Suggestions

[idlewild]

So, well I've got my baby budgie, who I am beginning to think is a she, but I'm still not to sure... And since I think it's a her, I need a girl name... maybe after a greek or roman goddess or something. We'll see

Anyway, I really want to tame her, so I'm looking for ideas since it's been so dang since I've done this. Yeah, like 5 years or so since I tamed a baby budgie...

Well, what I've been doing is sticking my hand in the cage, sometimes she'll fly away, sometimes not. Only now and again will she step up on my finger, but she always jumps off right away.

Yesterday I took her out of the cage, held her to my chest and went into the bathroom and closed the door (not my first choice, I know... but it's the safest room without cats or other dangerous items to a baby bird). At first she just totaly ran away from my hand, but after about 10 minutes she began to step up on my hand and finger when I put it in front of her.

My question is, should I continue to do it this way, by taking her out of the cage and into another room, or should I leave her in the cage and just get her stepping up on finger in the cage first? I'm a little unsure right now.

Also, any taming tips or suggestions would be appreciated!!

Thanks all.

[softie]

By providing us with a clear picture of his cere, we will be able to tell you if we think shes a girl or a boy :)

It's normal for a budgie to get a little frightened when we stick our hand in there. I'm glad to read that she does hop onto your finger. The best way to get her to really trust you and perch on your finger with safety is by trying and trying. And sometimes rewarding her with a little treat :)

It's good that you got your little budgie to a safe room. If you plan on training her in the bathroom, make sure the toilet is covered. At first she may be a little fidgetty but as you have experienced, after a short while they get the hang of it.

That's a good question. I just recently got a new baby budgie as well and he had made so much progress even on the first day of training. And by the second day, I was able to take him out of the cage with ease, let him fly around, and perch back onto my finger so I can safely place him back in.

If your budgie does not want to come out of the cage and you must force her to come out, it would be good to let her adjust a little while longer in her cage. If she is willingly coming out, then letting her get her daily exercise outside is good.

Is it difficult or easy to get her back into her cage? If it's difficult, a few days inside her cage would a good idea to let her get a little bit attached to her surroundings and that way, when you do let her out, she will go back into her cage on her own. If she goes back in easily, then letting her out shouldn't be a problem :)

[idlewild]

Well, I don't have a camera to take a clear picture of the cere, all I have is a camera phone and the images aren't that great. But, from what I can tell, she has the white ring around her nostils, and a really light pinkish/bluish cere. At first I thought it was a boy, but now I'm beginning to think it's a girl... maybe i'll try and get a good picture tomarrow in the daylight.

Yes, the toliet is covered, and my bathroom is set up so that the only tight spot is behind the toliet, so I may try and drape a blanket or something over the toliet when I take her in there so that she can't get behind there or fall off the toliet.

She's been here at my house now for oh... 5 days. She's been chirping and running around, she hears my other two budgies (which due to the circumstances, they are in the same room but their cages are apart) and is trying to get to them. That is my other questions, should I let her see my other two? Right now she can't, only hear them and she knows they are close by. With trying to tame her is this a good thing that she can hear the other budgies?

Well, I currently have her cage tied/wired down to the stand as a result of a naughty kitten trying to pull the cage down. I can still move the cage/stand combo, but it's not easy. So, what I did was catch her in the cage, then hold her in my hands against my chest and walk down to the bathroom where I then play and interact with her. And going back I just catch her and hold her and go back to the cage that way. Once I can trust the kitten a little more I'll untie the cage, though right now I'm trying to come up with a better idea for a removeable tiedown for the cage. So I don't really know if she wants to go back in on her own or now. Tomarrow I may untie the cage and tote it down to the bathroom and see what happens.

[softie]

White rings most likely indicates that she is a girl :)

That's good that you have already arranged your bathroom so it's safe.

I'm glad that you have placed her in a seperate cage but you must place her cage in a different room. A quarantine period is very important and crucial when bringing home a new budgie. This period should last 30 to 45 days.

This will prevent your other budgies from getting sick if your new budgie is sick.

Also, if she is placed in a different room, she wont try as much to get to the other budgies. She should only meet her new friends after the quarantine period is over. I urge you that quarantining your new budgie is the best and safest for all your budgies. Even if she seems perfectly healthy, rather be safe than sorry.

Also, as she is alone, she will bond more easily to you. You can use her quarantine period as a training period, one on one.

It is best to place her cage where your kitten cannot reach to her. How do you "catch" your budgie? Budgies do not like to "cuddle" or be petted often. Does she show any discomfort when you catch her and hold her on your chest?

[idlewild]

Yeah, I do know I need to quarantine. After we put our christmas tree up I'll probably have a spot in that other room to put her. But at the moment there just isn't a spot in the house where there isn't a shelf or counter that the kitten can jump up on to get to the cage. I understand the risks, but right now, I'm having to choose the lesser of two evils. I do not trust that kitten around the birds at all, I did manage to catch and wallop her good the other day after pulling the cage down, since then she hasn't gone near the cages... I hope the lesson is finally starting to sink through her silly head. Though.... I might be able to bring the stand around the corner till the tree is gone... but that's almost a little to close to the kitchen for me. Hmm, I may try it.

When I did bring her out I put my hand in the cage, and she started moving around, whenever she stoped I'd move my hand a little closer. I do not what her to think I'm chasing her. That day, she actually then decided to jump out of the cage, so I had to just gently put my hand over her on the floor to catch her. (I've been timing my training sesions to be at the same time as kitty nap time so that there arn't any cats around). If I can rig up a better way to tie the cage down that is also easy to unto (right now I have it tied with string to the stand), then I'll be able to take the cage into the bathroom and set it on the floor and that'll make things easier.

When I did catch her and hold her I tried to hold her as lightly as possible. She tried to bite me a few things, then she'd settle down and look around. If I kept moving she was occupied looking at the scenery, when I stoped she got ancy and tired to take a nibble of my hand.

[idlewild]

Okay, well today I took the cage down to the bathroom and was able to work with her that way, also I got some semi okay pictures.

She didn't really want to come out. She just kept leaping around the cage, finally I just kinda cupped her in my hand really nice and brought her out. She then kinda scuffled around for a bit, then discovered the cage and started climbing up the outside.
After awhile I could get her to step on my hand fairly consistently, she wouldn't always stay there, but she wasn't running away all the time. Then she got a little tired and so she perched on my finger and just sat there and thought about napping. Then I put her back in the cage, she happily steped off my finger onto the perch. Then I just asked her to step up on my finger and then back to the perch while in the cage, she side stepped on the perch a little bit when I asked, but she did it eventually and without tried to jump or fly away. So I left it at that.

Here are the pictures from today, I still think she's a she, but what do ya'll think? These pictures make her cere look really pink, in real life it does have blue in it, and it's very light up at the top, it looks white to me. But then, I'm not very expierenced at telling the gender of babies, so any opinions would be helpful.

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b42/idlewild202/budgiehead1.jpg

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b42/idlewild202/budgiehead2.jpg

And I finally figured out what I'm gonna do name wise, if it's a girl I'll name her Cleopatra, "Cleo" for short. And if it's a boy it will be Napoleon and "Neo" for short.

[A-n-M]

I would have to say female, since there is alot more white than blue. How does he/she act in his/her cage?

[idlewild]

Well, she's not very vocal on her own, but with the other two budgies shart chripping she will join in since she can hear them. She likes to play with the clip I use for millet sprays, and she does sumersaults! She doesn't care for any of the other toys in the cage right now, I think that she is still getting used to her surroundings and her cage.

[A-n-M]

She is so adorable, she kind of reminds me of a Budgie I had named Chloe. As soon as she gets used to her surrounding you will see her true personality and you will be surprised that that is the same bird you brought home a couple of weeks ago.

[SushiGURL]

very cute! i also think it a girl, but who knows! since i don't personally know her i can't really help with names, but here is some ideas.

chloe.. opal, don't know why just think that would work lol....abby.. and ofcours! Katara, crazy i know, but soo crazy it just might work.

[softie]

Cleo is a beautiful name :)

She does look like a female, yes, and a very beautiful one!

[Nancy]

If it's a girl you could name it Antoinette. If it's a boy you could name it Anthony. Either way you could start calling it Tony right now and it would start learning it's name.

[idlewild]

Thanks guys for the great name suggestions! Haha, I love the name Chloe, that was the name of a pony mare I rode and trained this past spring, oh man... could that pony jump. She was just awesome. That is also the name I go by in the online Horse SIM world.

I like Cleo, so I'm gonna go with that.

Today she was more vocal and was jumping around her cage and checking things out. (I moved her cage yesterday, before that she had been quite active, so I think the change of senery there affected her mood) She looks more comfortable in her cage now.