Houdini Budgie

[Sy.Swift]

Hi all,

I'm new to this forum (though I do read into it) as well as owning a budgie. I only have the one which I named Flicky (because he's blue) and had him for about 3-4 weeks now.

The trouble I have seems to be in building trust as Flicky is fine sitting on my finger and even eating food from my fingers but as soon as he is out of his cage he's just content to sit on the curtain rail and avoid any attempt to get him back into his cage and I usually have to revert to either waiting for hours and hours for him to get hungry and go back in himself or catch him with a cloth which is working against gaining any trust with him.

The problem is he's discovered that by sitting in his food tray he can push the lid up with his head and get out. So when I came home today I found him on the curtain rail with a few feathers by the window (where he's obviuosly flown into) and to get him back in i've had to use the cloth again (which he does seem genually afraid of.

I've managed to tape the lid safely shut but whatever trust I've built up I feel has gone, even though he'll still sit on my finger and eat from my fingers he just wont behave when let out of the cage (or letting himself out).

[redgirl]

Thats budgies for you lol he will come to you outside the cage its just hes too inquisitive lol

[clifff123]

They are clever little creatures. I use clips on my 2 cages on all doors. I have 8 clips and when I am not in the room they are all clipped. The type you use to reseal potato chips type of clip.

[Donna]

Hello,

I wish I could help you but I've never had that happen to me so I can't really offer you any advice on that subject. You sound as though you have a very smart Budgie and you have only had him for a short time.

I feed my Budgies from my hand every day too, but they like to run from me the rest of the time. They'll jump on me when they are hungry also, but other than that, they usually revert back to running away. I think the secret is to work with your Budgie every day and let him get used to you. Since you only have one, it should be much easier to work with him, rather than someone like me who has 3. Yours at least doesn't have other Budgie friends to draw to and is more apt to pay attention to you. You really haven't had him that long and it will probably take quite some time for him to totally trust you. Just be patient and work with him.

My Budgies have their wings clipped so they don't fly away - they just flutter or fly short distances. That makes it easier for me to work with them. You might want to consider having their wings clipped too, if it would make things easier. The wings will grow back in time and maybe by then you'll have your little friend trained to come to you.

Let us know how things go.

And by the way, welcome to the forum. I hope you enjoy it here.

Donna

[zarrion101]

I can picture him on the curtain rail, I wish I could hep too but I have no idea, sorry. :(

[Navu]

My budgie did that alot too, but then we just clipped his wings and ABRACADABRA he doesnt do it anymore. He doesnt seem to mind the wings clipped since all his fav spots are by mirrors close to the ground lol!:p