|
|
Post by ladybird on Oct 10, 2023 16:20:02 GMT
Buddy is almost one, he has lots of toys but I have never had a mirror in the cage…..for no particular reason.
A couple of days ago I was in pets at home and I bought him a mirror. He immediately loved the mirror. But he loved it too much hardly moving away from it and talking budgie talk to it all the time. Also he was getting nippy if I went near it.
Anyway today while he was out playing I removed it. Naturally when he went in he went to look for the mirror, but he is ok and now playing with his other toys……. So I am wondering what others opinions are about mirrors in the cage.
Buddy is a really good talker ….would it have affected that?
|
|
|
|
Post by Loz on Oct 10, 2023 16:32:27 GMT
My opinion is, if you don't want a budgie friend for Buddy, you don't want a mirror for him either. Budgies seem to see mirror-budgies as more or less real - they only begin to ignore the mirror if there are real budgies around.
Mirrors have their uses but I cannot believe they are a good idea in your case, Ladybird.
|
|
|
|
Post by ffiscool on Oct 10, 2023 17:57:56 GMT
Bailey loved his mirrors. But he never went back to budgie speak and not playing with me. It might be as he had the mirror from day one. Bailey still ‘spoke’ with the mirror. I also had one out, with his toys. He played with it and the rest of his toys. But when he went to live with skysmum, where there were other budgies, he liked the mirrors a bit too much. That might have been going from a single bud to multiple buds home, as a big change. It maybe that it’s a novelty for him, at the mo |
|
Oct 4, 2023 12:12:45 GMT
Azalea
Normal Green
7 Budgies, 2 Cockatiels, 1 Sun Conure, 3 dogs
Posts: 277 
|
Post by Azalea on Oct 10, 2023 18:03:24 GMT
We don't use mirrors in any of our birds' cages. They might believe that the reflection is a "friend", and become irritable and protective. Or, as Loz said, yours might treat the mirror the same way he would treat another real bird.
|
|
Jul 12, 2022 17:34:28 GMT
rozenda
Normal Violet
Posts: 200
|
Post by rozenda on Oct 10, 2023 18:55:35 GMT
Mine have a mirror and played with it a lot when they were younger but rarely do now, I’ve left it in to see if it just a phase but if they don’t play with it will remove it.
Karen at the Natural Bird Compant is making a leather ‘net’ for them so I can add toys to it so it would replace the mirror…running out of space !
|
|
|
|
Post by skysmum on Oct 10, 2023 20:46:03 GMT
It’s important not to let him get too fixated on this new budgie friend, I often had to remove the mirrors for a while to give Bailey a break, he would go from one to the other feeding them which isn’t good for the bud, it can cause an infection in the crop if they keep regurgitating and re eating it.
My three have mirrors but aren’t obsessed with them, they would rather chat to and feed each other.
A suck it and see situation really.
|
|
|
|
Post by criswell on Oct 10, 2023 22:15:24 GMT
I'm not a fan of mirrors. When we got Randolph Carter there was a mirror in the cage that he came with. He spend his 4 weeks of quarantine sitting facing the mirror. When he came downstairs to meet Dexter the mirror was forgotten.
I do have other shiny things in the cage, like bells, but they've not got fixated on them, probably because they can't get a proper view of themselves. Dexter talks to other no shiny things in his cage more than he talks to the budgie in the bell.
|
|
|
|
Post by Hezz on Oct 11, 2023 0:16:10 GMT
Mirrors can definitely be a problem and like all things budgie, so much depends on the individual bird. I think for a singleton they can be fraught with problems as you have noticed and the kindest thing for all concerned is to not go there or remove it when the territorial behaviour starts. Since he has gone on to play with his other toys this is not such an issue, but for those budgies left with a total fixation and then the removal of the mirror, something shiny but not smooth and flat can help, such as a teaspoon, bell or disco ball, something that doesn’t give them that “friend in the mirror” reflection.
|
|
|
|
Post by sweetpea on Oct 12, 2023 10:25:50 GMT
I think it's probably a wise decision to remove the mirror, as you have, in Buddy's case. They are all individuals. We have mirrors here. Moriarty is attached to his mirror. It was effectively his only companion for a year before he came to me. Now with others, he is not obsessed with it, but is definitely attached, but then again, in the early days he was attached to the pegs too...  In the very old days, I remember that my girl Atilla used to do a 'troop inspection' at intervals, where she would visit all the mirrors in various places (even one left on the shelf under the cage). She was a true & inspiring leader!  |
|
|
|
Post by skysmum on Oct 12, 2023 13:06:24 GMT
Bailey used to go round on mirror check every morning, if one was missing he knew, when i used to go round collecting them up to clean he would get quite crabby, i had to be quick otherwise id get a nip and when they went back in his roll call would start all over again   He had eight other companions but non were half as good looking as his friend in the mirror |
|
|
|
Post by blueelephant on Oct 12, 2023 20:59:41 GMT
Barney and Toby both like the mirror but they are not obsessed. They just like to sit together (the four of them) admiring their beauty🤣.
I think you are the best judge and if buddy seems a little too intense then it is good to remove it. When Barney was a singleton we had a mirror in the room but but not in the cage. When he went on his holidays to my brother's the first thing he would do on coming home was to go check his buddy was o. Funny thing is now he never visits the room mirror!
|
|
