Melandco

I def still want Percy to be able to fly but today he was on top of the kitchen cupboards and I just cannot reach him when he's up there. If I do get them clipped I'll get the Avian Vet in Toowoomba to do it and it'll be a 'once only' type of thing. Just until he's used to where everything in the house is and until we're able to have him at the point where we can get him safely back in the cage without worrying he'll hurt himself. I just worry that with him busting out of jail each time we open the cage door that something is going to happen. As it is, I'm now a bit reluctant to open the cage to do anything when my husband isn't home as if he gets out and goes somewhere up high (which they all do), I can't get him back. Today I was dragging a stool around to stand on and by the time I got on it, he'd moved somewhere else...I swear he was laughing at me. lol

Kaz, I wanted to add my 'disclaimer', I've seen on various websites some of the debates of clipping versus non clipping....as a new budgie owner I didn't want to get shot down in flames on the offchance. lol I just don't want my little mate to get injured and until he's well acquainted with the house and where everything is, I'm worried he will be. He's sitting in his cage at the moment, listening to music and singing along with it...clearly this mornings escapade has been forgotten by him already. Nevermind the fact that I can add a few more grey hairs to my head. lol I think I will investigate the clipping routine a bit more and see if it's the road I want to go down for the interim. Thanks for your input.

*I have no desire to get into a heated debate with anyone but am really seeking some advice* We've had Percy for 3 weeks on Sunday (he's approx 8 weeks old), we've been getting him used to us and he's pretty used to having my hand in the cage to replace food and having a scratch on the top of his head (through the bars). If I put my hand in the cage though, he will move away from it, he doesn't appear frightened, would just rather avoid my hand and at this point is not ready to step up, we're okay with this, we're not going to rush him and are happy to move along slowly building trust. My problem is, he's an escape artist. Every time we open the cage to sort out food etc he tries to make a break for freedom and has succeeded twice. I then panic and have to go round trying to shut doors and close curtains and stuff as I'm worried he'll hurt himself. I can get close to him but the minute my hand goes near him, he's off again and having a right royal time flying around, he then perches in high places and I can't reach him. Both times he's escaped, my husband has had to catch him (which is all good when hubby is home, god knows what I'll do if he's ever not!). I'm worried that he'll hurt himself flying around and into walls, I'm worried that with him not being tame that we're going to cause him to distrust us with trying to catch him (we do it as quietly as we can and talk to him the whole time) and I'm worried about the day he gets out and my husband isn't here to fetch him from the high places he goes for. I wasn't intending on getting his wings clipped but now I'm starting to wonder if it might be a good idea...at least until we've gotten him a bit more tame, used to a few commands (so I can retrieve him when needs be) and used to the house and it's layout. Does anyone else think this would be prudent? I can assure you all that it's not something I was thinking of doing but I'm worried about the birds safety at the moment and know that each time he gets out, we're reversing some of the trust when we have to catch him again. I want him to come to us of his own free will but at the moment, that's not going to happen. I believe we have an avian vet here in Toowoomba that I can take him too to get his wings clipped. Anyone got a rough idea on cost?

Thanks all, I was just a bit worried as I know it's good for him and he's pretty much ignored it. lol The dear wee fellow has been hanging out with me for most of the day and is swinging round his cage like a flaming acrobat. lol

Hi all, we purchased Percy a Calcium Bell along with all of our supplies before we got him. Whilst the crazy Mr Percy plays with everything else in his cage, he has shown not a skerrick of interest in the calcium bell at all. Does anyone have any ideas on how to get him interested in it?

Thanks everyone, we happen to think he's pretty gorgeous as well. He's in his cage on the bench talking to the kids while they make/eat breakfast. He also sat on the table yesterday in his cage and watched me do some baking while we both sang (we're both terrible) along to some music. He's def a pretty cool little dude. lol

Here's our new pet Percy (if it's a girl, I guess it'll be Pursey ). If anyone can help us with what gender our bird is, I'd appreciate it. lol

Thanks, that's really handy to know! Most if not all of our veges are organic so hopefully won't be too much of a problem. I'll certainly start limiting his intake of it though. We eat a ton of fruit and vege so there is always a supply of good fresh stuff in the house. I'm not sure my daughter was too impressed this morning when I shaved a few extra bits off her carrot for the bird. lol

Thanks Kaz, the poop is fine and is in accordance with the 'healthy poop' guidelines I see on here. lol It's more staining a few of his feathers around his vent then anything. He has seed on offer and I put some veges into his cage in the morning and remove whats left early afternoon, thus far he's had grated carrot, broccoli (which he seems to adore), red capsicum and a small amount of apple. I've only offered veges that I've read on this forum as being safe. He (still unsure but have struggled to get a decent picture of his ceres) seems to be a happy wee bird, chirps away, plays, eats and responds to us when we talk to him. I really hope he isn't getting sick!

okay, I found the answer on Incense and Scented Candles (there goes my ultimate habit that I spend up large in the US on). lol

Hi there, We got our baby budgie last Sunday, I'm a complete novice to this but so far Percy is doing great! I have been doing a lot of reading on this website but there is a LOT of info here and while that's great, I'm such a novice that it's making my head spin at times. I normally burn incense in my house but haven't since the bird arrived, is this safe to use still? I don't want to use anything that may harm. I've heard a lot of people talk about giving their budgies 'baths', either via a small container of water in the bottom of the cage or via a spray bottle. When should I implement something along these lines and how do I go about it? Do I spray the budgie with water? Do I avoid his head? How often do I do this and how many sprays do I do for example...don't want to drown the poor bird when 1 spray of the bottle is enough. Thirdly, he's pooping like he should be but his vent area is a bit messy, is this normal? All his other behaviours etc are perfect, he just is a tad messy. Should I be leaving him to clean it up himself or should I be assisting? We are slowly getting him used to my hand changing food etc over in the cage and when he's really settled, I give him a belly rub through the bars of the cage etc I just don't think he's quite at the point where I want to undo all our hard work by hauling him out of the cage and cleaning around his vent. I would love any advice that you can give .

What an awesome story, I love it!

Gorgeous, I love it! I hate how people see animals as being 'disposable', when we moved over to AU from NZ a lot of people asked if we were getting rid of our dogs. Ummm no, not a hope in ***, they're family members and they go where we go! Cost a fortune but was well worth it, we wouldn't be without our pets and have made a commitment to them...hence taking 6 months to decide on what bird we were going to get.

Thanks Kaz, I'll get onto it in the next couple of days. I must say that I find that bug in your sig disturbing...I tried to squash it. lol

Thanks everyone for the warm welcome...I think someone neglected to tell me what time wasters these birds are, my husband, myself and our two children have spent half the evening sitting here watching the bird blink. hahahahaha My poor dogs are a little bewildered, at this stage I'm keeping them well away from the cage, they did have a quick sniff around when they first came inside earlier this evening and they pretty much ignored it until Percy started moving around. Thankfully I have enough doors around here to keep them well separated and can heavily monitor them getting used to the cage over the next few weeks. I'm hoping that given time they'll get used to the cage and will go back to ignoring the cage AND the bird. Luckily they're only inside overnight so it shouldn't be too much of a hardship. Ratzy, I'll get some pics over the next couple of days. I haven't done so yet as I wanted to allow Percy to settle on into his/her new environment before I started in on the paparazzi act. I'd love to know it's gender, I was told by the breeder today that it's DOB was 09/06/10 so I'm not sure if it's too early to tell or not?