Post by stephruth on Feb 17, 2020 5:33:38 GMT
Hi everyone, apologies if this topic has been covered somewhere but I could not find my exact circumstances.
So I got given a Budgie for my birthday as a surprise from my sister, he is beautiful and we had Budgies as kids so I know a little about them.
I live alone and suffer from anxiety/depression and my sister thought a pet would be helpful and she was right, he gets me out of bed to open up curtains and work on taming him, plus constant cleanup (millet and poop everywhere of course!) and I do generally love him.
However, I have had him exactly 4 weeks and despite my previous knowledge of budgies and much additional research about taming, he is still very frightened of me.
In my hours of researching budgie safety/happiness/nutrition/taming I discovered how to tell the age of a budgie with the stripes on the head and most importantly the eyes iris colour... well the day I got him he had clear almost white irises and no stripes on his head... making him a minimum of 8 months old when purchased, my sister was told he was “between 12 and 20 weeks”, clearly not true.
Additionally he has started to molt again which I think they only do one or twice a year, which perhaps means his first molt that shedded the head stripes was a while ago... I have no idea how old he could really be!
It took weeks but he is now responsive to millet and will finally step on my finger but only if I have some, he refuses ALL budgie safe fresh fruits and veggies (assuming bc he’s never had them and doesn’t get he can eat them?) and he is still very frightened of me and any guests. He will not respond or chatter to me, but has taken to chattering to the tv and music... also I feel so bad bc there are quite a lot of birds outside and he screeches and seems stressed when he hears their calls, like he misses his family...
Ive also been reading that one person is not enough social stimulation for a budgie and you should get 2 if u live alone, but I really can’t manage 2 birds.
I’m very concerned about his happiness and quality of life, as much as I love him I dont know if he should stay here, my friend has a husband and two young kids and she said she would take him... I am not sure if this is the right thing to do as he is very hard to tame and I doubt they will put enough time into doing so... but I don’t want him depressed here with me bc the house is not busy enough for his social stimulation.
Apologies for the short novel 🤦♀️ But any advice would be greatly appreciated Thanks so much!
So I got given a Budgie for my birthday as a surprise from my sister, he is beautiful and we had Budgies as kids so I know a little about them.
I live alone and suffer from anxiety/depression and my sister thought a pet would be helpful and she was right, he gets me out of bed to open up curtains and work on taming him, plus constant cleanup (millet and poop everywhere of course!) and I do generally love him.
However, I have had him exactly 4 weeks and despite my previous knowledge of budgies and much additional research about taming, he is still very frightened of me.
In my hours of researching budgie safety/happiness/nutrition/taming I discovered how to tell the age of a budgie with the stripes on the head and most importantly the eyes iris colour... well the day I got him he had clear almost white irises and no stripes on his head... making him a minimum of 8 months old when purchased, my sister was told he was “between 12 and 20 weeks”, clearly not true.
Additionally he has started to molt again which I think they only do one or twice a year, which perhaps means his first molt that shedded the head stripes was a while ago... I have no idea how old he could really be!
It took weeks but he is now responsive to millet and will finally step on my finger but only if I have some, he refuses ALL budgie safe fresh fruits and veggies (assuming bc he’s never had them and doesn’t get he can eat them?) and he is still very frightened of me and any guests. He will not respond or chatter to me, but has taken to chattering to the tv and music... also I feel so bad bc there are quite a lot of birds outside and he screeches and seems stressed when he hears their calls, like he misses his family...
Ive also been reading that one person is not enough social stimulation for a budgie and you should get 2 if u live alone, but I really can’t manage 2 birds.
I’m very concerned about his happiness and quality of life, as much as I love him I dont know if he should stay here, my friend has a husband and two young kids and she said she would take him... I am not sure if this is the right thing to do as he is very hard to tame and I doubt they will put enough time into doing so... but I don’t want him depressed here with me bc the house is not busy enough for his social stimulation.
Apologies for the short novel 🤦♀️ But any advice would be greatly appreciated Thanks so much!