Hi All,

 

My budgie that I have had for about 3 weeks now has, over the weekend, changed personalities. He has been hand raised and is a lovely little bird, all I had to do is put my hand in the cage say 'up' and he would jump on my finger. He would come out the cage and sit on my shoulder quite happily. Since Thursday he won't come out the cage, he squawks and pretends to bite (didn't close his beak though). I just let him be for a while but it seams to be getting worse yesterday he bit my partner for the first time ever.

 

I put a new toy in his cage last Tuesday (it doesn't have a mirror on it) and I'm not sure if that has anything to do with it as he never played with any of his other toys but since this one has gone into his cage he doesn't stop playing with it.

 

Any suggestions are welcome as we still need to hand tame him some more, he is only young and we are not sure if we are pushing it to much and need to leave him along for a while??

Remove the mirror as the bird will become bonded to that instead of you. The biting/screaming at you is all normal behaviour which they go through... it will subside.... people on this forum put it down to "adolesence" so basically a teenager bird now. But the mirror can be a major problem as they become bonded with that instead of you, making a hand raiserd bird useless... best of luck with him i hope he settles down soon (which he will with persistance)

:ygbudgie: Yes, do remove the mirror as MAYBE that could be the problem, remember your budgie is growing up and does hit different stages where they may be "different" and require an alternative approach. :ygbudgie: Again, I do have untame budgies but the tame ones were always a challenge.

Thanks, I will keep trying. The toy I put in there doesn't have a mirror as i have been told before that they can become attached to mirrors, so I made sure I don't give him anything with a mirror. Thats why i am not sure why he changed so suddenly, but if it is just him growing up (the same as the terrible twos for humans) then I will just be patient with him.

Hi Clare and Boss

When Pinocchio was a baby he liked playing with anything that made noises (like a bell) I found this calmed him when I was trying to tame him, also listening to the radio (Pinocchio likes talkback - abc). He also used to bite every so often, and he did grow out of this after a little while. I think patients is a virtue when taming budgies :yellowhead:

Hi Clare and Boss,

It isnt always about mirrors ( I know you have no mirrors ) but some toys have reflective things on. Budgies also go through hormonal stages too and get "snappy". Might I suggest you stop using your hand in the cage for a little while to get him out ? Use a section of perch for him to step onto to come out for awhile and see if it helps...at the very least just to get him out.

 

Cheers Kaz

Thanks, I hadn't thought of that. It is hard to know when to leave them alone and when to be persistent :yellowhead: . I will try the perch idea when I get home from work.

 

We have also just started leaving the radio on for him when we are not at home, so hopefully that helps as well. Thanks

Thanks, I hadn't thought of that. It is hard to know when to leave them alone and when to be persistent :yellowhead: . I will try the perch idea when I get home from work.

 

We have also just started leaving the radio on for him when we are not at home, so hopefully that helps as well. Thanks

My birds in the aviaries and the breeding room all listen to the radio all day long. When I turn it off at night they go dead quiet. Its kind of like saying "BED TIME" and they all do as they are told and settle for sleep time .

Sorry about prior post clare... i thought you said it did have a mirror my bad :yellowhead:

disregard the mirror comment

Has he started to molt too? I know when Merlin is going through a molt he gets well "persnickity" and just doesn't feel like being bothered. This last molt for him was particularly rough on him and he kept flying away from me, wouldn't step up but after a week or so and his molt was almost done his lovely personality came back. So that is one thing I didn't see mentioned that could also be attributing to his behavior.