floppingfish

I'm having the same problem right now too! Jack used to always go to bed NO PROBLEM, but now that he sees Galen being a brat, he's starting to think he doesn't need to go to bed when I tell him!

Thanks for the replies everyone. Of course I'm still gonna worry until I actually see how things go...they're just such a huge part of my life that the thought of them changing & not knowing me is so saddening! I'm not as worried about Jack, I've had him for over a year now, and he's definitely very attached to me. But Galen on the other hand, is younger & when he's first left alone with my parents I'll have only had him for about 2 months...which also means he'll be goin through his BudgieTeen stage with them instead of with me.... Bea, you'll have to keep us posted how things are with Blinkie when the two of you are reunited! Sparky, good point, I'm the only one who really talks to them in "motherese"....hehe Antt, I know budgies will remember things. When I left my budgie Joey with my parent's budgie Jet (as I mentioned above) he did lose the majority of his training. But everyone notices when I go home that he's far less...uh..."destructive" (Laughing out loud) AnimalStudent, it really is scary! i know my parents will take care of them, it's just that it won't be "the same"... I'm sure your parents will clean up after your birds while you're gone though! They probably don't do it now just because you're there, but surely they won't let the cage go for weeks without doing anything about it!

Hey Everyone, I accepted a job this summer in another city in order to improve my french (I'm going to teacher's college next year, french is one of my teachables so I'd like to sound more fluent... ) I was originally hoping to find a place of my own, but I'm still going to be paying rent here and the cost of living over there combined with that is too high for me. Sooo an uncle offered me a room at his place. Here's the problem: he has a very active outdoor cat! So I can't take my little guys with me. They will be staying with my parents, who do have two budgies too (one's mine, one's there's), but I'm a little bit worried. Neither of the other 2 budgies are very tame or people-oriented. Joey (mine) used to step up on your finger, climb up your shoulder & start preening you, but since hanging out with Jet he's lost most of his training...and unfortunately, my parents didn't really reinforce the work I had done with him.... They've promised me they'll spend time with these guys as they're used to it, but I know it won't be the same. For some reason not everyone in my family thinks it's normal to spend tons of time just talking to your birds...what a bunch of weirdoes, eh? So I'm concerned about how the 4 will mix together. They'll be kept in rooms beside each other, but the other 2 fly all around anyway, so I know there will be a bit of (supervised) mixing... Here's what I'm worried about: Will mine lose their training?? Will they totally forget me?? I'll be gone for 3 months, likely home 1ce, *possibly* 2ce, but other than that I won't be seeing them regularly for 3 months. Has anyone else had to deal with a longer separation? I'm so worried! Thanks

i just realized that when i posted my message yesterday i had missed page 2 of the messages! (Laughing out loud) i agree devvle, i don't think an owner should add on another budgie unless they are prepared to take the chance that the 2 won't get along very well and may need to permanently be housed separately, it's always a good thing to mention! But from the sounds of it sunny is coming along rather nicely now! glad to hear you've been able to get him making happy chirping sounds finally!

devvle - i have thought about taking him to an avian vet & if i have to i will. the only problem is that there isn't one in my city, and i don't have a car. but if it continues then he's definitely worth it. i decided i'd wait an extra few days longer before introducing them just to be safe & if it seems to stop then i'll consider it. they really did come out of nowhere! julie - i don't really think he's mimicking me, mostly because i haven't been sneezing lately. makes me almost wish i was! (Laughing out loud)

i definitely think everyone's advice about the avian vet is very good! but assuming his bill of health comes back perfectly clean (which i really hope it does!), do you think maybe it's just possible that he's lonely? i know you said you spend a lot of time with him, but in your first post you mention that he was bought from an overcrowded cage, so perhaps he just misses the company? just a thought

Thanks for the replies, he's only done it once today...it wasn't specifically after eating, but the part about the husks is a good one. I noticed when I brought my other budgies home that they didn't learn right away to drop the husks *outside* of their food dish, and it seems to be the same with him, so there are always lots of husks in the food dish instead of on the bottom of the cage (gotta admit though, makes for less cleaning! (Laughing out loud)). Has anyone else noticed this about young budgies?? Also, the replies helped put me a bit more at ease, because as of this weekend he'll officially have been quarantined for a month so I wanted to start giving Galen & Jack "real" time to get to know each other!

I posted a topic last week I think about my new budgie sneezing a lot. Then the weather warmed up, the heat went down & he stopped, so I figured his nasal passages were just really dry or something. But, he's had 3 sneezing fits today...and I mean sneezing 8 times or so in a row, but the sneezes are entirely dry. During these fits, he'll do this (sorry this will be a poor explanation) head...jerking kind of motion? It makes me thinks he has something in his throat or like he's trying to regurgitate his food to feed someone. I haven't seen him drink today, but he's been eating & playing perfectly fine, and his droppings are normal too so I don't know what else to make of it. Maybe I'm just over-reacting but it's still a little concerning.... Any thoughts? Thanks!

Well there's no discharge & it doesn't really seem to be eating-related, just here or there & I don't think he's wheezing. The heat is definitely a possibility (& one I hadn't thought of either actually). It was raining a lot this weekend & as I'm in the basement the cold tends to just sink right in, so I did have the heat turned up a few degrees more than it was before. And the sun came out again today so I turned the heat back down and he's sneezed less..... Guess I'll just have to keep my eye on him & see if picks up again with the heat lower. Thanks for the replies!

I bought another new budgie about a week & a half ago. He's settled in nicely & I've already started step-up training with him and he'll walk up my arm playing and nibbling on my sweater and hands any opportunity he can get. I've noticed the last couple of days he seems to be sneezing a little bit, normally a couple times in a row. He's been eating & drinking perfectly fine and is quite active in his cage so everything else seems to be fine, I was just curious if the sneezing should go away on its own or is there something I need to get for him?? Thanks for any advice!