May 29, 2012 19:03:40 GMT
David
Brand New Budgie
Proud owner of Pepper
Posts: 34
|
Post by David on Jun 4, 2012 19:35:02 GMT
Starting taming is fine but if Pepper isn't exploring his cage yet then go slow with him. Maybe just have two sessions a day of a few minutes, sort of ease him into it. Well, Munchy is tame but he still won't get up onto my hand every time. I haven't got around to teaching him to come when I call, either. He used to but doesn't now. I don't know if Munchy likes being with me. Sometimes if I sit next to his cage then he will hop onto my shoulder and hop on and off, and will stay there for a long time if I move away from his cage. If I go into the kitchen with him for more than a few minutes he will go back to his cage, and in the living room he will completely ignore me in favour of the windowsill. So I think he prefers his toys but we're working on it. He will sit on me constantly in my room, and in the bathroom until I get in the bath, then he'll go to wherever I've put a perch for him. Munchy is 6 months old. Bearing in mind I made mistakes with him. I was trying to get him on my hand from the first day. He'd oblige but we never had proper taming and I had to catch him to patch up his wings so he was not at all found of hands. So, as soon as his moult started at 4 months he was biting me, and it hurt. So much so that I couldn't put my hand near him and we began to hate each other, or at least I didn't like him much. At around 5 months I plastered up my finger and armed myself with a spray bottle of water and got my granddad to put my finger near Munchy. Once I found that biting didn't hurt with the plaster I tried taming him. The biting reduced when he realised he just got wet for his efforts, but then I went away for two days and he was bitey again and I had to go back to uni. So now I've been doing taming with him for about three weeks, not as regularly as I would like, and we're getting there. He's growing out of the biting phase, which helps, and fortunately only bites places where he can't get a good grip. So, basically, don't rush and it should come sooner for you and Pepper than it has for me and Munchy. But you'll get there in the end, don't worry Also, once you get Pepper stepping up consistently inside the cage, don't be surprised if he won't when he's outside. You'll need to practice it with him outside, so having something he can perch on will come in handy. When he does get a bit more confident though, let him do his own thing for a bit when he comes out. Let him explore the outside of his cage and if he only stays out for a few minutes at first then just let him be. It's better to work more at his pace whilst he's still feeling a bit unsure, then once he knows you better and he's feeling confident in his surroundings you can teach him that you're the decision maker and such, which generally just involves making sure that you're the one to put him back on his perch when he's stepped up rather than letting him jump off when he wants. But all in good time Wow this is great. It's really nice to hear other people's experiences with training their budgie, most especially those with cases similar to mine. Thanks for taking the time in sharing all of this. Okay, two sessions a day for a few minutes? Got it. Maybe I'll just take him out when he's chirping alone. I think he's trying to call my attention, cause when he mumbles to himself or chirps, I answer back, and he chirps again. ;D So, I think he wants to talk. Problem is, when I stand up and go near the cage to continue talking, he kinda stiffens up and just stares at me. Scared probably? At some times, he even pants for a while. Like when I enter my room after hours of not being there (I leave music on for him so he doesn't get scared and stuff), the moment he sees me walk in, he just pants. And this kinda happens every time. Even when I take him out. When I use my laptop, I try to get him to perch on my shoulder and just watch, but I could hear his very light panting. Budgies only pant when they're scared or stressed out right? So I guess, this ain't a good sign. At least with you, Munchy likes sitting on you when you're in your room. Mine doesn't. Well for now at least. I dunno if this will get better or what. I hope it does though. I envy other budgie owner who could cuddle with their budgies, and have budgies that enjoy their company. I just wanna cuddle with Pepper, that's all. Please do update me every now and then if Munchy gets more tame and the techniques you used. I'd love to know more about you and him. Okay, at least I won't be experiencing having to clip Pepper's wings. After all, he can't fly. So maybe that'll lessen his 'hatred' against me. Haha. I've heard that birds sometimes tend to get angry with hands when the hands clip their wings. I did this with a female dove I had before, and boy did she get grumpy! You know that doves are very docile, right? So I didn't think that clipping her wings would be a big deal. But wow! After the clipping, she'd just bite my hand whenever she had the chance! She became kinda tame, such that she'd perch on my arm and all, but when she sees my hand going near her, she'd turn into the hulk. ;D I'd want to try this spraying with water technique, but Pepper's not a biter, so I don't think it's necessary, is it? And I'm worried too. It's very hot here in our country so I always keep the a/c on. And a wet baby budgie might not be really compatible with an a/c turned on. I think. Okay, yeah i guess you're right. It's better to not rush things. To let Pepper enjoy the taming. It's confusing you know. He became automatic. When he's finally outside and perched on my finger, he knows what to do. When he sees my finger approaching, he immediately steps up without me even saying step up. It's like he became a machine of stepping up. ;D But it still worries me, 'cause I don't think he's enjoying it, but just doing it just for the sake. I dunno. I know budgies are very smart, so maybe I'm right? Maybe he's thinking like 'oh okay this goof wants me to step up, eh? let's just get this over with'. I dunno. But even though he does this, he doesn't seem like he's enjoying it. He pants. He's just stiff on my shoulder. He tries to stretch his neck to look for his cage. All signs showing that he's scared and just wants to go back to his cage. So sad. Re: "Also, once you get Pepper stepping up consistently inside the cage, don't be surprised if he won't when he's outside." Oh but the problem's the opposite. It's weird but I have no problems of making Pepper step up from one finger to the other. He's just a natural! I even tried letting her step up on my finger at different heights, and she'd just jump from one finger to the other. What I'm worried about is inside the cage. When he's inside and he sees my finger nearing him, he tries to escape or move away for a bit. His eyes widen and fix themselves on my finger. So I know he's scared. But once he's outside the cage, suddenly my finger becomes his bestfriend, and would just grab onto it when he sees it. Very weird, and very frustrating to understand -- the behavior that is.
|
|
May 7, 2024 8:21:22 GMT
Deleted
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Jun 4, 2012 21:36:27 GMT
Yeah, he's scared. You do look like a predator after all. Try blinking at him slowly whilst talking to him in a soothing voice. Bonesy will tell you that predators don't blink or make noises when they hunt After a while he'll realise you're not a threat, he's just a little nervous. His inability to fly probably doesn't help because it's likely making him feel trapped. If he were in the wild he would be dead, after all. Well, I don't know if he likes sitting on me, but he doesn't know what else to do or where else to go. I put him on the bed with his ball today and he eventually got over the confusion of being around my legs and started chewing everything, including my revision notes for Wednesday's exam. Eventually he wandered over to the laptop, curious, and after ten minutes of standing next to it began nibbling at it and then wandering around on the keyboard as I was trying to type. It will get better eventually as he warms up to you. Patience really is the key with budgies. Most budgies don't really like being stroked, but some let you touch your nose to their beaks (Munchy lunges at mine but my nan and granddad get too close for him to lunge before he can think about it), and sometimes he lets nan tickle his tummy when he hops up on the bars of his cage to see her, but he doesn't like it. He hops straight onto my finger now so I haven't tried stroking his tummy in a while. If you bond well Pepper might let you scratch his head if it's itchy. All contact like that is on their terms, however. I, too, envy people who can pick up their birds and hold them. Munchy will never be a hand lover, not that they normally enjoy being held they just tolerate it, probably my fault for catching him so many times, but the feather plucking looked stressful so I couldn't let him bleed again. At least with Pepper his feathers didn't bleed, so you won't have to touch him like that. Once he's settled in you might consider picking him regularly to get him used to being held, in case of vets visits or having to clip his nails, but definitely don't do that at the risk of harming your relationship. If you do ever consider that, talk to the more experienced owners and they might be able to give you advice. I don't think it's ever something I'll do with Munchy. He seems happy doing his own thing and I don't mind as long as I get a little bit of interaction sometimes XD Yeah, I think anything that takes away a bird's flight isn't going to please them. They aren't meant to be grounded so it's a bit mean to take that away from them unless you really have to do it for their health for some reason. Well, I spray him once so he doesn't get very wet. Their feathers are partly water resistant so they only get soaked if you do it a lot. And for a proper bath as long as they have time to dry out before bed it's fine. But it's not necessary unless they enjoy a misting, in which case you don't really spray them directly or at close-ish range. Pepper might bite when he reaches his 'teenage stage' because he'll be pushing boundaries like all teenagers, but exactly when/if he'll start will depend on him. Cocks usually grow out of it as long as you don't keep accidentally encourage it, so it's not too much of a problem. Sometimes they bite when over excited too. Munchy bit me when I was putting a toy in his cage because he'd seen me showing him how to play with it and really wanted to play with it. I don't really know how much budgies actually enjoy stepping up. I only usually get Munchy to step up for practice or when we're changing rooms, so neither time is particularly exciting for him unless he wants bedtime, in which case he will occasionally fly to my raised arm to tell me it's bedtime. Problem is, when I put him on my shoulder, depending on the room, he either flies off to go and play, or stays there and doesn't really have anything to do except chew my hair and clothes. Munchy will pretty much always step up now, unless he's settled down on a flat surface, because he knows that if he tries to avoid me I'll just keep trying. The worst times are when he starts flying around, but eventually he just gives in. I took him to his cage when we were having dinner so he'd be closer to us, because when we leave the room for meals he gets all still because it's quiet, and he flew back to the living room anyway. Maybe I should've tried to keep him on my shoulder instead, because he seemed happy enough on my arm, but I'm not sure my nan would have liked that. Well, if you think about it logically, Pepper's cage is his home and to him it feels safe, and perhaps he associates your finger with ending up outside the cage and in a strange place. Then, when he gets outside, he can't fly back to his cage if you move away from it and your finger is all he knows. Not entirely related, but when Munchy's cage was put on the living room floor during the day he preferred to stay inside it and if he was on me he would stay because I was higher than his cage. When he wanted to go back for food and such he would move as close to it as he could without having to fly. When we put it on the stand he would hop out, fly around the room every time a car went down the road, and generally be really active, and not stay with me anymore. On a slightly more related note, Munchy doesn't perch on anything he isn't used to, thus he stays with me when we're in a strange room because he doesn't know anywhere else to land, and as Pepper can't get back to his cage he stays because he doesn't know what else to do.
|
|
May 29, 2012 19:03:40 GMT
David
Brand New Budgie
Proud owner of Pepper
Posts: 34
|
Post by David on Jun 5, 2012 11:08:14 GMT
I've been trying this technique, the blinking thing, but most of the time I'm wearing glasses, so I don't know if Pepper can actually see my eyes or not. LOL. I do this often though when I wear contacts, so. I see how Pepper's logic is now, thanks. Yeah I guess his 'flightlessness' adds to his frustration and fear of me. Well atleast your Munchy is starting to be very curious about stuff. But I guess it also comes with the age. Coz Munchy's a lot older than Pepper, maybe that's why Pepper's still very scared when he comes out of the cage. Plus, I've only had Pepper for almost a week now, and maybe he's not yet settled in. And yes, I envy budgie owners who could handle their budgies very well. Also those budgies on YouTube who even ask their owners to scrath their heads. Soooo cute! Hmm. Regarding the lunging at the nose, there's this thing that Pepper does that I don't quite get. He's not panting or anything, but whenever I talk to him and try to bring him close to my face or something, Pepper opens his beak for like 4 or 5 seconds, sticking his tongue out, and that's it. I dunno if he's trying to bite me, but he never lunges forward to bite me anyway. There's no sound either. It's cute, but I dunno what he's trying to do. Yes! Even now he already has a problem with his nails. But I'm afraid to do it at the risk of ruining his trust. Pepper's very light and budgies are very light in general, so I guess the nails won't be that painful. Very different from my rats who are really fat and heavy, with their nails trying to grab on to my shirt. Haha. Or maybe, and I'm not sure if you could do this, but if ever you decide to trim Munchy's nails, I've read somewhere to let the vet do it. Birds don't get angry with hands in general. I've read somewhere that they can recognize faces. So if he gets angry with the vet for clipping his nails or wings, then he'll stay angry at the vet, not you. So I dunno if this is true or not. Yeah, maybe that's why my dove really got mad at me. What do you mean his 'teenage' years? When will this be? At what month/age? And what do you mean by pushing boundaries? Regarding the 'over-excitedness', is there any possibility that budgies pant due to being over excited? 'Cause my budgie pants when I enter the room or when he's on my finger, or when I let him hear other budgies chirping on my laptop. I'm thinking that he might be panting due to excitement? Or am I just dreaming? ;D Oh I know what you mean! When Pepper gets settled on a perch, he'll turn into this very stubborn, rock-like, thing and would just refuse to step up! Haha. ;D And by the way, at least you got Munchy to chew your hair and shirt and stuff. The curiosity is really amazing. Pepper's the opposite. When perched on my should, he just sits still and does nothing. Sometimes he'll chirp and chirp, but I think that's because of the budgie noises I'm playing on the laptop. But other than that, he's just either still, or he keeps turning around looking for his cage. Wow, spot on! You know, what you said actually makes perfect sense. Maybe outside the cage, Pepper is afraid of everything except my finger, that's why he clings to it no matter what, but inside the cage, he knows he's safe, ergo, making my finger 'the enemy'. So I was thinking, if he gets really clingy to my finger when he's out, is this a 'good thing' or a 'bad thing'? I mean, what's your take on this? Should I do this iften? Or take it as a bad sign? Thanks Ira! ;D
|
|
May 7, 2024 8:21:22 GMT
Deleted
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Jun 5, 2012 11:58:28 GMT
He'll understand eventually, it just sounds like he needs more time to settle in. Perhaps you should try leaving him alone for a couple of days, well, not completely alone, but don't try touching him or anything, just leave him in his cage. Do you have a cover for his cage? Maybe you could cover one half of it. That would give him a corner to retreat into if he's scared and probably make him feel safer. Yeah, even now Munchy isn't all that curious unless you purposely put something on the same surface as him ^^ I think Pepper's just a little bit unsure how his surroundings still. That's a yawn If he's nervous around you then I think he's just trying to take in a big breath of air rather than actually yawning, unless he happens to be tired at the time. If he's tried he'll be all fluffy and his eyes will appear smaller but if he's scared his feathers will be laid flat so that he appears small and his eyes will seem really big. Teenage stage usually starts around the time of the first moult, so around 4 months. Pushing boundaries means they'll try to refuse to do what you want and might start biting you, although exactly when this happens and what they do depends on the individual bird. I trimmed one of Munchy's because it was twice as long as all the others and was causing problems, but the second time I cut them a little short and they bled (out comes the cornflour again). Surprisingly it didn't make much difference to us. He was never keen on my hands anyway and he didn't like me any less. He was in a cloth though, so he couldn't really see us. Hmm, I've never seen a budgie pant from being excited. They normally just get a bit nippy and run around a lot. I think it's a little bit of wishful thinking, I'm afraid. Panting is normally fear or over-exertion. I didn't actually get Munchy to do anything, he just started by himself. Budgies are great chewers of things so Pepper will likely start once he's settled in and happy with his surroundings. Munchy used to chirp to budgie sounds too but he doesn't anymore, in fact he looks more fearful now, but I think that's because he knows there are no other budgies in the house now and he probably doesn't like the idea of another budgie taking over his space ^^ It never hurts to try to think of things from their perspective ^^ I'd say that him only feeling safe on your finger is a bad thing. As much as it's nice to have a bird that never wants to leave you when outside of the cage it is better for them to feel comfortable exploring and playing on different bits of furniture and making a mess everywhere. Munchy is very good at scattering husks all over the floor. If he's constantly clinging to your finger in fear then he probably won't enjoy being outside of his cage. You're welcome
|
|