May 16, 2024 17:00:46 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Dec 27, 2011 9:42:08 GMT
Ah, okay, that makes a lot of sense. Thank you I've only had one budgie before and that was when I was younger and he was older than this one. My granddad used to breed budgies, but they used to be in an aviary and I think just got used to him over time ^^ As it happens, I kinda solved my own problem. Yesterday I put some banana and raisins in a small bowl in his cage, just out of curiousity to see if he'd like them. He'd eaten well already so I took his seed away to see if that would encourage him to try the fruit. It didn't, he just ignored it. But he kept looking for his seed, so I knew he was hungry. So I put some on my hand and slowly put that into the cage. After following him around the cage for a bit with my hand, he finally put one foot on it and started eating. I did that four times before replacing his seed bowl, and now he just hops up onto my hand as soon as it touches him. He still hops off pretty quickly, especially if I move my hand away from his favourite perch, and he stills runs away if he's on the bars of the cage, but it's an improvement. I've been doing revision for my exams in the room he's in so I'm nattering away to him a lot. And if we all move into the living room then I take his cage in with us so that he's not alone. I cover it when moving it so I don't frighten him too much. He stays fairly still for the whole thing, apart from moving away form his mirror, which inevitably swings a bit. Here's two pictures of him: Sorry they're not very good. I don't think he can be any more than 3 or 4 months at the most. And now I'd best see if he's woken up at all and clean his cage out. He still looked a bit sleepy earlier so I thought I'd wait until it got lighter outside. Hmm, I've never seen him drink anything though. Hopefully he does it when I'm not looking. I hope he's not sick or anything. I feel very protective and paranoid right now ^^; Thank you for your help
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Post by Hezz on Dec 28, 2011 0:39:06 GMT
Well, hello, Munchy. He is a pretty little thing, Ira. Don't worry about the drinking - he will be drinking, just at this stage while you aren't looking. Many new owners fear the same thing, as while their new bird is seen eating, they don't see them drink. They can actually go for days without drinking, but new arrivals tend to hold off drinking until they don't have to keep their eye on you. They must feel very vulnerable while drinking, and usually someone would have their back, in a flock. It's good to get him eating different things, but you may find you have more success with vegetables, rather than fruit. Have a look at the sticky under Budgie Feeding - "Fresh food to offer your budgie". While it isn't a comprehensive list, it does include the vegetables budgies tend to go for, rather than the odd one who decides to eat something most turn their beaks up at. Regarding his wings, he doesn't look to have any flight feathers. Has he had his wings clipped? He does look very young to me, but I am certainly no expert in that field. See if you can get a clearer photo of his whole body and one or two of his cere with no flash. Post them up under Budgie Photos and people may be able to give you more indication of his age and whether he really is a he. Sounds like you hit on a way to get him near your hand to well done you. I am sure he will be a little darling once he settles in. As a PS it is better for Munchy to have branches for perches rather than those plastic perches they always sell with the cages. Try to get a variety of thicknesses, so his feet get exercise and a variety of different textures is good too. Steal them from a local park if you need to (your own back yard is probably better ) or some of the speciality stores sell branch perches with attachments for the side of the cage.
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May 16, 2024 17:00:46 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Dec 28, 2011 18:11:43 GMT
Thanks Hezz, that's a great reassurance The water feeder was at the back of the cage, so that would likely make him extra wary of drinking whilst anyone was around. Sadly, it kept falling out of the clip that was supposed to hold it up, so now he has a bowl clipped to the bars about halfway up the cage with not perches above it so that he won't defacate into it by accident. In regards to your PS, I really disliked those perches and bought two wooden ones today as well as cutting some branches off of an apple tree and making several perches out of those. He's probably sick of me changing the layout of his cage around, but I'm happy with it now and he seems to like the new perches. None of the plastic ones remain now, although I had to leave one in at first when I was changing them around because he was standing on it. He flew around a little madly when he couldn't go anywhere to escape me putting in a new perch and decided to land in his water bowl XD Very considerate of him. He doesn't seem to have any problems flying short distances though. And he even popped up on the door to his cage (I leave it open when I'm in the room as long as no one is cooking in the kitchen and there are no windows or doors open) and had a look out, although I walked over to make him go back in because it would be hard to get him back into the cage if he came out. He doesn't like my hands enough yet. I'll have to bribe him some more tomorrow. I've put in a millet spray to see if he'll take to it, and there's currently some lettuce in the bars which he has been investigating although not touched. Doesn't really surprise me, though. I also want to get one of those rope perches for him if I can find somewhere to hang it XD His cage is quite busy now. And a swing to replace those plastic yellow ones. Sadly, I have no idea whether his wings have been clipped or not. We got him from a pet shop (not the best place, I know, but it was a spur of the moment decision on my nan's part to let me have one [significant because she's not an animal person] and I didn't really want to give her chance to change her mind XD) and the shop had only just got the birds in. The rest of them all had their flight feathers but they seemed to be older as they didn't have bars right down to their cere but there were some on the top and back of their heads. By the time I noticed his wings I was already too attached to him to consider one of the others. The blues didn't seem as appealing as this little guy. The woman who served us said that it was probably because of his age, although she probably isn't an expert but did advise us not to get one of the cages because the bars were too widely spaced and he might put his head through, and another suggestion of my granddad's was that it might be because of his colour, although that concept seems a bit too baffling to be entirely true. Hopefully they'll grow in during his moult, fingers crossed. Speaking of which, any ideas what colour he is? He's got some green patches on him, so I just assume him to be a green who came out more yellow. I wish my camera was better. If I zoom it goes all blurry and I can never seem to get in the right spot to take a good close up photo without the zoom, which also makes the colours weird. Those two were lucky because of his position. If he'll stay still whilst I move around then that would help. I don't really want to try to take a photo whilst holding him (either with me or granddad using the camera and the other holding him) because he's still not too keen on me and I don't want to frighten him too much.
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Post by Hezz on Dec 29, 2011 2:21:52 GMT
I haven't gotten into the genetics and colour/mutation at all so wouldn't guess, but no not "just came out a a bit more yellow, lol , but again if you put either photo up in the photo section, someone will help. Great you have already changed over to proper branches and gotten rid of those silly plastic things But don't make the cage too crowded - it is important to leave space between the perches for him to to both hop/fly from one to the other and to stretch his wings out fully. Have you named him yet? And no, it is a good idea not to try to hold him down right now while he is still settling in. Once you two have established trust, you may want to make a point of holding him regularly for a short time so he gets used to it and doesn't stress too much if you do have a health concern, he needs checking out for any reason or a trip to the vet.
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May 16, 2024 17:00:46 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Dec 29, 2011 10:59:28 GMT
I only know basic cat genetics, so that doesn't help me with budgies much XD Okies, thank you. I shall put up some pictures in there and see what people think Yeah, he still has to hop between the perches. Or climb if that's what he feels like doing. A few of the perches run closer because of the way the branches bent and I doubt he'll use some of them at all anyway. This is what his cage looks like now. It's hard to see with the distance but I didn't want to make him go through too many pictures. He's currently chirping along with a video of a flock of budgies on YouTube. At one point he came right up to the front of the cage to be closer to them, until I tried hand feeding him and he got more interested in the chirping budgies after a short feed and is now staying about halfway towards the back, in his favourite spot ^^ He did come to the front a bit yesterday when there was lettuce for him. And I think he's still stuck with Munchy for a name XD It's just stuck to him now. And thank you, I'll do that once he trusts me properly. Never know when I'll have to take a look at him. I'd like to take a look at his wings but I don't want to scare him. Thank you for all your help, Hezz
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Oct 7, 2011 16:29:59 GMT
MattJ
Normal Green
Puck
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Post by MattJ on Dec 29, 2011 19:23:50 GMT
Lovely birdy/cage ira
Couple of questions/pointers
- I cant see an iodine block, I'm pretty sure everyone suggests supplying one. They are only like 60p from pet shops. - Sand paper on the bottom can be bad for their feed, most people just use newspaper (cheaper too!). Natural wood perches should be fine for looking after his claws. - Is that white container his water? If so it may be a bit big and he could get into trouble some time, pretty sure most provide deeper baths (like that container) only under supervision - Does he have any food other than the millet spray? I cant see any (unless its the big white one, or they were being changed when you took the piccy). Millet should be provided as a treat with a staple of mixed seed, something like Trill (cheaper than millet!)
I'm also rubbish with genetics, but I'd guess he's a yellow/green dominant pied, dark factor 0. I keenly await being proven wrong on that ;D
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May 16, 2024 17:00:46 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Dec 29, 2011 19:45:57 GMT
Thankies Matt What does the iodine do? I can pick one up on Saturday because I'll be at the place I got him from and they should have some there. Thanks for the info on the sandpaper. I'll finish up what I've got (nearly out of it) and just use the newspaper, which seemed more logical to me anyway, because I can easily change it everyday. The white container is currently his water because my tower wouldn't stay on the side of the cage. I'm hoping to get one that stays on better on Saturday. In the meantime I'll make sure it doesn't have too much water in it. He's landed in it once and managed to get out of it just as quickly as he got in. And yes, he does have other food. In fact, he hasn't even touched the millet. The normal food goes in one of the little trap doors at the front but I'd taken it out to change it and forgot to put it back before taking the photo because I'd been feeding him some seed off my hand to try to help get him used to me. It went back on shortly after. Thank you for your advice
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Post by Hezz on Dec 30, 2011 1:09:33 GMT
Hi, Ira, me again. As Matt mentioned, newspaper is the best for the bottom of the cage. And yes, so much easier to take up a sheet of newspaper and throw it away. I think we all have a plethoria of newspaper around. But don't wait until you finish the sand sheets - just bin them! They can cause sores to develope on the bottom of your budgie's feet. Not nice for you or Munchy (sorry, seniors' moment not remembering his name!!!) With your perches, if you just use the branches - thickness should be so that Munchy's feet and claws go about two-thirds the way around the branch, but some a bit larger and smaller is good too - you shouldn't have to use the dowels. While the dowelling doesn't have anything really wrong with it, it doesn't give your bird variety in size and therefore no exercise for his feet. Plus it doesn't give his feet different textures to grip or bark to chew. I would take the dowels out and run your branches the same way as the dowels are currently running as that will give him more exercise space. Also, with perches running both ways, you will probably end up with a poo zone on one or two perches somewhere, which we don't really want. I think with that cage you could set up your perches at three different heights, say one in the middle up high(ish) then two on either side of the cage either at the same height of one a little higher/lower than the other. Then if you position your feed and water near the side perches, so they are readily available. Sorry - getting carried away, here. I have fun setting up my cage every week after everything has had a wash. Water container: Is yours one of those little fountain thingys you fill and then tip upside down? I have never had any luck with the clips that come with the silly things either. If you can, get him a rat/mouse/hamster sipper bottle. For a number of very good reasons - firstly they can't poop in them. Therefore they aren't easily contaminated, and while his water should still be changed every day, if for some reason you are away overnight and miss a change, you can rest easy knowing his water isn't going to be contaminated. The containers are easier to clean and keep clean (get glass if your budget allows), I use a bottle brush on mine every time I change the water (every day). They are smart little fellas and will learn very quickly what it is for..............unless you have a bird like my Smudge who after about 6 months still won't go near the thing!!! While I could push the issue and remove the fountain, I haven't gotten hard-hearted enough, as she seems scared of it for some reason. The only down-side that I know of with the sippers is that they have a metal valve which some medications will react with. Hope this helps. Just tell me to pull my head in, if I am getting too carried away.
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May 16, 2024 17:00:46 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Dec 30, 2011 8:11:05 GMT
Okay, that sounds fair enough. I kept spilling so much water on them trying to change the fountain and then the fountain falling off, etc, that a large patch of sand in that corner kept coming off anyway. I'll swipe the newspaper tonight when my grandparents have finished reading it. Okiedokies, I'll see what I can do. To be honest, he normally just climbs the bars if he wants to go anywhere, apart from on the highest few perches. If he can reach them with his beaks he'll get up that way, but he only hops up to the one about an inch above. So how far, heightwise, should I put between the branches. My mind is puzzling to work out how a budgie turns the ball valve thing in a hamster sipper. I know the animals they're meant for lick them, but I can't see how a budgie could turn it. I'm sure the fountain I had years ago never had this problem. I'll see what I can get tomorrow. I'm a bit iffy about trying too many different things because my grandparents are paying for it and might get a bit annoyed at buying things and then me having to chuck them away. It's happened quite a bit already. No Hezz, it's fine. I appreciate the advice
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Post by Hezz on Dec 31, 2011 1:38:43 GMT
That's okay then, it was just an idea, saving cleaning etc. Bluey is the best with the sipper - he puts his bottom beak up into the spout and that pushes the valve up and allows the water to drip out. Sparky isn't quite as neat with it but he also does okay, just hasn't the finisse that Bluey has. And Smudge, well she's failed miserably. I just remembered that Munchy hasn't flight feathers and doesn't fly too well - of course he is climbing the bars. I would then have the perches just out of his comfort zone reach, so that he has to try a little harder to get from one to the other. The more exercise the better. If weak muscles (or new, developing muscles) are a factor, then having him jump and maybe help himself along with his wings will strengthen the muscles and hopefully get him fit and ready to fly. One way around the water fountain slipping in the clips could be to use cable ties - they are safe for birds, if Munchy ever decided to have a "munch"....they don't seem to make too much headway on a cable tie. I have my fountain sitting on the bottom of the cage frame (my bars run the other way) but if you position the fountain on the outside and can poke the drinking part through the bars only, and have the whole thing resting on a cross-bar, that should keep it from sliding down and then a cable tie or whatever to hold the fountain to the side of the cage. Have a look at the bottom of my cage here, and maybe you can see what I mean: (Click on the photo and then when it comes up in the second window click again for a larger view.) Don't know if it possible with your bars running horizontally as mine are vertical.
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May 16, 2024 17:00:46 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Dec 31, 2011 16:36:27 GMT
That makes a lot of sense. I've reinstalled the fountain on the outside of the cage. It works perfectly and looks far more secure now. I've also changed the perches around so that they're more how you suggested. He now has to hop and fly a bit to get between them and has been doing that quite a lot whilst searching for his food whilst I talked to him about plant cell walls XD I'm sure he was very interested but it helped me revise and allowed me to keep talking to him rather than sitting at my desk and the room being really quiet. As for him searching for his food, I'd put in some of the egg food recipe. He's been losing about a feather or two a day since I got him and I'm not sure whether he'll go into his proper moult soon but I didn't think getting him used to it would hurt. I put it in the little feeder that I was using before that goes in one of the trap doors at the front of the cage. I've been using the white bowl for seed, but when I had the egg food in there the level was too low for him to reach so he went looking around the trap door for his food. It made him do more exercise than finding the white bowl, so I'm not sure whether to use that instead of the white one as he doesn't need as much food as fits in the white bowl. The white bowl's too big to put veggies etc in because he won't eat that much, but I'm not sure if he'll try veggies and things if I just put them in the small bowl and seeds in the white bowl. I think he might notice the difference ^^ It basically boils down to, should I use the big white bowl for seed or the little bowl? (The white bowl goes next to the lowest natural branch on the right side of the cage as you look at it, above the dowel) Also, I'm not sure if he ate much of the egg food, he might have just been going for the seed that were mixed in with it, but hopefully he ate some of it. I have to fully wash the fountain and white bowl tomorrow so I'll put the rest of the egg food in whilst I do that and see if he'll eat it. Here's a couple of pictures of the new cage set up. I'll be getting rid of the sandpaper tomorrow when I clean everything and have some newspaper. The dowel to the left of the highest perch is just there until I get a rope perch. And the dowel on the far right is propping up a ladder and providing access to the millet from below if he needs it (when it's closer to the side of the cage. He's hopped onto that perch a few times but I think it moves too much for him to do that much. But if it does get pooped on it should be easier to clean than the branches. I think I'll stick with the big white bowl for seed, because he seems to be struggling with the little one a bit unless I put it on the side of the cage using the perch he's supposed to stand on.
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Post by Hezz on Jan 1, 2012 2:23:44 GMT
The seed containers that come with cages are always far too big for the number of birds you could possibly hold in the cage. I don't know why that is, just the way they make them. Because the egg food needs to be eaten fairly soon after being made up, I put mine onto a plastic lid - just makes it easy for the birds to get to, and give it to them while they are out of the cage. For your veges, I use a bamboo skewer, cut the very sharp tip off it and break it in half. I use a clothes peg to attach it to the side of the cage near a perch, and they just run along and have a nibble when they want. It makes it a bit easier for the birds to get at rather than putting the small amount they need into a big bowl. I found they are more inclined to devour the veges when they are pegged up, rather than left in a bowl for them. Why??? They haven't told me that yet. You can get these nifty stainless steel skewers with a little screw on bit over the point, but they are quite expensive and I feel far too long - probably good for a large parrot. Bamboo skewers are cheap and you can use a new one every day if you don't wish to clean them. I think my birds are a bit like me, and like the cheap option. I get them something expensive and they turn their beaks up at it. Sometimes mine have a chew on the bamboo skewer as well, but that has never been a problem - doesn't seem to do them any harm. The set-up you have got going there looks great, Ira. Room between perches and it is good that he is having to extend himself to get where he wants to go. I am sure Munchy is very interested in plant cell walls, especially those of grasses, seeds and vegetables. Don't be surprised if he starts parroting bits back to you, lol.
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May 16, 2024 17:00:46 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Jan 1, 2012 17:39:56 GMT
The ones that came with the cage were smaller. The perch on one was broken, and I like using the small one, as it also requires more exercise to reach, but because of where it's supposed to go it can sometimes be a bit fiddley for him to reach. I might swap between them occasionally to keep Munchy guess as to where his food will turn up next. A little thinking and searching shouldn't do him any harm as long as he gets his food. It's easier for him to get the food from the bigger bowl, but when my supplies start running down and the level gets too low I'll have to use the small one anyway. Munchy also just landed in his food bowl, which is another downside of the big bowl.
To be honest, Munchy doesn't really seem interested in anything in his cage other than the perches and his food. Sometimes he chirps at his reflection in his mirror if we're not watching him, but he hasn't really bothered trying his millet, or his cuttlefish bone or his iodine block ^^; Might be something to do with the fact that I've been around him lots and also that I've only just finished moving all his perches around at long last, aside from getting a rope perch instead of that dowel one. ^^
I know the skewers you're on about. I've seen them in the pet store. I didn't look at the price though. They might not have been stainless steel though :/ I've never seen those bamboo skewers, only the small cocktail sticks.
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Post by stace on Jan 1, 2012 22:23:05 GMT
I got my metal skewers from a pet store for under $10. One I use for vegetables, and the other as an easy toy base for threading up beads and shredding material. Because the screw part undoes easily, you can change it around without having to thread things up on leather or rope.
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Post by Hezz on Jan 2, 2012 2:09:44 GMT
Ira, bamboo skewers are available from your supermarket. You can get a packet of about 100 for a couple of dollars here. So don't go looking for them in your pet store, they wouldn't be able to make any money out of them! But cocktail sticks should work just as well - again, I would just cut off the very end so the point isn't so sharp. Don't worry about him not playing with his toys yet. Sometimes you can put something in the cage and the rotten bird will take no notice of it........until the day (a month later) when you decide to remove it! They have the ability to ignore things so you wonder whether you have wasted your money and one day, a revelation, "hey what is this thing, looks interesting".
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