hi, Bing is about 11 months old now and is virtually fully tame, however he never wants to interact with me, whenever i whistle to him or anything he just sits there and stares, and if i have him on my finger and whistle to him he just flys away, is there ever going to be a way to get him to like and interact with me? or will keep disliking me and never want to actually interact?

 

i have him out of his cage for about an hour a day, sometimes more and have him on my shoulder and he chirps away, but whenever i whistle back to him he just stops as if he is scared stiff, then starts again like as if he's thinking "what a loser i don't want to talk to him" then continue with his own conversation with himself...

 

is there any way to get him liking and interacting with me?:rofl:

 

thanks

Oh Andrew ... Sometimes they talk away and stop when you listen too... Do you look at him when you are talking to him? Maybe his is shy to 'talk' around you??? Try doing another task near him... computer, chores etc... and talk to him but not actually look at him. You could also record your self talking as you would to him, and play it back to him when you're out.

ive tried that (except recording my voice) and none of it works, i noticed that he only talks to me when he is really amped up, but that isnt very often...

ive tried that (except recording my voice) and none of it works, i noticed that he only talks to me when he is really amped up, but that isnt very often...

 

mmm, I don't know mate... Elly and the others who are better at taming might have a few suggestions. Good luck!

Maybe he just doesn't ike the whistle. Have you tried making the little chirp noise by sucking air between your teeth and lip? Bribery is great, keep a piece of millet in your pocket and offer it every time he comes to you

yes i have tried all of that, and when i mean whistle i mean i make a range of noises from talking to him, to doing the sucking between the lips and whistling tunes and random sounds and he doesnt care, i also do bribe him but that doesnt make him interact with me, he just takes it because its there, its as if he doesnt see me as a living thing, like he cant see me as something living because im so much bigger than him

How do you know he is only talking to himself? The fact that he chatters away means he is behaving like he is part of a flock and you are his flock. When you talk or whistle he stops to listen, this isn't necessarily a bad thing and is a very common way for budgies to react.

then why doesnt he ever want to be with me? all he ever does is fly away everytime i try to bond with him, he only stays on my shoulder when i have hidden his cage and his toys so he has nothing else to do, i play with him with his toys but he only ever wants to be with the toys

 

ps. also whenever i come up to his cage and talk to him, he just climbs down to his stringy toy and pretends im not there and ignores me

Edited November 4, 200816 yr by Andrew

MB you are right he is listening to you Andrew and the fact of the matter is Merlin does the same thing he stops and listens and if you do it all the time you will find that he is mimicking your noises when he is chatting away.

 

As for the toys bring them by you when you want him by you. You may even think of another wing clip to work on this process so it is not stressful and then let them grow out again. When budgies have their wings they fly that is what birds do but I understand what you want and Pretty would do it to me too fly to the highest curtain rod and then he would swoop me.

but will he ever come to me because he wants to just interact with me and talk to me?

I think if you do 1 more wing clip and work that time he will. You have to make him feel like he is just as safe with you as he is in his cage.

The main thing to realise is that there isn't anything wrong with using those toys/millet, etc to bribe him during this trust building. The thing is that after a while of this bribery he will begin to associate you with good things rather than scary things and eventually you will be the good thing not just the bribe. The long and the short is stick with it

Exactly MB.