My Budgie Sid bites and I dont know what to do.

[ailsamae96]

Hi
I got my first ever baby budgie Sid when she was around 8 weeks old (I say she, im actually not entirely sure, i've been told many different things when it comes to budgies and how to know what sex they are/ tame them). shes about 5 months old now and things have been going okay, except that shes prone to biting me. There are some days now where she will happily come out of the cage on my finger or hop out by herself, but lately she has gotten a lot moodier, as soon as my hand goes in the cage she sort of runs around and attempts to bite me, and when she is out of the cage she will sit on my shoulders and play in my hair, but now its different because she use to when i put her on the floor come to my finger once she saw it and sit happily chirping, she now is rather silent with the odd small chirp but once shes on the floor she tries to avoid my finger........She likes to still sit on my chest and lick my nose etc and nip my lips but if i make a wrong move she'll nip really hard at me and when i move her away which is by making her jump on my finger she goes right back to my chest and sits right next to or directly in front of my face. I think some of the things i was told at the beginning about training a budgie may have made her worse in a sense, but i'm running out of ideas and everything new that seems to work for a couple of days stops working and she reverts back to being slightly mean..
I just want her to be happy and I dont feel like she is anymore........

[ninz1]

Welcome to the forum ailsamae96!!

I have had my budgies for 7 years now and boy did they go through what you have mentioned in your post! I feel your pain.

There are a few things that it could be...

1) Firstly, we should try and sex her. A lot of members on this forum are brilliant for doing that. Your photo is a bit blurry so I cannot work out the colour of your budgies cere.

2) It could be moulting? Sometimes when budgies are moulting, they become moodier. I do not blame them, it is a difficult time for them especially if they're having a serious moult. My Imzi will nip politely at me if I try and play with him when he isn't in the mood.

3) Teenage terrors!! 5months to a year is usually a time that a budgie will have teenage moments. Like all teenagers, they will push their boundaries. A budgie does this. Sadly, many owners give up their bird within 2 years of having them because of biting problems. Most budgies will go through what I call a biting/nipping phase. My budgies both did. They both drew blood on my hand.

This is what I have learnt when they bite:

Try not to retaliate, for example try not to jerk or scream a loud 'ouch'. As sad as this may sound, your budgie maybe highly amused and would love to try it again to see the same reaction. It could also have the opposite reaction where your budgie is frightened and it would break trust that you have worked hard to build.
When Imzi would bite my hand several times. I did not shake my hand, nor blow on his face. Instead I would slowly put him back in his cage. I would then look at him and give him a deep voiced NO, that is wrong. Then I would walk away.
It tells your budgie that you are not happy, that it was not nice and you do not want to play. The budgie slowly OR quickly will realise that biting is not fun. It makes the 'playtime' end.

The last thing is patience. From what I have read, she obviously is very close to you. I know it's easy to say but have patience, I am sure you are already doing that. We must accept that some budgies may not be in the mood to step up and therefore will nip you. In that case, you just have to walk away and try again later. If she nips your lip, immediately take Sid to the cage and say No, that is wrong, naughty budgie and walk away. Sid will realise that biting the lip means no fun.
Imzi steps up on my finger most of the time, however, when he is on the floor and he is playing around, the last thing he wants to do is come up on to my finger. They have their own minds and they are like kings and queens, they love having it their way. We just have to respect their wishes and give them all the love. Some budgies are cosy budgies and just want to snuggle. Other budgies like my Imzi want it his way and will play when he is in the mood, if he's not, it would stress him out to force him to step up or to bother him.

I hope I have helped a little. I am sure other members will give you more guidance and we can get to the bottom of this problem. I am sure the biting will slowly go away.

The other thing I wanted to say is that some budgies will bite to explore. Huckleberry, my other budgie will most definitely bit my lips. He has been poorly recently which is why he has accepted my kisses. Most often he would definitely have loved to nip them. Imzi doesn't nip my lips because he enjoys the kisses. Every budgie is different. I hope it all works out for you and Sid and I hope we can work out if Sid is a lovely lady or not

[ailsamae96]

Hey Ninz1, thank you for replying!!
The cere is a dark brown with a hint of blue around the edges. This is why i believe she is a girl.
She has been molting quite a bit actually yes, that could explain her behavior recently.
hahaha i definitely believe you with the teenage phase!! shes a moodier lil one.
I wont give up on her, I think its cruel to do that, I'm gonna keep her even if she does turn out to be a mean lil soul.

Yeah I've heard that once they bite you, you aren't meant to have a big reaction as well. I will try to do your method with putting her back and saying no, i haven't tried that

Haha its funny, she doesn't mind my face but my hands are evil haha, i cant understand that though.

You have definitely helped me in getting a better understanding of her.

Yeah, i can tell when she is biting to explore usually I can definitely tell when she is biting with intent to warn though haha

Thank you for your advice

[ninz1]

Feb 17, 2016 1:58:37 GMT ailsamae96 said:

Hey Ninz1, thank you for replying!!
The cere is a dark brown with a hint of blue around the edges. This is why i believe she is a girl.
She has been molting quite a bit actually yes, that could explain her behavior recently.
hahaha i definitely believe you with the teenage phase!! shes a moodier lil one.
I wont give up on her, I think its cruel to do that, I'm gonna keep her even if she does turn out to be a mean lil soul.

Yeah I've heard that once they bite you, you aren't meant to have a big reaction as well. I will try to do your method with putting her back and saying no, i haven't tried that

Haha its funny, she doesn't mind my face but my hands are evil haha, i cant understand that though.

You have definitely helped me in getting a better understanding of her.

Yeah, i can tell when she is biting to explore usually I can definitely tell when she is biting with intent to warn though haha

Thank you for your advice

I am sure she will not turn out to be mean. It's like when we are tired and can't be asked and someone keeps bothering us, not saying that is what you were doing but it's just an example. Budgies get grumpy too and they feel tired sometimes even though we think that they can go on and on all day. See how she is after her moult, she might feel calmer and more in the mood to play with you.

By any chance, did you ever grab her? With Imzi, I had to grab him a few times to weigh him and to give him medication. He hates being grabbed and ever since then, he has been wary of my hand. He will still step up but he will not stay on my hand for long and rarely jumps on to my hand if he is playing on the floor. 

One behaviour I noticed with my budgie is that if he is scared or unhappy about something, he will open his beak and sometimes make a noise. This is a warning that if I carry on or get any closer, he will nip me. Budgies are not normally the type of animals to hurt people intentionally. Maybe through a phase they might but often they are scared or upset etc. 

I hope things work out with Sid and definitely keep us updated, we are all here to help 

[ailsamae96]

I hope you are right on that one. That's completely understandable, I mean I guess I have probably been bothering her quite a bit. I felt her alone in her cage for the past 2 days and shes sort of calmed down a bit more, still very very wary of my hand but there was definitely less biting, shes still molting though so I'll be wary of her space.

Shes sitting on my shoulder as I write this and shes as calm as can be, playing with my hair and licking my face haha. 

I have had to sort of cup her a couple of times to be able to keep a hold of her.....that maybe why shes quite wary of me.

She has done that behavior before! i keep my hand away when she does that. yeah she tends to nibble at everything in her cage at the moment, im putting this down to her being a teenager haha


Thank you very much, I will definitely keep you posted  

[Hezz]

If she is moulting, either give her a bath so she can hop into it and bathe herself or get a spray bottle that hasn't been used for anything else but water, and give her a misting with this. Some birds love a bath, some don't; some love a misting, some hate it, but regardless, the water does help soften the keratin sheaths on the new feathers which helps them with the itchiness, but also helps them to be able to rub, or scratch, the sheaths off if they are ready to come off.

A bird's instinct to being held is that they are about to become something's lunch, so naturally they are wary of hands. If you continue to hold her for short periods of time, and I am talking seconds here, give her a kiss and let her go, or give her a treat, she will come to realise that nothing bad is happening and while she may not like it, she will learn to accept being held. It makes life much more simple when the time comes for medicating, or even just generally giving them a checkup yourself. Some birds will freak out over a visit to the vets, but by taking the time to get her used to being handled, a vet visit doesn't have to be the traumatic event that some make it.

[ailsamae96]

Hey
So things with Sid had been going rather well- she will let me pat her for a bit and hops on my finger to get out of the cage (sometimes)....
but I think I might have screwed it up.

A little while ago, Sid was near my face and I wasn't doing anything particularly bad but idk what happened but she sort of bit my nose and eyelid quite hard (not that sore but still) and without thinking I sort of grabbed her and threw her (not to hard) a side. I've since put her back into her cage, which took some effort. I feel absolutely awful about it but i still dont know what brought this on- ive semi covered her cage to hopefully calm her down a bit- she still was doing some happy little tweets.......but im scared that she'll never ever trust me  

[milliej]

Without reading through the long posts above all I can add is that budgies bite, it's their only form of protection really. I've been bitten by mine and boy does it hurt but they (like dogs) don't hold grudges as humans tend too so all should be ok given time bless her/him.
When mine bit me I was screaming like a banshee but don't feel guilty about your reaction, just try to move forward and enjoy the pleasure they give (mine aren't tame) as you may have guessed