I posted this in the New Member forum, but have not yet recieved replies.

 

I have had my budgie, Andromeda, for about a month now. She is a funny bird.

 

We have been getting along pretty well. She just doesn't seem to like coming out of her cage. I will leave the door open all day & she won't come out unless I get her on my finger or in my hands. I don't grab, I just cup my hands around her. She will climb up on one, and then I will put my other hand on her back so she won't fly away & hurt herself. Then I'll put her on the ground so she can run around. Sometimes she makes an angry chirp when I take her out, but after some grooming we are totally agreeable with eachother.

 

I had her out last night & she kept INSISTING on being within an inch of my face. This was fine with me, I love to cuddle her. But what was not okay is when she would start CHOMPING on me. I don't mean bite or nibble, but CHOMP. I was just sitting there with her next to my cheek, watching TV, and she just randomly chomps. Was she trying to get my attention? She has been going for my nose & lips a lot. Is she trying to regurgitate? I have been giving her kisses. Maybe she is trying to kiss back?

She is very gentle when she grooms me, so I can tell you this was a chomp, not grooming.

 

Anyway, that's the strangest thing she's done so far. It's nice having her so close. She likes to nest under my hair on the back of my neck, nestled down in the hood of my sweatshirt.

 

When she bites hard, repeatedly, I make her do ladders with my fingers (step up, step up, step up, really really fast). I've read that this will get the bird's mind off of biting for a little bit. And it works with mine. I tell her she is naughty when she bites and to be a good bird. She will usually calm down. Sometimes I wonder if she thinks her name is Naughty Bird rather than Andromeda, happy0195.gif

 

Anyway, I'm rambling now. But I'd love to know what she was doing or trying to do last night with the random biting & absolutely having to be right against me. If it's bonding, I'll be thrilled.

Hi and welcome. I am sorry your other post didn't get responses. We are usually very good about catching newbies. We love to welcome new people and birds to this wonderful forum.

 

As for your question, I am not an expert, but this doesn't sound like bonding to me. I think you are doing the right thing in distracting her. You might try immediatly turning your face away from her and refusing to give her attention. I wouldn't give her verbal attention of any kind when she is misbehaving. It just seems to encourage the behavior.

 

Any way, I'm sure one of the experts will come along and tell you whether I am full of it or not!!

Good luck with the chomper,

Shell

A lot of the time, when an otherwise tame bird chomps on some part of our skin, it's because they're preening us too roughly. If you have anything on your face like a freckle, peach fuzz, anything that looks different than the rest of your skin, your bird will likely try to pull it off and that hurts! Another thought is that she might be losing her balance and quickly grabbing hold of the closest thing so that she won't fall. Lastly, and probably most likely, she's just playing too rough. When she does this (particularly to your face) say something like "ouch!" or "no!" and remove her from your shoulder. Make her stay on your hands, away from your face and below eye level until she's calmed down. Make sure you ALWAYS remove her from her spot when you use whatever word you choose or else she will turn it into a game. (If she's being taken away from a spot she likes, she will learn that the word means she's done something undesirable and that it results in something she doesn't like: this is negative reinforcement, not punishment; you can't really punish a bird, you can only redirect it.)

 

Another thing I wanted to mention is that you shouldn't put your budgie on the floor. Aside from the fact that it's a very dangerous place for such a small animal to be, she may very well resist coming out of the cage because she knows you'll put her there. Many budgies will go to the floor to forage for food or toys, but most don't feel safe there unless they have the ability to fly away from it if/when the need arises.

 

Hope this helps!

Hi there and welcome to the forum.

Mostly we are all in different time zones around the world, so while some of us are awake others are sleeping and that may explain your wait for an answer. There are some here better able to answer your questions about behaviour. Eterri gives good behaviour advice. Enjoy your time here.

Cheers karen

Welcome to the forums!

 

What you are doing by distracting her sounds right to me - remove her from the favourite place straight away when she bites too hard. But don't make a fuss about it. I have found that when a bird bites it definitely gets your attention and is often accompanied by loud noises (Oww! What was that for?! Naughty bird! etc). Budgies love loud noises and I think they associate it with enjoyment - this is positive reinforcement. As eterri said, let her associate biting too hard with a negative consequence, she will eventually learn that what it achieves is something undesirable.

 

My Milly likes to chew on hair, but I've only just recently learned that she loves pulling on stubble - as Flake can attest to! :(Laughing out loud):

Edited January 6, 200718 yr by Chrysocome

Hi there, I just wanted to drop in and welcome you to the forum. Good luck in curbing your budgie's bad behaviour :bluebudgie: