Post by karen101 on Mar 29, 2021 10:35:54 GMT
Hello, could I please ask for some opinions on what I've been doing to tame Fred and Monty?
They are about 5 months old now and I got them when they were 2 months old. I work from home and sit near them for large chunks of the day. Fred has always been the braver budgie although in the cage Monty seems to be the boss and will sometimes push Fred away from food etc but on the whole they seem happy together.
Anyway they both seemed a bit scared of us and I did wonder if I would ever be able to tame them but in the last month there has been progress. I've constantly blinked and winked at them and one day I was doing that when I spotted a long feather outside the cage, I poked it through the bars whilst singing (haha
) and Fred jumped down and grabbed the feather with his beak, twiddled it around and then watched it fall to the bottom of his cage! This was the start of "the feather game". I now collect all larger feathers and then play this game. Monty spent ages watching but now and then he pushes Fred out of the way and plays too!
Last week I ran out of feathers and I put my finger through the cage bars to see what Fred would do and after a minute he started nibbling my finger! I was delighted to see that he was getting less scared of me and for the next few days we played this game. One day he even stood on my finger which I was over the moon about! However on Friday evening Fred started nibbling a bit harder and it did hurt a couple of times. I wonder if it's partly my fault as I kept moving my finger to try and stroke his belly, I know I shouldn't have done this but one time he moved and his belly rubbed against my finger and it was so warm and soft!
I'm wondering where I should go from here? The other progress I had was when I held a small piece of millet into the cage (also last week) and Fred hopped onto the perch I was holding it near and ate it and Monty even ate some too but only for about 10 seconds but it was still progress.
I'm just a bit confused as I am not sure what I should do going forward. I know millet works at getting them closer to me but not sure if I should be giving them millet too often. Sorry this has been so long and any advice will be gratefully received!
Karen
They are about 5 months old now and I got them when they were 2 months old. I work from home and sit near them for large chunks of the day. Fred has always been the braver budgie although in the cage Monty seems to be the boss and will sometimes push Fred away from food etc but on the whole they seem happy together.
Anyway they both seemed a bit scared of us and I did wonder if I would ever be able to tame them but in the last month there has been progress. I've constantly blinked and winked at them and one day I was doing that when I spotted a long feather outside the cage, I poked it through the bars whilst singing (haha
) and Fred jumped down and grabbed the feather with his beak, twiddled it around and then watched it fall to the bottom of his cage! This was the start of "the feather game". I now collect all larger feathers and then play this game. Monty spent ages watching but now and then he pushes Fred out of the way and plays too!Last week I ran out of feathers and I put my finger through the cage bars to see what Fred would do and after a minute he started nibbling my finger! I was delighted to see that he was getting less scared of me and for the next few days we played this game. One day he even stood on my finger which I was over the moon about! However on Friday evening Fred started nibbling a bit harder and it did hurt a couple of times. I wonder if it's partly my fault as I kept moving my finger to try and stroke his belly, I know I shouldn't have done this but one time he moved and his belly rubbed against my finger and it was so warm and soft!
I'm wondering where I should go from here? The other progress I had was when I held a small piece of millet into the cage (also last week) and Fred hopped onto the perch I was holding it near and ate it and Monty even ate some too but only for about 10 seconds but it was still progress.
I'm just a bit confused as I am not sure what I should do going forward. I know millet works at getting them closer to me but not sure if I should be giving them millet too often. Sorry this has been so long and any advice will be gratefully received!
Karen
