Hi all,

 

I'm new to this forum, I'm also new to having budgies, Pickles :greenb: (female) is just over 7 months old, whilst Tanooki (male) is only just 3 months.

 

We introduced Tanooki into the cage a couple of months ago, and the two seemed to hit it off, preening eachother and enjoying eachothers company, recently however, Pickles' behaviour has changed, in quite a number of ways. Firstly she seems to have dramatically lost interest in Tanooki, and while Tanooki follows Pickles around like he is her shadow, she just seems to argue with him when he gets too close, and she flies over to be with me. She is quite tame and very tolerant of our hands, almost to an extreme, sometimes when I'm playing with her, she'll squat down, point her tail in the air and bend herself back, almost like (ahem) she wants me to deflower her?

 

This is a problem for me as I have a girlfreind. Also she is doing this to me, but ignoring Tanooki, which kinda defeats the purpose of us getting Tanooki in the first place...

 

Another problem I'm having is that she SCREAMS when she's in her cage and can't come out and play with me.

 

But the most worrying thing is, over the past couple of weeks she has started leaving MEGA-poohs around. These things are massive, although they are solid, it almost looks like she has lost half of her body weight in one sitting.

 

I really have no idea what to do? How can I get her out of this lust for my digits and more towards the 'Not-so interspecies' behaviour? I know they shouldn't be mating at this young age, and probably won't, but it's kinda repulsive that this little winged feind wants me... I figure once I get myself out of her head, the screaming will stop.

 

Any help would be wonderful!

 

Patrick.

Hello and welcome to BBC, am just heading off to bed here (Canada) so cannot comment on your problem but do read all our topics and hopefully you will find your answer. In any event, some folks will be along to answer you, good luck and hello again!

hey Djelibaybi

 

All I can say is thank your lucky stars its not your MALE thats fallen for u !! My chico loves feet and well, lets just say he gets a little TOO excited on them!! apparently its not uncommon for them to fall in love with their owners, but i dont have a female for Chico so I am it !! but for you to have a male in there with her is strange that she hasnt put her attentions on him.... UNLESS budgies can tell age differences !! (Laughing out loud) anyways I know its not uncommon, so now ya got 2 girlfriends !!! hehehehe

hey i feel you on this subject although i'ts not a budgie i have the problem with but a male rainbow lorikeet... he was hand reared and then came to us around 11 weeks old.. he seems to have also formed an un-natural liking with my hand when i bring him out the cage...i just kind of brush it of and put him down but hey if they find a cure to helping you i'm all for it too best of luck with your two girlfriends i hope one doesnt get too jealous of the other :budgiedance:

what you can do to help decrease the hormonal behavior is give her at least 10-12 hours of darkness if not up to 14 for about a week and make sure regularly she gets 10-12 hours of sleep or covered. That is with I do with mine when they get hormonal. Daylight is what is part of telling them when it is time to breed etc..

 

Make sure you don't have any running water by her cage and filling food bowls to the rim (which is not necessary) and measuring their food it best.

 

Good luck, a lot of people I believe wish they had your problem (Laughing out loud) but I can understand why you would like to limit it or stop it. :budgiedance:

 

Welcome to the boards.

Hi, welcome to our forums

 

l see that you have been given some great advice, l hope that it will help you with your problem.

Hi everyone,

 

Thanks for the replies, it's been very helpful.

 

Actually it's interesting, we placed a nesting box in the cage a couple of weeks ago to ensure that if she laid eggs, she would have somewhere to do it, today I took it out, and the screaming minimalised dramatically. She was also apparently using the nesting box to escape Tanooki, and now that it is no longer there, she is now forced to endure him.

 

However, she is still leaving these gargantuan poohs about the place, leaving green stains over our lovely white upholstery.

 

The only things she's eaten lately has been her 'Trill' seed and the occasional apple. Her cage is cleaned regularly.

 

Any help would be great!

 

Thanks!

okay The behaviour has been given advise on how to stop or hopfully slow it down but this last post as at least infromed us on WHY it started.

 

First off the large poops are a sign of eggs to come very soon from the next few days to about a week (depending on how long they have been happening) they are cause by her 'hold on' so to speak while in the nesting box.

 

The behaviour has been cause by the addition of the box in the first place, budgies are normally fine together as mixed gender pair or flocks with there is no nesting site available.

 

You stated you know that they shouldn't breed when so young so why did you add the box in the first place? They don't need it for sleeping and they don't have to get use to it before hand. It is called a NESTING BOX and it is used JUST for that reason and no other. I would expect you to find eggs even with the removal of the box since she has started her cycle already. So watch for any signs of straining or distress or spending a lot of time on the ground of the cage in case she has trouble with passing an egg which would require an avian vet attentions ASAP.

Ummm... okay...?

 

Firstly I placed the nesting box in there AFTER her behavious had changed... I suspected she was pregnant and thus placed it in there to give her somewhere to lay.

 

Why would I need a nesting box in there if she has already laid her eggs? Surely once the budgies eggs have been laid it would negate the need to have a NESTING BOX. I put it in there so if she DID lay eggs she would have SOMEWHERE to lay them. I figured I would deal with the problem BEFORE it became a problem. As opposed to AFTER, which would be stupid.

 

I found your response extremely rude, might wanna try being a little more tactful when you reply, and please, unless you are offering further advice, and not just telling me things I clearly already know, don't respond.

 

Have a nice day.

Edited September 23, 200717 yr by Djelibaybi

Whooh up there!!!

Nerwen was giving you the right advice, but you were not listening.

Nerwen was not rude, YOU WERE.

If you want advice, take it as it is given to you. You are not the expert... Nerwen is, and so are all the other moderators.

 

Cindy

This is an educational forum with a great many experts on here, especially on budgie health and breeding. ANYONE who puts a nesting box into a cage for a 7 month old and 3 month old is giving them permission to breed and lay eggs and raise a family. Regardless of which stage you put it in there, it wasnt actually a necessity to put a nesting box at all in with a pair of budgies excessively too young to be breeding. Even if a young hen has it in her head to mate and lay eggs ( believe me they probably have mated as all this happens before most people get out of bed and also after we go to bed also ) ....she most likely would NOT go ahead until such times as she has somewhere to both lay the eggs and raise babies. A lot of people get budgies and people mixed up in that...they equate a human pregnancy with budgies and egglaying. It doesnt actually work like that. mating behaviour in budgies is purely and simply recreational sex UNTIL their humans give them a nesting box. Its like giving the pill or a condom to a 12 year old and saying..."Go ahead, have sex and make babies" . Too young, heads not straight enough for raising babies, bodies not developed enough for raising babies and yet we encourage the behaviour. Thats exactly what Nerwen was trying to say. You added a nesting box to an excessively young pair of birds and gave them all they needed to produce a family TOO YOUNG. Sorry if you were offended, but had I seen this post I would have replied the same.

D--------i,If you did`nt want to be told what you needed to do.Why come on here.

& dribble.

If your birds are already interesting in breeding, all that a nestbox will do is encourage them more, so best to get rid of it as all have said. The posters aren't being rude, they are just experienced breeders and looking out for your budgies.

Interesting comments. A nest box to a budgie is to encourage the bird to breed. Nest boxes shouldn't be introduced until the birds are at breeding maturity. Many agree that this is 12 months old.

 

Reading Nerwen's reply to your post, I don't find it rude only informative.