm going to bookmark it so I keep referring to it along the way I'm also reading birdluv's taming journal. I think my little guy needs a bit more time to settle in before I start trying to tame him. He's currently in the phase of trying to escape from every little corner of his cage. Guess the cage doesn't feel like home yet.

Thanks, that's great advice. I guess I'm off to the right start then.. I have just been putting my hand in to "rearrange" the millet haha. I have noticed that other people on here have used millet as a reward and training tool. I never used food the last times I tamed my budgies, but maybe I will after he gets a bit more used to my hand in the cage. I put the millet in now though because he's so new to his cage and I wanted him to have food in a few places to access while he settles in. He's still not really settled- keeps trying to escape, and keeps burrowing all the grit out.

I have tamed budgies before, but it was so long ago that I think I've kind of forgotten how I did it! Between the ages of 11 and 13 I tamed quite a few, but I don't have any memory of it being difficult. After that we only had ones that were babies of ours so obviously they were no trouble to tame. Maybe animals and kids have some kind of special bond, I know dogs and cats seem to be a lot more tolerant of kids! Anyway.... I guess what I'm thinking is that I expect it to be a really slow process of gradual little steps, and I'm fine with that. But I am thinking that once I've got him comfortable to step up on my finger, the rest should be a lot easier after that. But the very initial step of getting him to trust my hand near him seems impossible. How did you all get past that hurdle? If I put my hand near him now he runs away from it. I don't want to chase him around and make the hand an enemy, so I haven't really pursued it or anything, but I just notice it when I put my hand in to move things in the cage etc that he runs away. He does seem to like it when I talk to him though. I just can't really see how I can train him to step up if he won't let my hand go near him, and I don't want to cause him any stress. I have read the article on taming and it's really good advice on there so that will help... just wondering if anyone has any other tips for the very start of the taming process?

I got a better photo today We opened the cage door thinking that if he climbed out I'd be able to clean up a bit in there. But he flew onto our phone instead. After a while he started pecking at the little blinking light on the answering machine, and trying to chew the buttons. Thought you all might like to see this one http://i169.photobucket.com/albums/u210/krosp/cosmophone.jpg

Maybe his legs are like that because of his age? They're so cute when they're still awkward on a perch and don't know how to land when they've been flying. But he might be a little older than that. At least you've got it checked out and are giving him some kind of treatment. He seems to be coping completely fine with it anyway. Congratulations he is a little sweetie and Scout is a great name for him

I clipped his wings, so he can't take off all around the house. He can still fly a little bit though, like from perch to perch around the cage. Today he started eating his seed, and climbing all around the cage exploring. He still calls out desperately every time he hears a passing bird poor little guy. I noticed that his calling out cry still sounds a little bit babyish. Like it goes a little bit longer and more wavery than adults do, if that makes sense.

How long have you had yours for? I'm not sure how long it will take to tame, but I'm just guessing a couple of months at least before he's happy on our shoulder. I'm planning on taking it fairly slowly but spending heaps of time around him, talking to him every time I go past the cage, doing stuff in the same room until he gets used to it. He seems to enjoy it... likes to watch what we're doing and blinks when we talk to him, and if we're making noise in the background like the tv etc, he chortles along to noisy bits. But it will take some time for us to get to know his personality and him to get to know us too. Good luck with yours too

Yeah sorry the picture is so blurry- I had to take it through the bars of the cage without the flash on because I didn't want to stress him out just yet! I have never had a yellowface before so I'm certainly no expert on them.... but if it's supposed to be really clearcut that type I only has it on the face and if there is any yellow at all through the body and wings it's automatically type II, then he is definitely a type II because all between his wing markings is yellow and there are patches of green on his body. But if there's more of a spectrum with the yellowface types then I guess it's hard to say...because he's not extremely blue-green like how some of the sky ones look fully aqua.

Yes I think he is a type II, he has yellow all throughout his wing and tail feathers, and his body feathers are splotchy shades of blue and green. It's not really bright like cobalt, it's a bit more greeny. 3-4 months is okay I guess, I've tamed them older than this before. He seems good natured - even though he is a bit stressed (as expected) we caught him chortling along to some music before, and he's not really skittish although totally untame.

We got Cosmo today I was just wondering if you guys could guess at how old you think he is? I know the bands don't go right down to the cere, but his eye is still black (if you look closely you can just start to see a dark brown rim forming) and his throat spots are all funny still... and the beak is a tiny bit dark still. Also I don't know what you would call his shade of blue? Thanks everyone!

Haha... that's what my mum said too - "but they all change colour when they grow up!"I obviously hope this rule never becomes relevant anyway... we only plan to live here probably another 18 months. 6 months longer on our lease as a minimum.. and probably 2-3 years maximum here. So I certainly hope it won't die in that timeframe! But it would really suck if I got one and within the first 24 hours or something it died lol... then it would be like... we waited a month and did all that paperwork for a few hours of time with a pet. As if they'd want to go through the whole process again themselves anyway.Oh well... as you all said, fingers crossed there's no need to worry about replacing it anyway! See that would make sense too... except for the fact that they also stipulated that if there are any complaints from other residents they have the right to rescind the approval..Such a baffling rule.

Haha yeah I am racking my brains and can't think of any logical reason for that rule. We're also only allowed to get one though, so that plan doesn't work.

WE GOT APPROVAL!!! Thanks all for crossing your fingers and everything else We still have to wait a bit though because we have to sign some paperwork before we're allowed to get it. The other thing I found really weird was that the approval is "for the life of the animal only" and we are not allowed to replace it if it dies I find that quite strange.... Hopefully we can get the paperwork done really soon now.

I definitely think two boys. It's an even colour and there's no white on the cere. The brown isn't that crusty type of brown of a hen's cere. It does seem unusual though, but especially considering they had SUCH boys' ceres before, I will guess at them both being boys. And gorgeous ones at that

I still find it pretty hard to tell in about maybe 40% of young budgies whether they are male or female. Apart from unusual types, adults are fairly obvious, and the other 60% of babies are pretty obvious too. But when the colour seems to be just on the border of being purplish and being quite pale, I'm not too sure. My experience tends to tell me that when in doubt it's best to guess that it is a hen, though. I have seen the articles linked on here on how to sex a budgie, and one thing I've noticed is that as well as the colour, some people seem to use the shape of the cere... how flat or bulbous it is... to determine the sex. I have never used this method myself and do not know how to do it. But from the pictures on these articles I found it really hard to tell the subtle difference. How reliable do you think it is to tell the sex from the shape of the cere, as opposed to the colour? And, if it is at all reliable, can you please elaborate on how it is done? I have read the links but I'm still a little confused. Thanks

It looks very female to me, especially because I had a few females that had similar colouring to that one and I thought they were boys at that age too because of the blue... but it didn't get any bluer, ever. Their ceres stayed like that apart from the times they went brown when they were in season. I tend to think that if the cere looks very pale blue, whitish blue, or blue at the bottom but more white at the top, then it's probably a hen. If it looks pink or purple when a baby then it's probably a male. The ones I have trouble with are when they're kind of pinky purple all over but kind of pale around the nostrils. But in your case it seems fairly clear to me that it's a hen. But I guess all this is fairly crude estimating based on photos of a young budgie.

Ooh, I finally have an update of sorts! Our property manager is fantastic.... has chased up body corp for us. They have said that we should have an answer by the end of this week! But I'm trying not to get my hopes up too much in case they continue to take their time, or worse, say no.

Yeah it is annoying, every day I come home from work to check my email and mail, hoping to get the answer... but I've been expecting it less and less. I just sent a follow up email to my property manager though so will let you all know how that goes Nice to have a place to come where other people understand the frustration!

Yeah still nothing.... you're right, it has been ages. Some people told me that body corporates often take about a month to make the rounds and come to a decision on pets. It's been 3 weeks now so I might just leave it a little bit longer before chasing it up. The annoying thing is that body corp didn't respond at all. It would have been nice to get an acknowledgement of the request, such as "We have received your request and will get back to you when we have reached a decision" so that we at least know they received it and are doing something.

Still nothing..... no budgie this weekend either I am getting a bit better at waiting though... expecting it to take a few weeks or a month or so to find out, just from what i've heard from other people about body corps. At least they haven't responded with an outright no... Everything's all ready though... one of the spare cages of my parents' is all set up at their place ready to be picked up as soon as we get the go ahead. I didn't want to leave the cage here while I waited because it would be too annoying seeing it all the time haha

Wow thanks for that...very informative! I can't remember where I first heard of the teflon thing, but I heard it ages ago. Scary that so many people with birds as pets don't know at all. I would have really liked to know how far away these birds were from the teflon when they died though. I mean, if it has a really wide range, then even getting rid of your own teflon might not be enough - even your neighbours' pans could emit fumes... just wonder exactly how big the danger zone is.

Hey Denise - thanks for the tip... good to know!

I actually don't even know if our pans are teflon lol... I'd have to check. I have just been assuming they are to be on the safe side, but it's probably better to actually get around to looking at them to know for sure. Most of our pots and pans and our wok definitely aren't, but there's one or two frying pans that I suspect could be. It wouldn't be all that close to the teflon pan when it's cooking, and I guess I could always move the cage upstairs into a bedroom or outside in the courtyard just while we cook with teflon if I'm not sure.