Aug 12, 2020 17:06:41 GMT
crackfox
Brand New Budgie
Posts: 11
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Post by crackfox on Sept 18, 2020 17:55:50 GMT
I've had my male baby budgie Danny for 6 weeks now. He's about the 4 month mark or near there but he still hasn't molted yet so I'm not certain, I just know he still has his head bars. He's totally relaxed with us now. He loves coming out of his cage to play with us, or rather on us. I bought him a play gym but no matter what I try and distract him with, all he wants to do is bite everything he shouldn't. Clothes, the sofa, anything you hold like your phone or a TV remote he wants to chew on. He also bites fingers if we are holding something and he tries his best to rip off a mole from my neck. It can hurt quite a bit because sometimes he digs in. When I remove him and tell him no he flies back to that spot and continues. He reminds me of a teething baby, so it might be age related. He has a big cage and a lot of toys. He's getting quite hyperactive in general. I haven't caught him napping once. Boundless energy. He has a cage full of toys including a mirror which other than going to bed next to it, ignores all day. I'm happy he's so social but I hope the endless biting stops as he gets older ad I'm not indavertantly encouraging it. I think I have spoilt him too much in the initial weeks of bonding, now he expects his every whim be catered too.
I wanna make sure I teach him good behaviours before maturity hits so they stick. Any advice is welcome. Thank you
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Jun 5, 2018 5:58:39 GMT
hitman
Normal Violet
Posts: 161
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Post by hitman on Sept 18, 2020 19:46:14 GMT
Try giving him things he can shred. A carrot or bits of paper or cardboard or even a piece of wood. My lot like to play with bits of paper on the floor.
I got some cat toy mice for them too which they seem to enjoy playing with alot. In the past my birds have eaten the wallpaper off the walls and shredded my blinds to bits.
Make sure you are providing everything he needs. The right diet with a mineral block and cuttlefish bone.
From my experience budgies do tend to bite and it is a bit like a toddler. It's usually more innocent than anything. He's not doing anything to be bad in the wild he could chew and bite on what ever he would want.
Sometimes if they bite your fingers if you put it near them usually means they want to be left alone.
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Post by Morgan on Sept 18, 2020 22:35:16 GMT
Yep, as stated above, give him things he CAN chew on and shred! Veggies hung from the cage would be a great thing for him to play with and to get him used to eating fresh foods. Telling him no and putting him off when he bites you too hard is setting good boundaries with a bird that has bonded to you and is being too pushy. You can put him in the cage for a short time out and close the door for a minute if he just flies right back to you and doesn’t get the hint the first time. Other fun, easy, and cheap things to shred for your birdy might be clean cardboard pieces (no shiny plastic coated pieces) threaded onto bird-safe string - like sisal or hemp/jute, printer paper cut into ribbons but still attached at one end to make a dangly toy that can be hung, or bird safe wood branches (cleaned and disinfected) that can be made into perches, swings, and chew toys. Read some of the permanent stickies in the forum for more ideas and info in all areas of budgie care!
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Post by Hezz on Sept 19, 2020 0:53:33 GMT
He reminds me of a teething baby. He is exactly that and does need to learn what can and can't be chewed. Babies (human) have to put everything into their mouths; baby birds have to check everything out with their beaks. Remember they don't have hands to feel things with so all their touch-sensing is done through their beak/mouth. Moles, skin tags look like seeds, I'm sure; many budgies have tried to rid their humans of these blemishes, yes it can hurt but there is no malice in it.
Plenty of shredding toys is good advice, but if he isn't paying any attention to his toys (yet) that is not going to help you in the short-term. If you watch two budgies interact, you will see that they aren't afraid to tell the other off for being too much, and the one being scolded doesn't go off in a huff. You need to do the same thing, and be consistent about it. If there are other family members, they all have to be on board and react to his bites in the same way. Immediate removal is necessary for him to get the message. Taking the time to walk him back to his cage achieves nothing unless you are right there at the cage door because he is not going to associate the bite with being caged, too long between incident and reaction. A sharp "NO" at the same time, or if you wish use the same sort of sound that they use with each other - a kind of ak-ak. I've found this to work very well, it is a sharper, harsher sound and takes less time to get out than vocalising NO. And look put out; they can and do read facial expressions.
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Aug 12, 2020 17:06:41 GMT
crackfox
Brand New Budgie
Posts: 11
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Post by crackfox on Sept 19, 2020 14:34:32 GMT
Thanks everyone for your advice. He does have things to chew on an shred outside of his cage, he just has no attention span for anything in particular and usually prefers the human jungle gyms in the room. I understand that's because he really likes us and we're lucky to have a budgie like that. I just hope he learns to focus on appropriate things because all his outside cage time is him being told no and lifted off things. It doesn't seem to hurt his feelings though, he either goes straight back like nothing happened or makes a swearing noise and beaks the humans. Apparently we are the annoying ones 😂
Also, is it normal that he doesn't nap through the day? If we're not in the the room with him we can hear him ringing bells and chattering to the radio, so I'm fairly sure he's not sleeping. Also he still isn't showing signs of molting yet. I had a budgie growing up and my mum has had budgies most of her life. She says she's never known a budgie as hyper and playful as him. We cover him at night with a blanket and leave the front exposed somewhat so he doesn't get night scares. Most days he jumps around and peaks through the blanket as if he's willing us to take it off, even when he looks exhausted. I don't think it's fear because it's exactly the same as the begging he does when he wants to come out of his cage, which is basically everytime he sees us haha.
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Post by tweetiepiesmom on Sept 19, 2020 16:51:39 GMT
My little Buddy is also a hyper guy. He doesn't nap during the day. He also does not like being covered at night. He shares the cage with Tweetie Pie who will not sleep unless covered so their cage gets covered. Every night when I cover them, Buddy makes that angry chipmunk noise. When I had Buddy in quarantine before introducing him to Tweetie Pie, if I covered him he would climb up and bite on the cover. I think what your Danny is doing is just his personality. Buddy has been going through his biting stage and I followed Hezz advice. He still comes to me but no longer bites so I hope the correction has taken effect. Everybody needs to be consistent for it to work.
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Aug 12, 2020 17:06:41 GMT
crackfox
Brand New Budgie
Posts: 11
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Post by crackfox on Sept 20, 2020 14:05:32 GMT
Thanks for everyone's input. I had a bird growing up but I was too young to see his early years. I just remember him around 6 years old being lazy and grumpy. Though he did talk his head off all day, he never did the acrobatics or seemed that interested in being outside his cage. He lived until the age of 9. With Danny I'm not sure if his behaviour is age related or if it's just his personality. I've been diverting him to his play gym by putting millet in the food dish on the top of it. He keeps going back to it to check if the millet fairy has been again so at least he knows now that it's a thing haha. He likes to visit us before bedtime which we indulge but I'm not sure if that stimulates him too much before lights at. We end up having to force him back and he jumps around the cage for a good 20 minutes before retiring to his sleeping spot and angry barbling for another 30. He's an adorable handful.
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Post by Hezz on Sept 20, 2020 19:53:44 GMT
Young budgies are quite the acrobats, so nothing unusual there. Feeding outside the cage can cause problems when it comes to bed time as there is no incentive to go back into the cage. I'd back off the millet in the afternoons so that he has to go home for a feed. It might help him settle down for the night as well.
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Aug 12, 2020 17:06:41 GMT
crackfox
Brand New Budgie
Posts: 11
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Post by crackfox on Sept 24, 2020 23:19:13 GMT
Update: He's getting used to his play gym though keeping his attention on it is a work in progress. The biting has stopped over the last few days in favour of an even more bothersome behavior, humping... My little guy is reaching maturitiy I guess, even though he still has his baby head bars. He's humping toys in his cage and he will try to hump our heads/hands or whatever he feels like. He particularly likes my brother's glasses. He gets removed instantly when he tries to do it on us but like everything else we discourage, he ignores us. We let him get on with it when he's in his cage and he takes it out on his toys since it's a natural behavior etc. I'm wondering if the hormones might be encouraging his energetic, velcro bird behavior. He doesn't like being touched so we don't encourage any hormone stimulating behavior. I really wish I knew exact age. If the pet store was correct then he'd be almost 5 months old but he hasn't molted his head bars yet, they're faint but they're there, in fact he hasn't molted at all. However this behavior suggests he's starting to go through puberty. Hmm.
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Aug 12, 2020 17:06:41 GMT
crackfox
Brand New Budgie
Posts: 11
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Post by crackfox on Oct 12, 2020 12:41:44 GMT
Just an update. His biting is quite bad now. He bites hands and lips and not passively. He will cling on to skin and really dig in. It does hurt but he's not strong enough to draw blood so far. You might think it sounds like he wants space but he is the one that flies to us and always asks to be out the cage. He's starting to molt which I know can make them cranky but I think it's more to do with his hormones. He humps everything in his cage and does it a lot. He tries to hump us all the time too. He especially likes my head. Some of the hardest bites are when I remove him from doing so. It has really compromised his character. He's really happy in himself otherwise. I get the feeling he's trying to assert himself as the head of the flock now that he's a bit older. I want me sweet boy back 😭
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Apr 5, 2019 23:14:31 GMT
reenie
Normal Green
Posts: 300
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Post by reenie on Oct 14, 2020 7:33:28 GMT
I'm no expert, but my little Kevin is a bit of a biter, and it was worse during his first moult - he's on his second moult now, but doesn't seem to be as bad. Hopefully once the moult is over he will chill out a bit. I found bathing really helped him. I can't comment on the humping as I've never seen Kevin do that. Stuart does it occasionally, but he's a much calmer little dude who wouldn't dream of biting, so very different personality.
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Aug 12, 2020 17:06:41 GMT
crackfox
Brand New Budgie
Posts: 11
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Post by crackfox on Dec 7, 2020 0:33:42 GMT
Thought i'd post a little update. Danny is around 6 months old now we think. He still bites quite a lot and hasn't responded to our various means of preventing that behavior but since he's so small it's not a big deal, I just have to hide my lips when he comes right up to my face because a bite there can sting! I think he enjoys the reaction it gets. He's extremely tame in that he's very sociable and wants to be with us as much as possible but he doesn't take orders. He does what he wants, when he wants and yes, it has been our fault letting him get away with bad behavior since he was small. He still humps in his cage a lot but thankfully never does it to us humans anymore. His frisky behavior has became a lot less frequent over the last few weeks which I think might be down to the cold, darker nights dampening his hormones. I'm fully ok with him humping inside his cage in any case. Here are some recent pics. You can see his baby bars have vanished now. They grow up so quickly :/
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Post by Morgan on Dec 7, 2020 4:08:49 GMT
Aw, thanks for the update! It’s a shame he’s still being nippy, but at least he is small like you’ve said! Hopefully he will still grow out of it. Don’t let him get away with it though! He is just adorable
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