Mar 24, 2021 16:43:45 GMT
formybudgie
Brand New Budgie
Posts: 21
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Post by formybudgie on Mar 24, 2021 17:46:03 GMT
Hello, I got a 7-8 week old budgie about 4 weeks ago from a pet store and started to get close to her. First day in the new cage I did not do much other that sit around and talk from time to time. Day 2 I started getting closer to the cage, she was not very comfortable but slowly I could see he being more calm with me. Day 3 I continued the same as day 2. Day 4 I went and purchased millet and started slowly feeding her. She was ok to eat as long as my hand was far away. Same day I decided to clean the cage and this freaked her out. Day 5 it was almost like when she first got home, scared because I cleaned the cage. Continued to slowly get closer to her and by day 7 I was feeding her millet with my hand next to her. Again day 7 I cleaned the cage and this freaked her out. Week 2, I pretty much started the same as day 1, scared of me when getting close to the cage. Slowly got close to her again and by end of the week I had her eating millet again when my hand was close to her. I did not clean her cage this week and I decided that she deserves a bigger cage. So at the end of day 2 I moved here in the bigger cage. This was again a major setback. Week 3, Very similar to week 1 and 2, start again with talking to her, hand on the cage and slowly move my hand in the cage and by the end of the week feed her millet when hand is close to her. Now at the end of the week again clean the cage which as expected freaked her out again. Week 4, This week things are moving a little faster. I get closer to her faster, each day I start talking to her after some time holding my hand on the cage and eventually feed her millet. She seems very friendly by the end of the day but next day it is back to the beginning. Every day this week she is scared at the start and friendly at he end of the day. Today for example I feel like everything bothers her. I start talking to her and she starts moving her had left and right to see what's going on. I get close to the cage and she already looks where to run. I put my hand on the cage and she runs away to the back of the cage. Her cage is in a bigger room that is open to other rooms. The cage is in a corner so she has 2 wall. I started working next to her cage (~1.5 meters away) to give her a lot of exposure to me. The room is more active usually from 3PM-8PM and I work in the room ~8h a day. My work is very quiet so she is not disturbed much during my work. What do I need to do to get close to her. I feel like my trust is gone. Changing her cage was a big setback and I am very nervous to clean her cage or make any changes in the cage. I change her food plate she gets scared, I change a seeds container she gets scared. What am I doing wrong? I tried quiet time, I tried music. I put toys in the cage, I tried vegies. Not sure what to do to get her comfortable in her cage and comfortable with me. I am thinking to move her in a more quiet room where I can also let her out but then again if I move the cage all trust (if any left) will be gone again. If I manage to move her and let her out she will freak out again when trying to get her back in the cage. At this point I am totally lost. No clue what to do to make her happy. Maybe she just does not like me . Anyway, if any of you can suggest what yo do I would really appreciate it. Thanks.
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Post by tweetiepiesmom on Mar 24, 2021 20:18:19 GMT
You're doing fine! It takes patience. It sounds like you have her cage in a good room so I wouldn't move her. She needs to be around activity and people. I wouldn't change her toys around at this point. One suggestion is to put your hand just inside her cage several times a day for up to 5 minutes each time. Just let it rest inside the cage. Always move your hand in the cage very, very slowly. She's still settling in. We are all familiar with the 2 steps forward, one step back in training/taming our budgies. You'll want to take lots of pictures of her. Start by holding the camera up to the cage a few seconds every day 2-3 times so she gets used to seeing it. If she flies away from it, just hold it still until after she settles somewhere while talking calmly to her. Soon she'll get curious about it and come look at it. Then you can post lots of pictures here for us to look at (hint, hint)! What have you named her?
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Post by Hezz on Mar 25, 2021 0:34:58 GMT
Four weeks is not much time for a prey animal to begin to build up any trust in a predator. Continue to go slowly, talk to her all the time you are changing her food and water, tell her what you are doing. With a bird this skittish, I would start with feeding her through the bars of the cage and gradually moving to feeding her with your hand in the cage once she seems to be comfortable and approaching you for the millet.
With regard to the phone and taking photos, I wouldn’t be bringing that into play yet for a while. Leave it lying nearby for sure, and carrying it around with you, yes, but not making it a “thing” but rather just part of who and what you are. Once she is used to its presence and it is just part of the furniture, then you will be able to make it more visible but taking photos of her any time soon is just going to freak her out more.
While you are working, if you don’t need quiet to concentrate, try leaving the radio playing softly in the background. Don’t have the room too quiet - silence in the bird world means danger is around.
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Mar 24, 2021 16:43:45 GMT
formybudgie
Brand New Budgie
Posts: 21
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Post by formybudgie on Mar 25, 2021 16:18:01 GMT
Four weeks is not much time for a prey animal to begin to build up any trust in a predator. Continue to go slowly, talk to her all the time you are changing her food and water, tell her what you are doing. With a bird this skittish, I would start with feeding her through the bars of the cage and gradually moving to feeding her with your hand in the cage once she seems to be comfortable and approaching you for the millet. With regard to the phone and taking photos, I wouldn’t be bringing that into play yet for a while. Leave it lying nearby for sure, and carrying it around with you, yes, but not making it a “thing” but rather just part of who and what you are. Once she is used to its presence and it is just part of the furniture, then you will be able to make it more visible but taking photos of her any time soon is just going to freak her out more. While you are working, if you don’t need quiet to concentrate, try leaving the radio playing softly in the background. Don’t have the room too quiet - silence in the bird world means danger is around. Thanks, I'm taking a step back and for now just hand on the cage, talk to her and from time to time offer millet while my hand is outside of the cage. She was never super excited about millet, she would eat it if it is close to her but would not move for millet. If millet is out of her reach she would not make the effort to get to it even if there is another place to perch. I offered millet a few times but she was showing 0 interest since it was a little far from her and a minute later she went and ate her seeds. What else can I use to bribe her? She does not eat anything else other than the seed mix. In the past I tried apple, lettuce in the cage on a skewer. I even put seeds on top of the apple but she ate the seeds and not touched the apple at all. Yesterday I cut small pieces of carrots, pepper, and broccoli and not much reaction to that either.
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Post by tweetiepiesmom on Mar 25, 2021 16:34:48 GMT
Personally, I'd get her addicted to millet so you use it to bribe her. Attach small amounts of it inside her cage until you see her run for the millet rather than the seeds. Then start holding long pieces of the millet while she comes to eat it. Gradually get the millet sprig shorter and closer to your hand until you are offering it in a way that she has to get on your hand to eat it.
Budgies take awhile to discover that these things are food and that they like it. You night pick one thing, broccoli or an herb such as basil and hang that in her cage until she nibbles and eats a bit rather than offering her a variety of foods.
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Mar 24, 2021 16:43:45 GMT
formybudgie
Brand New Budgie
Posts: 21
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Post by formybudgie on Mar 26, 2021 19:25:58 GMT
So I added millet in the cage but she did not get close to it at all. Eating only her seeds and millet if it’s right in front of her. Not sure what to do to get her to eat millet . Another question that I have is if I should take her cage to a smaller room for a few hours each day and let her out. She seems bored in the cage. She is not chirping a lot. A few times a day and usually when she is alone. When talking to her she is just looking at me and not doing anything. With the toys I see her playing once or twice a day. Also I have a bird bath which she has not used yet. Installed it almost a week ago. I’m just trying to understand why this extremely bored reaction to everything around. Is she still not used to the cage and ppl around to interact?
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Post by mona on Mar 27, 2021 0:12:38 GMT
She might be still cautious. Mine takes a lot of time to get used to. Still she would hop on the highest swing when I replace the food or water bowl in the cage.
Also, Females are not very vocal.. Mine doesn't sing all day.. she would sit and watch me and other things around.. Mine is very cautious with toys sometimes and took many months to touch one.. Now she loves most of the toys and explores a lot more..
After approximately 6 months with me, she started blinking her eyes slowly at me while I talk to her and she started singing after a while, if I kept singing to her.. I didn't look at her directly in the eyes for a long time while chatting to her..
She doesn't bath often and does it at her own will. Some people lure them to bath by adding green leaves from their food.. some have had success with adding basil to water.. sometimes they would like to bathe from the hung green leafy veggies with water dripping from it. Mine however isn't attracted to anything and takes a bath only at her own will and in the water bowl always.. 😂🙈 My male budgie likes mist spray bath.. there might be bathing preferences with your budgie too..
Out of cage time is definitely a yes always... Mine is very curious and would love to explore any & everything. Just make sure there are no dangling wires and the place is bird safe
About the seed and millet, someone else would be able to help. I had added millet spray at a place where she liked to perch the most and also near the shredding toy she used. Eventually she started checking out millet after a month or so.. I had also added some millet baubles in her seed bowl.. and some in their fresh food too..
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Post by Hezz on Mar 27, 2021 0:36:08 GMT
She isn’t bored, she is cautious. While you are around she is still on alert. When you leave the room she can relax a bit and feel safe enough to chirp. Time and patience are needed when learning to live with any bird.
It is better to have stepping up and down in place before allowing out of cage time, but it sounds as though that might be a long time coming, so yes, a small room for exercise time is a good idea as long as it is safe for the bird and don’t leave her alone. A small bedroom or bathroom are usually the best, somewhere without too much furniture to walk around as you will have to find a way of getting her safely and calmly back into her cage. A good length spare perch is very useful for this as usually the bird will be more likely to step onto a perch if offered than a finger, in the early stages.
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Mar 24, 2021 16:43:45 GMT
formybudgie
Brand New Budgie
Posts: 21
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Post by formybudgie on Mar 27, 2021 2:57:30 GMT
I am thinking me trying to get close to her in the first few weeks caused more harm than good.Probably she was not ready and my hands in the cage close to here as well as all the changes I made with the cage scared her instead of gaining trust. Now I am wondering how much damage I caused. Is it worse than the first day she came home? She seems more comfortable with my hands around the cage but I still see a reaction. She does not run but she leans in the opposite direction of my hand and stares at the hand.
I saw tonight that she is still cautious. I had music a little louder and she was very vocal, when I went in the room and started talking to her she was very quiet. I did this twice with the same result.
As for the bath, I’m afraid to spray her. Might scare her even more. Is it ok to just let her be and she takes a bath when she feels comfortable?
With regards to perching on my finger when out of the cage, she escaped twice while cleaning/adding stuff to her cage and managed to get her back by perching on my finger. I think she was more scared of the outside than my finger so she gave up and perched on it. So in a small room where I can easily reach her I can probably get her back in the cage. My concern is if she will get scared of the cage being moved, what’s outside of the cage and me being in the same room with her. Would this cause another trust issue?
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Post by blueelephant on Mar 27, 2021 6:41:03 GMT
If moving the cage becomes part of her routine then she will get used to it. It might be scary for her but nothing bad actually happens so hopefully she will learn. Talk to her really softly while you are doing the move. Also I'd let her have time to recover in the new location before letting her out.
Well done for getting her on the hand outside the cage. If you do try flight time again and she is not up for that then a taxi perch like Hezz suggests is a very useful invention. Just that bit further from your scary fingers.
When I first got Barney out he was not at all happy with hands in cages. He was useless at flying though so got himself stuck in some super silly places. He was definitely grateful for the scary hand or taxi perch coming to help him. It seemed to help gain his trust. Just go with her body language and lots of soft voice verbal praise and slow movements from you when she is out.
No need for a bath either so I'd just let her choose that on her terms. Barney has one approximately once a year when the mood takes him!
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Mar 24, 2021 16:43:45 GMT
formybudgie
Brand New Budgie
Posts: 21
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Post by formybudgie on Mar 29, 2021 12:59:51 GMT
Saturday morning I moved her cage in a small bathroom. Got her out of the cage and she was scared of the new room. She was flying from wall to wall trying to find a spot to perch. Eventually she rested on top of the toilet. I reached and got her on my finger. She stayed there for about 20 min and ate some millet. After that flew on top of the cage and after a few minutes of trying I got her to perch and back in her cage.
Until the end of the day I kept talking to her and hand on the cage, at the end of the day she was very friendly, she was not scared of my hand at all when in the cage to change her millet. She was perched right next to the millet where she could reach it easily. My hand would go between her and the millet to change it and she did not move at all. Sunday again hand on the cage and change the millet. She was still very friendly.
Monday morning, a total mess. She is very scared of me. Even my voice bothers her. When I start talking she seems very unsettled and anything I do seems to be bothering her. I get off my chair she gets scared, I touch the cage she gets scared, I change millet she gets scared. Why is this happening? I feel like I am making 0 progress in taming her. Is she a bird that just doesn't like to bond with people? If that is the case I can stop bothering her, leave her alone and mind my own business.
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Post by tweetiepiesmom on Mar 29, 2021 14:41:20 GMT
Keep going slowly and yes, most people experience these small set backs but she'll come around and get friendly again soon. Who knows why the budgies get less friendly like that? Just be consistent in everything you do and back off slightly when you see she's upset/afraid but don't stop. Eventually she'll be tame enough to fly to you when she's out of the cage. That feeling is so worth the time you put in to tame her. My Tweetie Pie is very skittish. After about 1 1/2 years he's just now cautiously flying to my hand for a few seconds. Some budgies take longer than others to tame.
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Mar 24, 2021 16:43:45 GMT
formybudgie
Brand New Budgie
Posts: 21
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Post by formybudgie on Mar 29, 2021 14:59:13 GMT
Sounds good. I'll keep going slowly. The feeling of her being on my finger for about 20 min was the best. It will be amazing once she does that often .
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Mar 24, 2021 16:43:45 GMT
formybudgie
Brand New Budgie
Posts: 21
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Post by formybudgie on Mar 30, 2021 21:31:46 GMT
I am not sure what happened but things turned around big time in a good way. By the end of day yesterday we became really good friends. She was not afraid of me next to the cage and not afraid of my hand at all. I tried my luck to see if feeding her millet would scare her or not and she was very relaxed. As long as it is not in my palm she would eat it. I tried holding seeds and millet in my palm but she did not care for it. My hand is right next to her and she does nothing, she started closing her eyes like when falling asleep. What does this mean?
Today I pushed my luck even further to see if she would step on my finger. If she is at the middle of the cage and I put my finger above her legs, gently push and say step up she flies at the top of the cage. That’s where she prefers to stay most of the time. If she is at the top in her favorite spot and I try the same thing, finger above legs gently push and say step up, she goes on my finger immediately. Is this ok to continue doing this?
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Post by Morgan on Apr 1, 2021 3:30:51 GMT
You should let her step onto your finger on her own - you can tempt her by holding the millet further away so she has to come to you for it instead. Given an alternative, she chose to fly away. Only when she was trapped by the cage top did she step up. Birds step up when you push in their bellies because they don’t like the pressure there. They do it only because it is preferable to being pushed on, which is not the best way to train them to want to perch on you. It’s fantastic that you are already making progress with her though! Some birds are just more nervous than others. It’s hard, but be as patient as possible with her progress, and celebrate the little successes. Like her eating from your hand and staying calm for now.
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