My Budgie Refuses To Go Back To Cage

[simba]

I bought my first budgie 8 days ago, he is an 8 week old male, he's perfectly tame and at first everything was fine, but in the past 2 or 3 days every time i try to get him back in the cage while on my finger, he flies away, he has seed, water, millet and 2 toys in his cage so i dont understand why he refuses to go back in. I had to put gloves on and pick him up to put him back in, he still steps up but if i stroke him he flies away, what do i do  i didnt know that you're supposed to throw a cloth or towel over him so that he doesnt become afraid of hands, but he still steps up perfectly fine, and he only stays with me when hes on my head, i think i lost my trust and my bond with him but i really need to train him not to refuse to go back in his cage because i cannot be with him all day, hes allowed to fly around and have a play, but even when i spend 4 hours straight with him he still refuses to go back. i dont know what to do now 

[BudgiesBuddy]

Hi and welcome to forum

I have moved your post to a new thread so you can get answers from all members.

Your budgie is still settling in the new environment, so don't rush these taming attempts.

We never throw cloth and towels on budgies to catch them. If they don't fly to us, only thing is to wait until they dos so.

Share pictures of your budgie. Young budgies don't know when to go back to cage to eat. I too had to put mine back so they can eat. They also need to know where the cage and food is. Don't give him food outside the cage. Remember cage is a no fun place for a budgie, when compared to flying outside.

[BudgiesBuddy]

Your budgie does look very young to me from the small avatar picture. I have had budgie this young who would go 7 to 8 hours without eating unless I put them back in the cage.

[OP]

Welcome to the forum.
My budgie has certainly taught me a trick or two for getting him back in the cage. Whilst I was learning I did all sorts wrong. One thing to try is getting him to step up on a spare perch and taking him to the cage opening that way. Don't panic and take it slowly.
Budgiesbuddy has much more experience than I will ever have, but maybe I can add some of mine.

It would seem that many budgies do not like to be touched as in stroking, even when they are tame enough to be on ones finger.

[Hezz]

Where do we start??? Firstly, this is a very common cry from new budgie owners. Number one, most budgies DO NOT like to be stroked. Mostly they are happy to be the one making the contact but do not like be touched themselves. If you have to, offer the bird your finger to its beak. The bird must make the first move.

Quite often what happens is new budgie is so scared when brought home to its new abode that it will sit still, allow you to do almost anything with it, and you are congratulating yourself onhow good a budgie tamer you are. Bom, bom, wrong! Wee budgie is quite frightened and too scared to do anything! After about a week, often, once birdie has begun to settle in then he, she starts to show his own personality, and assert his own whims. This often results in a bird that "used to let me touch him", "won't return to his cage", "doesn't want to know me".

There are no quick fixes for budgies; you must earn their trust! Patience. Perseverence. Persistence. The three P's are very important. The best thing you can do is spend small 10 min periods of time with him as many times a day as you can.

I am working on a tablet which for me isn't easy, so will review inthe morning and may revise.

[suesbird]

I use the perch method too, wherever he is even on top of his cAge I get the perch. Jo is really tame but likes to nip if he does not want to go in or do something I want him to do.

I have started to use one of his wobble toys that rattle when I want him, it took a couple of weeks but now when I shake it he knows I want him to come to me. Sometimes it is a very quick dash to the cage door before he flies off, usually in my hair.

Patience pays off and me spending hours and hours a day doing nothing except spending time with him, forget the cleaning Jo is more interesting!

You will get there. Everybodies tips on here have really helped me

[Deleted]

With the advice of everyone on here, you'll be bonding with him and teaching him to go home in no time

My budgie nearly always refuses to go home, to the point where I have to let him out without breakfast if I'm going out around midmorning. Any later than that and I have to let him in for food at the same time and then shut him back in. As soon as he's had breakfast each morning, or sometimes even before that depending on how hungry he is, he will pester and pester to be let out. He refuses to go back into the cage on my hand, which I think is because the cage door is too small, so his face approached the bars and he just climbs off. But when he's tried he'll let me put him in via a spare perch, but if even that fails I have to get him up on the perch, turn off the lights so he doesn't move, and put him in that way.

Mind you, I'm only in uni one morning a week, usually, and when I'm away my grandparents are here all afternoon, so generally once he comes out we don't need to put him away because eventually he'll go to bed, or be tired enough to go to bed, or it will be dark enough if he's being stubborn when we think he should get some shut eye. So he's gotten into a routine of not having to go back unless he's hungry.

I wouldn't worry about the gloves. I used to use gloves when catching my bird so that he wouldn't recognise my hands and thus wouldn't become afraid of them, but after all this time he's confident enough with me that my hands don't bother him regardless of whether I catch him with them or not. I will admit to resorting to throwing blankets over him in the past, which I no longer do, but wouldn't recommend it. They're too small to have things landing on them.

Anyway, your bird is adorable and I'm sure he'll become a great companion and you'll be able to teach him to go home Hopefully he won't be as rebellious as my little monster

[ruthpaton]

I taught my Pepito to go home like this. To start with, every time he went back to his cage of his own accord I said, 'go home!' and shut the door and gave him a bit of his seed bell (which I keep for training rewards). I then opened the door and allowed him back out. This is important during the training process so the budgie doesn't learn to associate the 'go home' command with confinement but with a treat. After a while of this he learned that, if I say 'go home!' and he flies back to his cage, he gets lots of praise and a treat. I practised for 10 - 20 minutes at a time once or twice a day until he started to go home on command. He still gets a treat whenever he does and I still occasionally do the training for a few minutes. I'd say he goes home when I tell him to maybe 8 times out of 10 - there's still room for improvement but it's still not bad and much better than having to chase him back.. Hope that helps!

[suesbird]

Ok 6 months on and Jo still does not want to go to his cage. On average it is 6 walks up and down the rooms, he is fine, steps up and as soon as we close to his cage off we go again? Good exercise for me. May try the go home method, today's trick is to fly somewhere high where I have to climb on the sofa to get him off a vase, he sits tweeting so pitifully as id to say 'hey I am stuck up here' and then the little so and so flies back up there.

All good fun, I still use a spare perch method it sometimes works, depends on who is the quickest me of Jo

[jonah]

The spare perch that OP and suesbird suggest is what I too would advise you to try. It is most effective if it is a perch like one the bird sits on a lot...

[Deleted]

Apr 13, 2014 12:21:01 GMT ruthpaton said:

I taught my Pepito to go home like this. To start with, every time he went back to his cage of his own accord I said, 'go home!' and shut the door and gave him a bit of his seed bell (which I keep for training rewards). I then opened the door and allowed him back out. This is important during the training process so the budgie doesn't learn to associate the 'go home' command with confinement but with a treat. After a while of this he learned that, if I say 'go home!' and he flies back to his cage, he gets lots of praise and a treat. I practised for 10 - 20 minutes at a time once or twice a day until he started to go home on command. He still gets a treat whenever he does and I still occasionally do the training for a few minutes. I'd say he goes home when I tell him to maybe 8 times out of 10 - there's still room for improvement but it's still not bad and much better than having to chase him back.. Hope that helps!

I'd like to try that, but generally when I approach the cage when Munchy has gone in to eat he quickly runs out again, except for just now because I removed a lettuce leaf that was deterring him from approaching his bowl. Fortunately he normally goes in on a spare perch as long as his cage is raised up. I normally only put him in if we're going outside in the garden (which he enjoys), need to go out when he's not hungry enough to go in himself, or on the rare occasions when it's getting late and he hasn't gone in to bed