Help?!

[laci5]

Okay, I've been reading everyone's posts and have gone on all kinds of websites to try to figure out how to get my budgie Milo finger trained. I've had him for three weeks now, and he's still a baby- hasn't had his first molt yet. He's kind of used to my hand being in his cage, but every morning when I change his water and clean out his seed dish, he always acts scared. He doesn't fly around or anything, but he leans away from where my hand is. Twice a day, I put my hand in his cage with some millet. He's eating the millet out of my hand, but when I try to get my finger close to him, he runs away. He's very sneaky- he jumps around my hand and manages to get away from my finger. So how exactly can I get him to get on my finger if he keeps running away every time he sees it? Should I keep giving him the millet or should I try it without it? That never seems to work though... originally, I was putting my finger on the perch and moving it closer to him very slowly. That seemed to work, but he would always scoot farther away once my finger was right next to him. But he never freaks out and flies around the cage when my hand is in there. I don't know... oh, and I haven't taken him out of the cage yet because I'd like for him to be finger trained before I do that. What do you all think?:S

[Budgiekin]

Have you tried perch training? Sometimes it is helpful to use a small perch to get your sweetie to step up onto before you start finger training. You will want to make sure you say a command (like "step up") each time you put the perch up against Milos' lower abdomen. Once Milo has gotten used to stepping up on the perch, then you can try introducing your finger as a perch.

When you are using your finger as a perch, do you try to hold the millet in such a way that Milo would have to get close to your finger to get to it? If not, try placing a small piece of millet between your middle finger and thumb while you put your index finger out like a perch.

The key to training is persistance and repetition. Doing several short "training" sessions is better than trying to do fewer longer ones. Try working with your sweety 3-5 times a day for no longer than about 10 minutes each time. If Milo seems to be cooperating and it has been 10 minutes or so, feel free to keep going until he seems to have had enough.

You could try letting Milo out of his cage in a small room. Place the cage where he can't see it and then try finger training him. Worth a shot I think.

Anyway, good luck and keep us up to date with how your training is going with your little Milo. :p

[laci5]

Thanks for your reply, Budgiekin. I did try perch training, but he was super freaked out by the perch and flew all around the cage. He's less scared of my hand... and I tried your suggestion with holding the millet between my thumb and forefinger... he knew what I was trying to do and wouldn't get very close to my hand. He just kept eyeing my finger, like he was saying, "I know what you're up to..." I've been doing a couple of ten minute training sessions each day. I'm at work during the nightime, so it's always in the late morning/early afternoon. However, he tends to get sleepy as the day wears on, and I read somewhere not to train if they're sleepy. But thanks for your advice, and I'll keep you posted!

[Budgiekin]

:p Hmmm...I actually think the opposite when it comes to training when your budgie is sleepy. For budgies that just don't want to settle down, it can actually be beneficial to train them when they are sleepy and more mellow; they are much easier to work with and are more likely to cooperate.