Behavior problem! please help

[vivalis]

Hi everyone. For the last few days, my budgie Phinny has been acting really aggressive. He had been really sweet before, never bit me once up until this point! (I've had him for about 3 months now). He is now really aggressive in and around his cage. He is finger tame, but lately when I try to get him to step up off the top of his cage or from inside the cage he goes for blood! In his cage, he is acting really aggressive with his mirror... thrashing it around violently. He also has this bobbing bird head toy which he is being aggressive with. Should I take these toys away? I remember reading somewhere that mirror toys are not always good for budgies. Any opinions on that? I also read that rearranging his cage so he'll be less territorial might help. Please help! I want my sweet budgie back!

:S

[Bea]

If he's still young i'd take a guess and say he's hormonal. All baby budgies seem to go through their terrible teens sooner or later. It sounds like he's overprotective of his mirror and bobble-head budgie. What i did when Blinkie went nasty was take his mirror and use it to bribe him out of his cage. Since then he's never had his mirror kept in his cage. And yes, i'd rearrange the cage. I rearrange Blinkie's cage weekly to keep him happy....if i lived in such a small place i would want it to change from time to time too.

[Amy]

Yes I agree with Bea rearrange his cage, I rearrange Billy and Lily's cage every fortnight.

[vivalis]

I rearranged his cage and he seems a bit calmer. Thanks! Do you think I should remove his mirror and bobbing head toy too?

[Amy]

Maybe, see what other people have to say. If he likes it then don't.

[Budgiekin]

It sounds like it may be best to use the bobbing toy and mirrors outside of the cage OR just offer them once in a while in the cage since your sweetie seems to really enjoy playing with them.

One thing you may want to try to make Phinny less territorial (like you saw when he was ON his cage) is to actually take his cage away during out time so that he can't even see it. (You could just drape a blanket over the cage or put it in another room). That way, when he is out of his cage, he doesn't have his cage to be territorial about and would be more likely to step up onto your finger and perhaps play with other things. :D

Let us know how everything goes and if you get your little sweetie back. It sounds like he is going through a hormonal period as Bea said. If you are patient and continue to work with him, he'll most probably get over it. :p