Training Lunchmeat

[loserduck86]

Hello everyone. Lunchmeat (my budgie) and I are new to the forums here. I bought him as a baby about two weeks ago. I have a couple of problems that hopefully you guys can help me with. When I first brought Lunchmeat home and put him in his cage, he did nothing. I mean NOTHING. He just stood on the perch I put him on and didn't move at all. He stayed like that for 4 hours, until I covered his cage when I went to bed. When I woke in the morning and uncovered his cage, he was still in the exact spot. I slowly put my finger in front of him and he hopped on. He seemed more lively out of the cage. When I put him back in, he began to explore. He ate and drank and even played with a plastic ball. Figuring he deserved a welcome home treat, I put in one of those edible treat perches (seeds covered with honey). He went crazy for that. When he finished that after about three days, I figured I'd hold off giving him another one. But he stopped eatting his other seeds, and he won't even touch the lettuce, carrots, apples, or grapes that i have tried putting in there. Worried about his health, I put another treat perch in. Another problem that I am having is that now when I stick my finger in front of him to step up, he tries biting me. Even when I can get him out of the cage, he tries to escape and goes right back to the cage. Seeing that he can't get up to it without my help, he eventually stops running away and will let me pick him up (he won't perch on my finger from the floor for some reason). Is there anyway that I can:
1) Get my bird to eat normal seeds and other healthy foods
2) Bond with me and be happy to be out of his cage

I wonder if the reason he has these problems is because I call him Lunchmeat? :)

[softie]

First, I must say that because your Lunchmeat has been brought to his new home only two weeks ago, this behavior is very common. He is still adjusting to his new environment and needs time. It can take as little as a a few days to as long as months. It all depends on the budgie :)

I was very glad to read that he has hopped onto your finger, that's a big step. Stepping up on the finger usually takes days for a average budgie.

Treats are always fun to give and budgies appreciate them very much. But you do not want to spoil your budgie. To me, sounds to me like he's finishing all his treats, that he doesnt want to eat his seeds and veggies. I would stop giving him the stick bars. treats are only for occasions and should be offered just once in a while.

Veggies are a big topic for budgies because it is a requirement for a healthy happy budgie. They often need to be introduced to veggies, by offering them a variety everyday, even if they do not consume them. But after a while, they will start a liking to it.

Also, when you feed your budgie some grapes, be sure they are seedless.
Keep training your budgie by letting him get familiarized with your voice and your hand. Talk to him softly as you hand train him and put some soft music in the background.

Good luck and I hope you have fun with your new budgie :)
Welcome to Talk Budgies again, I hope you learn with us.

oh. we love pictures :D

[loserduck86]

Thanks for the advice! Let me clarify a few things real quick though. Lunchmeat hopped on finger that one time without much effort on my part. Now he starts to bite me when i get my finger close. And in regards to the food, when I took the snack stick out, he refused to eat ANYTHING. He didn't eat for about a day and a half, until i finally caved and put a new snack in.

[HEATHEsaurusREX]

Okay about the biting thing, the first time he was most likely scared stiff, literally. He was in completely new surroundings and here this huge thing is saying nice things to me and offering me something to stand on... I guess I will. Now that he's more comfortable hes asserting himself saying 'HEY YOU! GET YOUR FINGER OUT OF MY FACE!' this is good, this means its time to start training lol. there is a very good training method listed here (http://www.lisashea.com/petinfo/articles/bird_hand.html) it takes a while but it works.
Another option is that he's molting, if you knew exactly how old he was you could tell, they usually have their first molt in between 4 and 6 months... Nouba's going through hers right now and lets just say, my fingers and Darcy (my other bird) aren't too happy. Birds get CRAZY moody when molting cuz it hurts and itches and they cant make it go away, if you think it might be this check his body for pins (pin feathers, they look like little white shafts sticking out of his body), if you see some try misting him with lukewarm water, it'll losen the pins up and make them a bit more comfy for him.
Also as to him not eating. He probably did. When keets move to new places they usually don't like people to see them eat, its a control thing. Check his food dish and make sure the seeds are actually seeds not just empty hulls. If they are all full seeds then try going back to where you got him and asking what they fed him and offer him that. He knows he has to eat. The thing is that keets are very wary of what they eat so if you're offering him new food he might not think its safe cuz he doesnt trust you yet. Take the treat stick out after you make sure you have the food he's been eating since he was weaned, if he is in fact trying to trick you into only feeding him treat sticks from now on, after about 36 hours of not having one he'll eat the seed because he'll have to. Budgies begin to starve at about 24 hours if i remember correctly. They must always have food in their crop (this btw is why I find it hard to believe that he didn't eat for a day and a half)
For the fruits and veggies, you have to teach him how to eat those. There are a few different methods for this, research, find one you like, I've had my bird 6
months and I'm still working on veggies with them, they wont touch them.

Hope this was helpful! Good luck!

[loserduck86]

Thanks for the wonderful advice heather and softie! That link to hand-training is wonderful! But even when I do get him to come out, what are some things I can do with him to help him enjoy being out of his cage? He'll sit on my shoulder for a minute or two, but I think he is just planning his escape route back to his cage. I'd be really thankful for any further advice!

[softie]

His cage is his safety zone. He feels safe inside his cage and that is possibly why he keeps trying to fly back to his cage. Do not take his safety zone away from him, but when he does fly back, bring him to you again. He will soon learn that you are safe too.

As for the biting part, it is normal. He just needs to adjust to you and learn that you do not mean any harm. A good way to resolve this problem faster is by wearing a soft cotton glove.

if you show any form or reaction to his biting, he will know this dominates you. You do not want that to happen! Wearing the glove will protect you as well your budgie :)

What you can do is pick a little from the treat stick and sprinkle it over his seeds and veggies. Continueing to feed him treats whn he doesnt eat his daily staple diet is no good. This will only bring him to think, "Hm if i dont eat anything, he'll bring me treats."

[Budgiekin]

Those are some great tips! Budgies can take several weeks to adjust to their new surroundings, so just be patient and spend lots of time with Lunchmeat. ;)

One thing I thought I'd like to throw in to the mix here is have you considered introducing pellets (also called a formulated diet) into his reperatoire of food? Since he is still quite young, it would be an ideal time to introduce them to him. Pellets are an excellent source of nutrients that just seed will not provide. (Of course, this doesn't mean eliminating seed, but I just mean using pellets as another source of nutrition to his diet).

I was very happy to hear that you are already introducing fruit and veggies. Those are EXTREMELY important too (moreso the veggies). Keep offering those daily, even if he simply turns his beak up at them. I found that putting a mirror behind the veggies helped mine eat theirs since they would see "another budgie" eating them and then want to do the same. Also make sure you don't offer too much in quantity all at once as that can be overwhelming for them to see all that food. You can also try eating it in front of Lunchmeat too.

By the way, I liked your joke about wondering if the root of his "problems" is because you named him lunchmeat. I couldn't help but chuckle to myself! :D

[HEATHEsaurusREX]

I actually ahrd a glove was a bad idea becaus eit completely changes the texture look and smell of your hand and you have to retrain them to like your hand later... but if you think it would work, give it a go. honestly, even when Nouba's bit me at her hardest (which happens a lot lately cuz she's molting) it hurts and theres some blood but its nothing you can't deal with for a little while...