Very friendly budgie...

[Deleted]

Well, he doesn't fly to me so much as just land on me if his cage isn't in the room or I'm right next to it. He prefers the cage.

Munchy will happily take food from me and will let me touch him gently if I approach very slowly, and now he'll come up to my arm and preen it. He even got up onto the bars when I was talking to him this morning (well, reading revision from a piece of paper).

Thanks Ginger I'll try to do that if Munchy decides to become more interested in me and wants to play with me. He generally prefers hanging toys so his floor ones get left untouched but one of the ones that goes on the bars is a spinney thing and I was doing something like that with him before and he tried to mimic me slightly ^^

Munchy bit my nose hard once, and sometimes he sort of nibbles at them, but granddad likes to get kisses so I think Munchy is getting used to it XD He will only let you if you approach from the front though. He moves away if it's from the side, perhaps because it's easy for him to move side to side on a perch and because it unnerves him more.

That helps a lot! Thank you!

[ruthpaton]

Hi Ira, I play with all of Pepito's toys - he's quite happy to share! :-) He watches what I do and sometimes copies. He also likes to throw things down on the floor for me to pick up, we can play that game for ages! He also likes me to put things into a little tub so he can get them back out. The little tub is clear so he can see what's in it so sometimes I put it on top of a ball or something so he can try to knock it over to get the ball. It also seems to be good fun for him if I watch him playing with his toys and talk to him about what he's doing. He has a toy that he spins and I started to say "spin it!" whenever he did and he started doing it when I said that after a few days. He also has a toy budgie that sits on a ball so it rolls about and he likes Mum to notice him playing with that. If she says, "Go and get him!" he attacks the budgie and he also puts his foot on it if she tells him to do that... One day she didn't notice he already had his foot on the budgie when she told him to do it, so he tried to put the other foot on as well and rolled right over with the toy budgie! :-)

[Deleted]

Aww! That's so sweet XD

As a matter of fact, something like that happened with us today. Munchy has a spinning toy with bells that attaches to the bars of his cage. It was on the outside but he didn't feel inclined to come out so he was up on the bars and I started holding the part where the bells attach and turning it, and occasionally tapped the bells with my finger. Later on I took the toy off of the bars (which involved sticking my hand inside the cage to undo the back piece) but Munchy didn't move away for a while, so unfortunately I tapped him with the joint of my thumb a few times and he eventually climbed away, which I felt bad about. Then I showed the toy to him and he started to mimic what I'd been doing with the toy, although rather violently, and he nipped my finger. I'm not sure if it was by accident or on purpose, but I told him off anyway, and then he seemed to be trying to lunge on my hands when I was trying to attach the toy back onto the cage, so I'm not sure whether he was mad at me or over excited And just when I thought the biting had stopped. I think maybe I did something things he didn't like today. I shouldn't have tried to touch his head but his feathers looked so cute sticking through the bars. He does tolerate me very gently stroking his belly though, although I'm not doing it with my finger out straight in case he tries to take a chunk out of me.

He also started coming over to me when I say 'Come here' today That was a plus, but hopefully he won't stop after that biting situation. Sadly I now have two days away and after Sunday I'm back at uni so I hope our relationship doesn't become bad like when he first started biting me. He's reluctant to come onto me, other than landing on my shoulder, so I'm probably going to have a little bit of trouble teaching him to come onto my arm when I call him to me, because I was rewarding him from just coming to the end of the cage. Maybe if I call him with my arm up next to the cage and then hold the millet reward so that he has to step onto my arm to get it. Otherwise being able to call him over to me isn't all that useful if he won't step onto me and won't help me do it from a distance. XD

I might offer him a button and let him drop it and then act as if it's fun and pick it back up and see if he enjoys doing that XD

Here's hoping I don't have to start giving Munchy a squirt of water again ^^ He always seems to know when I'm holding the bottle, even if he can't see it.

Thank you very much

[ruthpaton]

Ira, Pepito won't let me stroke him at all so you are not doing so badly! Also, a lot of budgies would be making a quick exit the first time you accidentally nudged them so he can't have been too bothered by it, he maybe just got a bit fed up after a few times! My aunt once told me budgies can tend to get bitey if you get them overexcited but it's not intentional. Pepito sometimes nips when we're trying to put a treat, like some apple, in his cage but I think he's just impatient!

I think you need to get him to step onto you before he will learn to fly to you but I think you are doing well with the training. It's a shame you have to go away though, is there anyone that can keep going with the training while you are not there?

[Deleted]

Well, Munchy started biting again today, after I'd been away. It might be because I wasn't able to properly tell him off for it when he got overexcited. He tolerates stroking when he isn't in a bitey mood. Yeah, I've noticed Munchy will tend to bite my finger if it's close to him when I put his food bowl in when he's hungry. He probably wanted me to hurry up so that he could play.

Sadly my grandparents think I'm a bit crazy so as much as they love him and will look after him they don't even consider training him. They do like the fact he comes across the cage to me when I call him though ^^ I'm going to work on 'Up' training again now. My uncle managed to get him on his finger after following him around the cage. He's more willing to step on when he's on the bars for some reason. I've worked out how to reward him quickly without faffing around with my other hand, so I can reward him and keep hold of the spray bottle in case I need it. I dislike having to spray him so I try to use any excuse to reward him so that he doesn't think I'm all bad. I'm sure it will all work out in the end. He's only around 6 months old so hopefully I've still got plenty of time to bond properly with him.