Progress Yay!

[rae]

I changed a few things around in Basal's cage, much to his dismay. I moved the treat feeder he has favored to a side closer to the lower feeder and set up the perches so he could easily get to both. This also allowed us to practice step up and moving, rather than step up and down. Now he has sort of an obstacle course so we can do step up from the feeder or far perch onto a finger, step up to a small perch, again on a finger, and down on the feeder or far perch (whichever we didn't start on). He did really well.
His cage hadn't been rearranged before and when I had cleaned it everything was put back where it had been.

This does put his toy feeder on a more trafficked side though, but he seems fine and is still favoring it. And he's still doing the winking/blinking game with me. He's also chattering so I think he's fine with the move.

I know a lot of you change up your cages weekly, but since he hasn't played with toys I hadn't moved anything until now.
Is it possible he doesn't know how to play with toys? I know they had some in the cage at the store but he had other birds too.

I promise I'll give it a rest on questions you guys. I've already read most of everything posted on here over the last 2 weeks. It's been so helpful.

[suesbird]

I am sure nobody minds you asking questions, you ask questions that others may need the answers as well

It is quiet tonight 22:19, I realise you are in the USA so the time differences with the UK, USA and Australia can mean answers do not come quickly. Sorry I can't help you, I do think they take time to learn to play, Pippin nearly 3 weeks in has found his mirror, chews balsa wood but not bothered with anything else, whereas JoJo loves toys and likes to throw buttons about, my ring and anything else she can touch. Unfortunately I have to be wary of wearing sequined jumpers because she picks the sequins off . You are doing really well

[Hezz]

It depends on the individual bird and how much time they have had alone, I think. You haven't had him for a fortnight yet, if my reckoning is correct, and toys can be big, unknown scary things hanging in the cage waiting to grab an unsuspecting budgie ........ in his eyes. Give him time, I think he will get there, given that he doesn't have another budgie to play with.

Questions are fine; they show you are thinking about things for him.

[rae]

Thank you both. I'm bad for worrying that I'm doing something wrong.
I do know it takes trust for them to eat from hands. He did that from day one, and drinks drops from my finger. He grinds his beak around bedtime and chatters to music. Though my husband thinks I baby him a bit.
He's about 9 months old and I had initially worried about that since he was parent raised, but I love him dearly. I can be patient and work with him.

[reajen01]

I am sure your patience will pay off, when I got Douglas I was completely mentally prepared for a long taming and training process. It hasn't worked out that way as I think he must have been hand reared, I have had him only five days now and he is hand tame and the training is moving almost too quickly. I remember with my old buds that at this point I was lucky to be able to place my hand on the outside of the cage without them going insane. So keep on it, you are doing really well

[rae]

Today we had a little fit outside the cage so I scooped him up and put him on top of the cage so he could see it was still there. Of course this resulted in him doing a crazy dance trying to figure out how to get back in even though the door was open. We did some moving around the cage and I even managed to get him out the door on my finger a few times, and allowed him to go back in so he knew he was safe even though he was outside the cage for a few seconds. I moved him to the lower perch that's in front of the food and water. He got a lot of praise today.
He also let me lightly touch around his feathers. He has some pin feathers and lost three old feathers during his romp around the room. He has had the option to try egg twice this week, though I don't really know if he got enough of a taste.
I've since seen him drink and eat from the lower perch so that's also good. I've offered him a bath since he didn't seem to appreciate being misted, but he hasn't done anything with it yet.

Maybe this would be better as a journal somewhere but it makes me happy that he is slowly warming up. Now to finish homework.

[reajen01]

Douglas gets all squarky when I mist him, so I keep trying with the bath but no interest so far, I am hoping he will discover it by chance but I did think about hanging some millet next the the entrance to tempt him in. Great updates, slow and steady wins the game

[rae]

Even though Basal loves millet he won't budge for anything. I tried that too, but it may work a bit better later when he's more comfortable. If only we could somehow tell them we are trying to help and not harm

[reajen01]

Douglas is very grumpy today, he keeps having fits of squarkimg for no apparent reason and does NOT want to come out of his cage. I am guessing it is a combination of starting his first moult and finding his feet after being here nearly a week. If anything I have given him more training today, despite it being difficult. I knew this phase would arrive and I am determined to push through it , I too wish I could just explain everything to him but we have to dig deep and find our inner bird whisperer hehe

[Shirls]

Apr 2, 2015 4:34:36 GMT reajen01 said:

Douglas gets all squarky when I mist him, so I keep trying with the bath but no interest so far, I am hoping he will discover it by chance but I did think about hanging some millet next the the entrance to tempt him in. Great updates, slow and steady wins the game

Try putting a small piece of his favourite veg in the bath water. I put a bit of Basil in as I know they like that and it does encourage them in sometimes!

[reajen01]

Oh fab idea! I shall give it a go, probably tomorrow morning when he is super hungry. I had to wake him up this morning at 6am as I had an early start and it was hilarious, like trying to wake a teenager

[Hezz]

Not all budgies like to bathe, and sometimes it is necessary to mist them, in spite of their protests. And they can change, as well. Smudge always hated getting wet in any form, but after her preening gland needed to be removed she now will sometimes hop into a bath herself or even present herself when I have the spray bottle out and mist them. Afterwards she is the saddest, sorriest sight, all wet and dripping as she has no oil to repel the water. It takes an hour or so before her feathers dry out and return to normal.

[reajen01]

We have a bit of progress. I put his bath on the cage with some basil leaves in the water and he managed to investigate and peck the bath perch before losing interest. Small steps!

[rae]

I didn't try a bath yesterday for Basal, but I took him out in the bathroom for about an hour and afterwards he allowed me to transport him, on my finger instead of scooped in my palm, back to his cage in the living room. This morning I found him on a different perch than normal, though that could have been because my husband was sick all night and up and down before calling work to say he would do a half day.

[reajen01]

That's great progress Rae, it's so lovely when they trust you. I have started trying to train Douglas to come out of his cage on his own, hes only used to being lifted out on my finger and I worried that he didn't know the proper layout of the cage and how to return ( I hope to give him the freedom of an open cage for most of each day), and after quite a while of staring at the open door and the millet clipped to it, he has finally ventured out to chow down. It's a mostly stripped one inch piece so let's see what he does when it's all gone!