Post by joiskile on Mar 3, 2012 13:39:10 GMT
Hello all
Sorry for the long post but I was wondering if anyone can advise me about taming our budgie Charlie.
My partner bought him out of a cage full from a pet shop. I contacted the pet shop to see how old he is and they had no idea but said at least 4-5 months old. My other half also said that when the woman got him out of the cage, she chased him round trying to grab him and ended up squashing him to the floor so I know he’s going to hate hands.
We’ve now had him 7 weeks on Sunday and at least once every day for 10-15 minutes at a time, I’ve tried to tame him. It took about 2 weeks to get him to eat millet while I’m holding it and we got down to a piece about 4-6cm long. For the last month we’ve hit a stalemate. He doesn’t always react the same way but sometimes I can put my hand in (slowly and holding millet) and he will let me approach him and he’ll eat it, sometimes he looks at it and I can gently touch his beak with it but he won’t eat it, at other times he panics and flies or runs off. When he panics he flies from side to side, climbs the bars, drops to the floor and usually ends up clutching the side of the cage at the furthest corner away from me breathing fast through his beak. Sometimes it’s as if he’s annoyed with me and although he runs off, he squawks at me but doesn’t seem scared.
Sometimes I can put my hand in holding millet and rest it on his perch and he’ll come and get it, other times he panics or runs off. Just this morning he went into a flap when I changed his water yet an hour later he ate millet I was holding. I definitely can’t approach him with a finger or flat hand if I’m not holding millet so I’ve tried to get him used to my fingers by varying my hand position, holding the millet between different fingers so he’s had to reach over other fingers to get the millet. He’s even picked up the bits that have dropped between my fingers and I think we’re getting somewhere but then it could be the next time I try that he’s climbing the bars again! I’ve also spent a few days trying to get him used to a moving perch but he seems worse with that than my hand.
When he runs of or panics, I don’t remove my hand but wait for him to calm down, then slowly approach him until he’ll take some millet even if I have to hold the millet further away and my arm feels like it’s going to drop off because I don’t want him to learn that by running off or squawking at me he gets what he wants (ie me to leave him alone)
I’ve tried following Bonesy’s post and followed him around but he just kept flying, running or jumping and he dropped (not literally) to the floor in the end and kept running off in a state so I left him. I never managed to get close enough to be able to put my finger near his tummy! It then took a couple of sessions to be able to put my hand in the cage at all.
I know he’s come a long way already but he did that in the first couple of weeks and since then we’re going nowhere. He hasn’t been out of his cage since we got him and I don’t like him stuck in his cage all the time but I won’t let him out until he will reliably step up so that I can get him back without chasing him or risk getting hurt. I know about wing trimming but I don’t want to stress him by catching him to clip them. I’ve also read about taming in a small room but our small room is the bathroom and it’s full of bottles of stuff (there are 7 of us living here), shower curtain etc and it would be a nightmare to empty it every time I went in there with Charlie. It stresses him every time I clean his cage. His cage is on a shelf level with me where I spend most of my time. It is only about a meter away and he’ll happily chortle away to me when he’s in his cage and I’m sure he winks back at me too so I don’t think it’s me he’s a nervous bird. I’ve even sat with my hand in his cage on his perch while he’s preened himself and once, he fell asleep with it inches away from him. I just don’t seem to be able to get any closer, I’m not sure how to go about it and I’m hoping someone here can help.
Thanks for reading my huge post!
Sorry for the long post but I was wondering if anyone can advise me about taming our budgie Charlie.
My partner bought him out of a cage full from a pet shop. I contacted the pet shop to see how old he is and they had no idea but said at least 4-5 months old. My other half also said that when the woman got him out of the cage, she chased him round trying to grab him and ended up squashing him to the floor so I know he’s going to hate hands.
We’ve now had him 7 weeks on Sunday and at least once every day for 10-15 minutes at a time, I’ve tried to tame him. It took about 2 weeks to get him to eat millet while I’m holding it and we got down to a piece about 4-6cm long. For the last month we’ve hit a stalemate. He doesn’t always react the same way but sometimes I can put my hand in (slowly and holding millet) and he will let me approach him and he’ll eat it, sometimes he looks at it and I can gently touch his beak with it but he won’t eat it, at other times he panics and flies or runs off. When he panics he flies from side to side, climbs the bars, drops to the floor and usually ends up clutching the side of the cage at the furthest corner away from me breathing fast through his beak. Sometimes it’s as if he’s annoyed with me and although he runs off, he squawks at me but doesn’t seem scared.
Sometimes I can put my hand in holding millet and rest it on his perch and he’ll come and get it, other times he panics or runs off. Just this morning he went into a flap when I changed his water yet an hour later he ate millet I was holding. I definitely can’t approach him with a finger or flat hand if I’m not holding millet so I’ve tried to get him used to my fingers by varying my hand position, holding the millet between different fingers so he’s had to reach over other fingers to get the millet. He’s even picked up the bits that have dropped between my fingers and I think we’re getting somewhere but then it could be the next time I try that he’s climbing the bars again! I’ve also spent a few days trying to get him used to a moving perch but he seems worse with that than my hand.
When he runs of or panics, I don’t remove my hand but wait for him to calm down, then slowly approach him until he’ll take some millet even if I have to hold the millet further away and my arm feels like it’s going to drop off because I don’t want him to learn that by running off or squawking at me he gets what he wants (ie me to leave him alone)
I’ve tried following Bonesy’s post and followed him around but he just kept flying, running or jumping and he dropped (not literally) to the floor in the end and kept running off in a state so I left him. I never managed to get close enough to be able to put my finger near his tummy! It then took a couple of sessions to be able to put my hand in the cage at all.
I know he’s come a long way already but he did that in the first couple of weeks and since then we’re going nowhere. He hasn’t been out of his cage since we got him and I don’t like him stuck in his cage all the time but I won’t let him out until he will reliably step up so that I can get him back without chasing him or risk getting hurt. I know about wing trimming but I don’t want to stress him by catching him to clip them. I’ve also read about taming in a small room but our small room is the bathroom and it’s full of bottles of stuff (there are 7 of us living here), shower curtain etc and it would be a nightmare to empty it every time I went in there with Charlie. It stresses him every time I clean his cage. His cage is on a shelf level with me where I spend most of my time. It is only about a meter away and he’ll happily chortle away to me when he’s in his cage and I’m sure he winks back at me too so I don’t think it’s me he’s a nervous bird. I’ve even sat with my hand in his cage on his perch while he’s preened himself and once, he fell asleep with it inches away from him. I just don’t seem to be able to get any closer, I’m not sure how to go about it and I’m hoping someone here can help.
Thanks for reading my huge post!
